
Stripe Connect v2 - pc
http://stripe.com/connect
======
khoury
I mean god damn stripe has some great front-end engineers.

~~~
solutionyogi
+100.

It looks modern yet very readable thanks to great typography. Loads fast.
Fully usable on mobile as well. E.g. Gets a hamburger menu on Mobile. The
featured client animation is simpler. The spinning globe icon is replaced by a
static image. They have absolutely top notch front end engineering talent.

This is in huge contrast to the current trend where they want to hijack
browser's scrolling behavior for absolutely no gain to the end user.

~~~
platz
Some tradeoffs though; this is what it looks like on IE9
[http://i.imgur.com/EkH81zN.png](http://i.imgur.com/EkH81zN.png)

~~~
puranjay
Stripe's product is for developers. I highly doubt there are developers using
IE9. It's an audience Stripe can comfortably choose to ignore.

~~~
true_religion
Whilst that sounds logically. You're replying to someone on HN, who is
presumably a developer and detected this bug in IE9.

~~~
nostalgiac
More than likely that developer checked it in IE9 after seeing the great
front-end design, and does not primarily browse the web in IE9 (what sane
person would?)

Edit: he commented below saying it was IE11 with the IE9 emulation enabled.

------
melvinmt
In retrospect, the global P2P marketplace that we've launched in 2010 on top
of PayPal's API may have been 5 years too soon. Requiring all our buyers and
sellers to have a PayPal account was detrimental to our brand. But, we
concluded that we "didn't want to be in the nasty business of dealing with
fraud, ID verification and international payments" so it made sense back then
to leave that up to PayPal. But I would have given anything for a white label
solution such as Stripe Connect. Also makes me wonder why PayPal wasn't able
to come up with this in 5 freaking years. The technology, the platform and
ecosystem was clearly there, just not the insight.

~~~
hartard
It's likely this was a conscious business decision; PayPal derives value
through its _brand_ , which is lost to consumers (buyers) using the platform
if the platform becomes a white label solution.

PayPal wants customers to know they can pay _with PayPal_ at business/merchant
X, not just their credit card.

~~~
fineline
Indeed, Paypal doesn't want you to pay with your credit card, and won't let
you change your default PayPal payment method. You have to go through a
process to select it Every.Single.Time, if you remember, and if you overlook
to do it - well, what do you know, PayPal just saved the CC fee...

------
javiercr
Kudos for the great explanation here: [https://stripe.com/docs/recipes/on-
demand-app](https://stripe.com/docs/recipes/on-demand-app)

However I still have one question: is it possible to delay payments to service
providers? In other words to do escrow.

Here is our use case: a client books a service (maybe with 30 days in
advance), we need to charge the client at that time, but we won't pay the
service provider until 24 hours after the service has been provided (so that
we've made sure everything went fine).

~~~
toomuchtodo
> However I still have one question: is it possible to delay payments to
> service providers? In other words to do escrow.

Yes: "You can control the transfer schedule for your recipients, which should
effectively cover what you need to do. (Sorry this isn't clearer in the docs.)
Feel free to email us, too. I'm patrick@stripe.com."

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9200224](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9200224)

------
alexandersingh
I assume you need to file a 1099-MISC with the IRS for each managed account
that's setup on the system?

If so, you might want to make this reporting requirement more visible in your
documentation.

~~~
pbreit
Actually only if account does 200 txns and $20,000.

[http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/New-1099-K-Reporting-
Requireme...](http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/New-1099-K-Reporting-Requirements-
for-Payment-Settlement-Entities)

------
tbrooks
If Stripe is charging 0.5% of funds paid out to managed accounts, does this
mean you’re “double dipping”?

