
Ready-made Stripe Checkout for freelancers - DavideP86
https://wirize.com
======
dbielik
Stripe recently launched this feature themselves!
[https://stripe.com/us/billing](https://stripe.com/us/billing)

You can set up subscriptions/invoices and send a stripe-hosted link
(pay.stripe.com) for the customer to enter their billing.

And you don't need to do _any_ coding. So, I'm not sure what the benefit of
this is over using Stripe directly. Am I missing something?

~~~
DavideP86
This is a good question. I will try to align the main differences (in my
opinion):

1\. Stripe invoice is part of the recurring billing process and isn’t intended
for one-time charges. 2\. Like other services, Stripe provides a payable
invoice, instead, Wirize is a pre-integrated payment checkout. 3\. Stripe
invoice is available in the US only at the moment, instead, Wirize supports
20+ countries.

Please let me know if you've more questions.

~~~
sudhirj
If you're doing this is implies you're pulling money into your Stripe account
and paying out to your customer's bank accounts? Unfortunately this makes you
merchant of record, so if I'm not happy with a charge made to one of the
merchants on your platform I'll raise a chargeback against you. Good luck
getting the money back from the merchants :-/

~~~
DavideP86
Your assumption is totally incorrect sudhirj. Wirize uses direct charges
trough Stripe Connect, so we never touch/hold customers money. If you want,
check it out: [https://goo.gl/vpvBEQ](https://goo.gl/vpvBEQ)

~~~
sudhirj
Ah, okay. The previous thread seemed to imply that this was available in
countries where Stripe wasn't. I see now that you mean that the Stripe
Billings feature was US only.

------
tom169
I think it's fairly clear that judging by the comments, the design and use of
the word "Stripe" make this seem like a Stripe product. You could well be
infringing on their trademark.

~~~
delinka
"Connect your bank account to Wirize in just a few clicks (2-minute flow via
Stripe)."

This reads to me like it's based on Stripe. And in that case, I don't think
it's incorrect to call it "Stripe Checkout." However, I would like this called
out at the top of the linked page.

~~~
bastawhiz
Stripe Checkout is the name of a product that Stripe offers.

------
joelrunyon
"free till beta"

I hate this stuff. Either make it free or let me pay you for it.

What sucks is switching over to it because you think it's saving money, then
having them change the fee structure and you have to switch back.

~~~
tomcatfish
Would you rather pay for an unfinished product? They see value in allowing you
to benefit from any utility while giving them testing data and a canvass of
the market while they fill out the product. Charging now would cause a sense
of entitlement in users that they probably aren't ready to handle yet

~~~
joelrunyon
Yes,

If it's good enough to be released, I'd be happy to pay for an unfinished
product - if for no other reason than it would make it more sustainable long
term.

Or, I'll wait until they figure out what the heck their long term pricing will
be before doing the work to change a critical part of the business to run on
them.

This "free to use" mindset is incredibly short-sited - especially when it
comes to checkout infrastructure. That should be the one thing that people are
willing to spend money on.

~~~
DavideP86
joelrunyon I really appreciate your comment, and just to clarify it again:
Actually, Wirize is in beta, so in order to define a pricing model, we're
still trying to understand the market, customer needs, and of course the
product value. In my opinion, as a start-up, our first mission is to
understand the customer and then find a business model. We can't just assume
that a freelancer is willing to pay a fee per transaction (in addition to the
standard Stripe fees), or a subscription-based service. We will try to clarify
this part as soon as possible, and if you're up to help us in this regard, we
would love to hear your thoughts, payment needs, and of course any suggestions
you may have. If you want, this is my email: davide@wirize.com Thank you
again!

------
gregoriol
The pricing part is insane: "... is totally free till beta." => what does that
mean?

How could one decide to use the service, without knowing when or how it will
be priced?

