

Ask HN: What Payment Platform do you use? - axelbouaziz

Hey HN readers,
I would like to know which payment platform are you currently using if you&#x27;re selling products &#x2F; SaaS subscriptions &#x2F; eBooks &#x2F; anything which can be bought online.
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dangrossman
Spreedly, which provides a unified API for 55+ payment processors and
gateways, as well as card vaulting for recurring bills. Code against Spreedly
and you can change processors on a whim to whoever's cheapest at the moment,
or use multiple at once.

My primary processor is a standard merchant account provider and I pay
interchange plus 0.04%. Interchange is the set of fees Visa and MasterCard
charge to the processor, and starts around 1.8% + $0.10 for card-not-present
transactions.

I also accept PayPal as there's a large number of countries where credit cards
are not easy to come by and fund, but PayPal is readily available.

Both the merchant account (1.84%+ + $0.10) and PayPal (2.2% + $0.30) are
significantly cheaper than Stripe (2.9% + $0.30) which someone recommended
last time you asked this two days ago.

~~~
cristinacordova
(I work at Stripe)

PayPal actually starts at 2.9% + $0.30 and charges a variety of add-on fees
which you didn't include in your assessment: $30 per month if you want to
design and host your own checkout pages, 1% cross-border surcharge if you want
to accept payments from another country, 3.5% transaction fee when your
customers pay with American Express, $0.30 per uncaptured authorization, a
fixed fee portion of the original transaction fee when you issue a refund
($0.30 for domestic payments).﻿

They do offer volume discounts, which is why you're at a 2.2% rate, and Stripe
also offers volume discounts to businesses on track to do $1MM per year.

I'm not sure what your current processor and merchant account provider are,
but we often do similar assessments against their add-on fees and come out to
be less expensive.

~~~
dangrossman
A new venture is a lot more likely to reach PayPal's threshold for discounted
fees ($3,000/month) than Stripe's ($83,333/month). There is no additional fee
for American Express cards with Website Payments Standard.

The only fixed fee my current merchant provider charges is $5/month, and I pay
a $99/year fee to a PCI scanning service. The merchant account space isn't
resting on its laurels with startups like yours moving in; there's dozens that
have moved to simpler pricing and eliminated bullshit fees to remain
competitive.

Anyone accepting mostly domestic transactions with a monthly volume between a
few thousand and $80,000 is probably going to save at least $30/month by
choosing PayPal over Stripe, so the monthly charge isn't really a barrier even
for their Pro service. Unless they go through one of your partner integrations
like Shopify where you seem willing to offer the discounted rates without a
minimum volume. I've set up a few people on that, it's a good deal for little
shops.

~~~
dirktheman
Cost isn't the only factor. I'd be more than happy to pay 30 dollars more for
not having to deal with PayPal antics. Stripe's API is a charm, fast and easy
integration, and customer support is excellent. Not to mention documentation.
PayPal OTOH, I've read too many horror stories about revoked accounts,
disputed charges not to mention the pain of integrating the IPN. Lastly,
there's the ugly paypal button. Not exactly professional looking, if you ask
me.

Stripe is a blessinq!

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tagabek
I am launching my first book at the end of this month and I will be using
Gumroad for payments. They offer the most simple, responsive, and beautiful
experience for accepting payment. They take 5% + 25¢ per transaction.

~~~
axelbouaziz
Thank you for your feedback Taylor ;)

PS : did you read Authority from Nathan Barry ?

~~~
tagabek
Yep!

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cakexss
For us ([http://spryli.com](http://spryli.com)) we use Stripe, and couldn't be
happier. Ease of implementation, and documentation are both great.

~~~
axelbouaziz
Thank you for your reply ! How do you track metrics for your business (MRR,
LTV...etc) ?

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ondiekijunior
am creating a payment platform and am interested in knowing what informs your
choices there.