~~~
collision
We're getting rid of the $0.25 transfer fee and replacing it with 0.5% of
funds paid out to managed accounts. We do more work (and incur more cost) if
you're using managed accounts, so we think it makes sense.

~~~
tbrooks
Seems like it would require the same amount of work to pay out $10,000 vs.
$100,000.

Why scale the fee?

Does this apply to marketplaces/accounts migrating from Balanced? There was an
assurance that Stripe would honor Balanced's pricing.
[https://www.balancedpayments.com/stripe/faq#will-our-
pricing...](https://www.balancedpayments.com/stripe/faq#will-our-pricing-
change)

If you require marketplaces to use managed accounts then it's an extra tax,
no?

~~~
pc
> _Seems like it would require the same amount of work to pay out $10,000 vs.
> $100,000._

We want our pricing to align with the best product experience, and a flat fee
would encourage marketplaces to pay out _less_ frequently. This pricing makes
it easy to do daily transfers. In addition, there are actually reporting
obligations and such that kick in at higher volumes, so it's not completely
scale-independent.

> _Does this apply to marketplaces /accounts migrating from Balanced? There
> was an assurance that Stripe would honor Balanced's pricing.
> [https://www.balancedpayments.com/stripe/faq#will-our-
> pricing...](https://www.balancedpayments.com/stripe/faq#will-our-pricing..).
> _

No; we'll grandfather both Stripe Transfers API (the old system) users and
Balanced users. That said, this works out to be cheaper for most people --
most users aren't doing $100k payouts.

> _If you require marketplaces to use managed accounts then it 's an extra
> tax, no?_

We don't require that they use managed accounts. Over time, I think standalone
accounts will become the better option, since it's _much_ less work for the
marketplace.

~~~
tbrooks
> We want our pricing to align with the best product experience, and a flat
> fee would encourage marketplaces to pay out less frequently.

I don't understand how increasing pricing from a flat fee to a percentage
encourages marketplaces to pay out less frequently. The cost is so nominal
that it far outweighs any percentage fee.

> We don't require that they use managed accounts. Over time, I think
> standalone accounts will become the better option

Better for whom? [edit] My customers are not tech savvy and only want to deal
with one fintech vendor, exposing Stripe to my customers seems like it's
Stripe's best interest.

~~~
bkrausz
> I don't understand how increasing pricing from a flat fee to a percentage
> encourages marketplaces to pay out less frequently. The cost is so nominal
> that it far outweighs any percentage fee.

Our goal, as Patrick said, is to allow people to pay out _more_ frequently. A
flat fee ties your costs to number of transfers, which seems unnecessary in a
lot of cases. If a seller just earned $10, they should get their $10 (at a
cost of a nickel).

> Better for whom?

For customers and platforms. If we do our job right, standalone accounts
should be so easy to use and user-friendly, even for non-tech-savvy customers,
that it's clearly the better option for everyone.

That being said, it's not like we'll kill off managed accounts: there'll
always be a good reason to have a fully customized experience. Making
standalone accounts good enough to be the better option more often is a goal
we strive for, but that's for our customers to decide.

------
damonpace
Lots of great changes that make a world of difference for marketplace
builders. From someone who used to use Authorize.net and spent a lot of money
building tools around it... I love Stripe. So simple, so smart. Best YC
company yet.

------
colinsidoti
The final piece of the puzzle - for me at least - is the ability to collect
money as a business, then pay out my service providers through Stripe.

There's a temptation to just let the money sit in my Stripe account, then
payout using a "Special Case Transfer"
[https://stripe.com/docs/connect/special-case-
transfers](https://stripe.com/docs/connect/special-case-transfers)

But this approach seems non-compliant.

How long before we can payout service providers so the charge is seen as
coming from my business, instead of from my customers? (This appears to be the
compliance issue.)

An ACH "source" is potentially a good solution (and apparently in beta), but I
imagine I'll incur additional fee. Perhaps using my own bank account as a
source will be free, but using others will be paid? (Kinda like managed
accounts)

~~~
bkrausz
Do you mean a situation where the service provider is not directly providing
the service to the customer, like paying out a caterer for your office lunch?
I'd love to better understand exactly what you're trying to use this for.

The short answer is that we're also really excited about the "many-to-many"
use case of moving money around. There are many hurdles to getting there, and
we're checking them off one by one. This is a leap towards that eventual
world.

