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I think their API's are good on their own but in the payments space they are on a completely different level. I've integrated with a number of payment processor
by joshstrange 2mo ago
I think their API's are good on their own but in the payments space they are on a completely different level. I've integrated with a number of payment processors (6+) and every single time (without fail) I find myself comparing them to Stripe (unfavorably, for the other processor).
Docs are a mess, API is a mess, web portal is stuck in the 90's, things that are a form on Stripe are an email at best, a call/meeting at worse.
For one processor I had to have 4-5 calls before they would give me a key and let me buy hardware. I doggedly jumped over every barrier, worked with their shit docs, called their terrible API and in the end, <2 weeks before I was going live, found that in production over half my credit cards were failing to be charged. When I asked them about it they said "contact your bank", as if that was a valid response for why 4 of my 6 credit cards threw an error (with no recourse/message).
In <2 week I had Stripe hardware and completely re-wrote the implementation in time for launch.
Stripe is not the cheapest by far, but you'd have to pay me quite a bit of money to consider using anyone else.
- scarab92 2mo agoThis is why I would never invest in Stripe. The moat protecting their high margins is temporary. Competitors will obviously improve their developer experience over time, and then win on price. Stripe are stuck. They know they need to lower rates over the long term, but since they already make so much profit overcharging existing customers, they are hesitant to do so, meaning new competitors will enter with a price advantage without a competitive response from Strioe.
- joshstrange 2mo ago> plus all new competitors will do better than Stripe on this, because they can design a brand new API. So far it hasn't happened and they've had the time. Point me at an API better than Stripe's with lower fees and I'll be interested but so far I haven't seen anything like that.