~~~
DavideP86
Hi gregoriol, It means that we're still defining our pricing model, so during
in beta the product is Free. Actually, If you use Wirize, you're going to pay
just a Stripe fee per transaction, and when there will be a new pricing model,
it will be very transparent for the customer.

------
Cenk
These services that are layers on top of Stripe really rub me the wrong way.
I’m sure it’s useful to many people who want to take credit card payments but
don’t know how to code up a Stripe integration themselves, but I really
dislike the idea of having another middle-man between the user and Stripe.

~~~
dbielik
I agree, and they've also built this themselves for people who don't know how
to embed/integrate it.

~~~
WhiteOwlLion
i don't know what kind of freelancer you are... but even a non-techie should
be able to create their own checkout page using stripe tools. seriously, it is
not hard

~~~
samb1729
And yet Stripe decided it was worth the effort to make this easier for people.
I doubt they invested engineering hours into an offering that no one asked for
or needed.

~~~
norova
Just clarifying, this isn't a Stripe product.

------
gregsadetsky
I agree that the value of this is not perfectly clear, considering what the
Stripe dashboard, and Stripe Billing specifically, offer.

I've been wondering for a while what are good Stripe Checkout backend
solutions for static / "server-less" sites?

I've been deploying many micro static sites recently (using surge.sh --
plugging them as they're awesome) and whenever I wanted to add a Stripe
Checkout JS integration, I was back at the problem of "what to do with the
backend".

I usually end up writing a micro Python service, hosted on Heroku, that
accepts a SKU, charges the Stripe token, and returns a (CORS-busting) json
success/error payload.

I've seen flatmarket [1] which also exists in a deploy-to-Heroku-in-a-click
version [2] but I remember having problems with it, and it doesn't look like
it has been recently updated. It almost does what I'd like though: define your
products in a JSON file, set your private Stripe key, done.

WooCommerce is definitely great -- for WordPress sites. I don't want to host a
WP site. :-)

Any good, simple, hosted/self-hosted backend solutions for Stripe Checkout?
It's not a M$ idea/potential, but would this help other people if I pursued
this? I don't want to become a middlemen/third-party/Stripe Connect
"merchant". I just want to charge the token and return {"success":true}!

Cheers

[1]
[https://github.com/christophercliff/flatmarket](https://github.com/christophercliff/flatmarket)

[2] [https://github.com/christophercliff/flatmarket-server-
heroku](https://github.com/christophercliff/flatmarket-server-heroku)

------
nik736
Something like this will never work in Germany. 99% of business transactions
are done via a simple SEPA transfer, which doesn't incur any fees.

~~~
epanchin
Do you have figures to back up this claim?

I understand for regular procurement the importance of cost saving. But in
product development paying everything with bank transfers rather than with
corporate cards sounds like a ballache.

~~~
Cenk
Even consumers hardly use credit cards in Germany. Only about 18% of payments
are made with credit cards ([https://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-cash-for-
almost-everyt...](https://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-cash-for-almost-
everything/))

~~~
overcast
Do German credit cards not have cashback programs? When every transaction I
make gives me back 1-6%, that adds up significantly over time. It's
essentially subtracting tax off of groceries and gas for me.

~~~
the-dude
No cashbacks in Western Europe as far as I am aware.

How do feel about shafting all your suppliers? Because that is about the
sentiment here.

~~~
graeme
I really wish they would pass a law in North America allowing merchants to
charge percentages based on card used.

Credit cards have some great features:

* buyer protection in case of fraud * delayed payment helps buyer cashflow * instant payment for merchant * no overhead fees compared to handling cash

But, the extra percentage added for cashback is pure externality.

Right now merchants' only option is declining a card type entirely, like some
do for AMEX.

Europe's economy is effectively saving perhaps 2% over North America's. I'm
assuming here that 0.7% is the useful part credit cards do.