~~~
colinsidoti
"like paying out a caterer for your office lunch"

Pretty much. But it's a little hard to envision at that scale.

Think instead about a large company with a set of approved vendors. Execs
submit purchase orders to the vendors. The vendors get paid out by check.

Instead, you can payout the vendors through Stripe.

Edit: As I think about this more, I don't think it should be free from my own
account, but it's hard to reason what ACH pricing should be. I can send an
automated check for $1.50 with Lob today.

~~~
toufka
Exactly.

It'd be great to be able to do with Stripe what we can do with POs. Here are
Three POs for three vendors associated with this purchase (80%, 10% & 10%
respectively).

And then directly push the funds to each with separate transactions, without
having to have a 'master account' that pulls in 100% (and takes the full fee
structure on the nose), then internally/itself pushes out 80% and 10% to
others.

------
Xixi
Does anyone know if Stripe have plans -in the rather short term- to come to
Asia? Japan, or maybe Singapore?

I know this question always comes up so it must be getting obnoxious, and I
apologize for asking it yet again, but it's a testimony to how great Stripe
is. I'd go further: I think it is a competitive advantage for a startup to be
in a country supported by Stripe vs others.

I have a Japanese tea subscription service
([https://tomotcha.com](https://tomotcha.com)), so my business is anchored in
Japan. Yet because there is no acceptable payment system here I take payments
abroad with all the tax headaches that it entails... It's ok for now because
Tomotcha is pretty small, but when it grows I will have to switch.

I'm looking forward to the growth of course, but not to the switch...

~~~
harisenbon
Check out Webpay for payments in Japan. Their API was originally supposed to
be a clone of the Stripe API, but have gone off with their own API updates
based on the JP market. [https://webpay.jp/](https://webpay.jp/)

~~~
Xixi
I know webpay, but it only issues payments in JPY while I charge my customers
either in USD or EUR... It's great for Japanese companies targeting the
Japanese market, but my customers are mostly in North America and Europe.

------
joshcrews
Did you just merge "Connect" and "Marketplaces" so that there is no
"Marketplaces" anymore? I saw that stripe.com/marketplaces is a redirect to
stripe.com/connect

~~~
collision
Yes, they're the one product now. We didn't want divergent products for
similar use cases. One feature we think is neat is you can mix-and-match
standalone accounts (where the seller uses a regular Stripe account) and
managed accounts (where the seller never goes to Stripe).

~~~
colinsidoti
Is this a change in price for $0.25 per transfer, to 0.5% per transfer? I
guess there's additional value-add from tax management.

~~~
collision
Yeah, the $0.25 transfer fee is going away. We didn't want to penalize
platforms for transferring earnings to their sellers more frequently.

~~~
tomsaffell
If you're paying out on a $10,000 job, the fee is going from $0.25 to $50.00?
Is there a way to keep the flat-fee pricing?

------
jameshk
You know Stripe attracts great talent when an API company has some of the best
front-end work you've seen.

------
adyda
All of the links on rotation images and company text go to DoorDash for me.
Also, only a short line of text is shown and the rest is cut off. "Lyft uses
connect to Create an integ"

This is on IE10 Version: 10.0.9200.17267 (work machine).

Screenshot: [http://imgur.com/lddIlhz](http://imgur.com/lddIlhz)

~~~
needhelpplz
wow some people still use IE on HN.

~~~
imron
Wow, some people on HN access the site from work where corporate IT policy may
limit the software that runs on their machine.

------
hberg
Heads up, another broken link. On this page:
[https://stripe.com/docs/connect/connecting-to-
accounts#manag...](https://stripe.com/docs/connect/connecting-to-
accounts#managed-accounts)

There's a link to learn more about managed accounts:
[https://stripe.com/docs/connect/managed-
accounts](https://stripe.com/docs/connect/managed-accounts)

Which just shows "An unexpected error occurred"
[http://cl.ly/image/3V2k333n0d32](http://cl.ly/image/3V2k333n0d32)

~~~
bkrausz
Sorry about that! Should be fixed now.

~~~
hberg
Thanks!

------
aantix
I'd like to be able to capture someone's credit card for a given amount
(deposit), and then charge it later (manually) if certain terms are met. Is
this possible under this new system?

