2 ms·
Don't write your own billing system. :) To elaborate, these recommendations are backwards. They're business decisions that are being influenced by technical c
by mrkurt 17y ago
Don't write your own billing system. :)
To elaborate, these recommendations are backwards. They're business decisions that are being influenced by technical considerations for a non-core product. Users might prefer to be billed on the same day every month than every 30 days. Choosing not to prorate in favor of waiting 'til the next cycle is basically throwing money away. Relying on the gateway to handle refunds takes a crucial part of your data out of the system that otherwise reports on your money. Freemium vs free trials isn't a decision anyone should make based on the capabilities of their billing systems.
Billing is a pain in the ass and it's not a core feature for most companies. And unlike most things, it's reasonably uniform between companies, making third party billing packages fantastically useful.
- seekely 17y agoMeant to hit the up arrow. Hit the down arrow by accident. My apologies. I agree completely. There are now so many subscription billing providers, writing your own, for such a small service none the less, is a big waste of time.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- callmeed 17y agoBut if a 3rd party billing "package" means paying higher fees long-term, doesn't it make sense to write your own billing system?
- mrkurt 17y agoIt depends, really, but I think it would take a lot for the long term fees to outweigh the opportunity cost of spending time on something that's not really your product.
- callmeed 17y agoYou think so? If your users measure in the thousands, it seems even half a percentage point or a large monthly fee would add up.
- mrkurt 17y agoWell, CheddarGetter would be ~$170/mo for 10k customers, while Spreedly would cost us $1000/mo for 10k customers (we paid for the Spreedly kickstarter, so $.10 transaction fees). We use Spreedly, but I like both. If you wanted to be really, really cheap, the best course is probably to take something like Ubersmith or Modernbill and bend them to your will. They're both designed for hosting companies, but can be contorted into other business without too much effort. Both have 1 time license fees that aren't insane. Even the most expensive option (Spreedly) is $12k/year. If you're billing $10k customers even $5/mo, that's really not much money.