~~~
dumbfounder
Why do we need a law to allow this? If there is a law that disallows it we
would need to repeal that law. I am not aware of such a law though. I thought
that merchants choose not to do this because it is seen as nickle-and-diming
people, and they don't want the negative sentiment. Taking credit cards is
just a cost of doing business. That said, lots of gas stations offer discounts
for cash.

~~~
graeme
Here's a case in Canada: [https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/business/merchants-
may-soon-as...](https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/business/merchants-may-soon-ask-
customers-to-pay-surcharge-when-using-credit-cards-1.3459584)

Badically, credit card processing agreements prohibited fees. But as a matter
of public interest a lawsuit was brought and fees were allowed. This is still
quite recent so we haven't seen any effects.

"Just a cost of doing business" is the point. Europe saves 2% annually
compared to our system. A 2% private tax is very large.

~~~
dumbfounder
And, because they don't spend money they don't have, they spend less. But less
spending means shrinkage in the economy (or so I'm told), but means poor
people are less poor. And it means that rich people are less rich (that
interest that poor people pay doesn't go to other poor people). Today I
realized that credit card companies are the root of all evil. Save us,
Bitcoin!

------
caiob
I don't like being negative, and I applaud Stripe's initiative here, but this
will never fly in Canada. We have Interac e-mail transfer up here which is
easier and better at just about everything.

~~~
DavideP86
Hi caiob, Thanks for your comment. We are aware that Wirize can't compete
against a domestic solution like Interac, but in several cases, freelancing is
also about international payments. Is Interac convenient for no-domestic
payments?

~~~
caiob
Being a freelancer, why on Earth would I accept credit card payments? Extra
fees, charges etc...

------
desireco42
Stripe checkout is so easy that I find it very few reasons to use services
like this. I do appreciate convenience and I am not a person who likes to
build everything by itself, but this is not a problem I or many of my friends
have.

If others feel different, please chime in and explain your situation.

~~~
DavideP86
Hi desireco42, Thanks for your comment. The main difference is that if you go
with Stripe directly, you need to integrate the checkout on your personal
website, and it requires some code skills, and of course a functional website.
Instead, Wirize is a ready-built tool (basically you don't need anything I
pointed out above). Anyway, you're totally right, Stripe is very easy to use,
but if you've just some one-time payment needs, maybe you don't need to set up
a website just to integrate a checkout. What do you think?

~~~
desireco42
Again, didn't mean to put down your service. Thank you for explaining.

------
brandoncordell
Is there supposed to be an animation on the example checkout in your header?
If so it's extremely choppy for (new MBPr, i7, 16gb ram). It looks like it's
unintentionally growing in size.

------
philip1209
Cool! I found the bank Azlo through Stripe Atlas's new LLC system, and it
looks like they support invoices with Stripe payments just like this for
freelancers.

~~~
sudhirj
Does the LLC version of Atlas give you an account with Azlo instead of SVB?

~~~
philip1209
According to Patio11 on a previous thread - yes:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16960480](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16960480)

------
the-dude
How is this different from WooCommerce+Stripe except for another middleman?

edit: the beta is free, what will the pricing be?

~~~
DavideP86
Hi The-dude, Thank you for asking. If you go with WooCommerce+Stripe, you need
a functional website, and you've to install WordPress, WooCommerce and at the
end integrate Stripe Checkout. Instead, Wirize is a ready-made tool: You can
have your own payment checkout in minutes, without a website or anything
required above. What do you think?

------
h3cate
What's wrong with a normal bank transfer? Or the many payment apps like
pingit?

~~~
epanchin
Do many staff have authority to make bank transfers? Are you suggesting they
go to finance for every purchase?

~~~
kbcool
Most don;'t have the authority to make large CC payments either if you're
talking big corps.

SME to freelancer payment is much better with bank transfer. Way less skimmed
off the top than CC.

------
amelius
Why does Stripe get a % of my income?

Why isn't this capped at, say, $10 or at most $50?

No other bank does this (they only take interest).

~~~
giarc
If your client pays with a credit card, you either pay the fees yourself or
add them to the customers bill. You always pay this, just the % amount
changes.

