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Fantastic value proposition with perfect timing. Three companies I'm working with need a solution to this problem in the next 10 days. I would literally have p

by jot 12y ago

Fantastic value proposition with perfect timing. Three companies I'm working with need a solution to this problem in the next 10 days. I would literally have paid for three $24 subscriptions by now but sadly it failed to meet my expectations. Some immediate problems: 1) I can't add the metadata it requires to my Stripe transactions without writing code which I will then have to maintain. I'm using WuFoo's Stripe integration to create the transactions. 2) I connected a Stripe account but I can't work out how to import existing transactions at all. (Maybe above issue is blocking this.) 3) Why is connecting Stripe the 5th step in setup when it's the core part of the value proposition and could be first? 4) I'm feeling annoyed and frustrated that time has been wasted building features I don't care about (Expenses, Estimates, Contacts and Delivery Notes) when it doesn't do the core thing I want to buy it for. Here's how I'd like it to work: Step 1) I sign up and give my credit card details immediately. (I would have trusted you with a money back guarantee) Step 2) I connect my Stripe account and you instantly show me a list of invoices I can download or email to customers. Step 3) I change my company details until invoices are rendered correctly. No step 4 or 5. An extra bit of logic which would be fine for my immediate purposes: - When I add my UK/EU VAT registration number include VAT, at the UK rate, on all invoices where Stripe reports that country of the customer to be an EU country. e.g. A $50 payment in Stripe from someone in the UK, France etc should result in an invoice for $41.67 + $8.33 VAT A $50 payment in Stripe from someone in the US, Canada etc should result in an invoice for $50 + $0.00 VAT (Once we hit significant revenue we might need something more complex but right now all I care about is making sure we're properly accounting for VAT.) Brilliant idea! I very much hope all this is helpful.

polimorfico 12y ago
We have already fixed the issue #3. You're right: Stripe connection should be the first step. Metadata are optional. You only have to use them if you need to add extra info, like VAT rates. I see you include the VAT on the final amount. But there are some people who prefer to add the VAT to the final amount if needed. In your case, $60 for EU customers and $50 for non-EU customers. With the use of metadata, the user decides which logic he prefers. Thanks for all your feedback! There are some really interesting and useful ideas. Hope to give you some good news soon ;-)
- jot 12y ago
  Good stuff! It's still not pulled in any payments for me (I tried reconnecting). On the VAT rate it wouldn't matter which way I (or other customers) preferred to do it. That decision would have already been made when the payment was taken otherwise I'd have to process another payment via Stripe - very messy for accounting. The example could have also been: A $60 payment in Stripe from someone in the UK, France etc should result in an invoice for $50 + $10 VAT A $50 payment in Stripe from someone in the US, Canada etc should result in an invoice for $50 + $0.00 VAT Something like this should do the trick (I guess you have the second half of this already): def get_tax_amount(stripe_payment) if stripe_payment.metadata.tax.nil? if customer.auto_eu_vat_on? && EU_COUNTRY_CODES.include?(stripe_payment.country_code) return stripe_payment.amount * (EU_VAT_RATES[customer.country_code]/100) end else return 0.0 end else return stripe_payment.amount * (stripe_payment.metadata.tax/100) end end Critically with my current payment mechanisms I only find out the customer's country when they checkout with Stripe. I don't want to ask them before that to keep the form field count low and work within WuFoo's constraints. I don't know if I need to charge a customer VAT until after they have paid. (I conscious that I'm effectively either my giving EU customers a discount or charging non-EU customers a premium but that's not a concern at the moment.) The only cases I can think of that would require metatdata are: 1) A $60 payment in Stripe from someone in Germany where the company's EU VAT number is provided in metadata should result in an invoice for $60 + $0.00 VAT 2) If I'm selling products that have different VAT rates. That's unlikely if your market is primarily software / digital products like Stripe's market.
  - polimorfico 12y ago
    Good news! We've developed a new feature in Quaderno.io to automatically calculate the EU VAT after the payment was taken. And you do not have to use Stripe metadata! Hope you like it ;)

by jot 12y ago

polimorfico 12y ago

We have already fixed the issue #3. You're right: Stripe connection should be the first step. Metadata are optional. You only have to use them if you need to add extra info, like VAT rates. I see you include the VAT on the final amount. But there are some people who prefer to add the VAT to the final amount if needed. In your case, $60 for EU customers and $50 for non-EU customers. With the use of metadata, the user decides which logic he prefers. Thanks for all your feedback! There are some really interesting and useful ideas. Hope to give you some good news soon ;-)

jot 12y ago
Good stuff! It's still not pulled in any payments for me (I tried reconnecting). On the VAT rate it wouldn't matter which way I (or other customers) preferred to do it. That decision would have already been made when the payment was taken otherwise I'd have to process another payment via Stripe - very messy for accounting. The example could have also been: A $60 payment in Stripe from someone in the UK, France etc should result in an invoice for $50 + $10 VAT A $50 payment in Stripe from someone in the US, Canada etc should result in an invoice for $50 + $0.00 VAT Something like this should do the trick (I guess you have the second half of this already): def get_tax_amount(stripe_payment) if stripe_payment.metadata.tax.nil? if customer.auto_eu_vat_on? && EU_COUNTRY_CODES.include?(stripe_payment.country_code) return stripe_payment.amount * (EU_VAT_RATES[customer.country_code]/100) end else return 0.0 end else return stripe_payment.amount * (stripe_payment.metadata.tax/100) end end Critically with my current payment mechanisms I only find out the customer's country when they checkout with Stripe. I don't want to ask them before that to keep the form field count low and work within WuFoo's constraints. I don't know if I need to charge a customer VAT until after they have paid. (I conscious that I'm effectively either my giving EU customers a discount or charging non-EU customers a premium but that's not a concern at the moment.) The only cases I can think of that would require metatdata are: 1) A $60 payment in Stripe from someone in Germany where the company's EU VAT number is provided in metadata should result in an invoice for $60 + $0.00 VAT 2) If I'm selling products that have different VAT rates. That's unlikely if your market is primarily software / digital products like Stripe's market.
- polimorfico 12y ago
  Good news! We've developed a new feature in Quaderno.io to automatically calculate the EU VAT after the payment was taken. And you do not have to use Stripe metadata! Hope you like it ;)