~~~
ngoel36
Yes, I believe you've been able to separately auth and capture (up to 7 days)
later for a while

[https://support.stripe.com/questions/does-stripe-support-
aut...](https://support.stripe.com/questions/does-stripe-support-authorize-
and-capture)

~~~
aantix
Seven days isn't helpful.

I've been looking at performing this functionality with utilizing a free
trial; setup a subscription payment of one year with a three month trial.

If the client meets the requirements, let the subscription charge after three
months (then cancel all subsequent subscription payments). If they fail to
meet terms within the three month window, cancel the "trial" all together.

Feels hacky.

~~~
hwatson
If you attach the card to a customer object[0], you can create one off charges
whenever you'd like. Stripe will even update the card's details on the
customer if the card is reissued[1]. You can then create charges against the
card manually through the dashboard (which seems to be what you were looking
for based off of your original comment).

[0] [https://stripe.com/docs/tutorials/charges#saving-credit-
card...](https://stripe.com/docs/tutorials/charges#saving-credit-card-details-
for-later)

[1] [https://stripe.com/blog/smarter-saved-
cards](https://stripe.com/blog/smarter-saved-cards)

~~~
aantix
Does there always have to be an initial charge (in the example $1.00)?

~~~
hwatson
No. Creating the customer will charge the card $0.00 or $1.00 (depends on
country/bank) and immediately refund the charge to verify the card itself, the
CVC, the address, etc. In most cases, this tiny charge won't be noticed
because of the refund.

------
BradRuderman
Does this require people who want to be paid to sign up for accounts on
stripe? Or can the application initiate bank transfers to the seller, on
behalf of the buyer or from escrow.

~~~
collision
You have two options: you can have sellers link a Stripe account (and we'll do
all the downstream work, like collecting their bank account info and verifying
their identity). Or you can create a managed account via API, where the seller
does everything from within your app and never needs to go to Stripe.

~~~
tomsaffell
Can you do the following (in this order): 'Provision' a standalone account
with just an email address (with zero work by the account holder to-be) >
Initiate a charge (to a buyer) that will ultimately be paid out to that
standalone account > Have the seller setup their standalone account (so it's
then capable of receiving funds)

I'm trying to figure the work flow that has the least toing and froing for
both parties.

~~~
bkrausz
Indeed you can: [https://stripe.com/docs/connect/deferred-
accounts](https://stripe.com/docs/connect/deferred-accounts)

~~~
tomsaffell
Brilliant!

------
Mizza
What does this mean for those of us who already use Stripe Connect? Do we get
support for more countries automatically - do we have to change our code -
will the v1 API stop working soon? Please send out an announcement current to
Stripe Connect API users with upgrade information!

The new site is very pretty, but also very sluggish in Firefox.

~~~
bkrausz
Existing Connect integrations will still work: no changes are necessary.
Connect has always allowed you to connect directly to accounts in other
countries, so no major changes there either.

We're getting some emails out now with more specific "what can I do not"-style
information.

------
chrischen
Any stripe engineers here to explain how the new multi-party payments work?
The documentation has a new "destination" field but doesn't explain if it can
be used as a third party in a normal Stripe Connect charge.

I see a new Stripe-Stripe programmatic transfer, but is that the only way to
do multi-party setups?

------
idyllicshine
Should clicking on the companies (lyft, Kickerstarter..) open in a new tab
instead of navigating away from Stripe?

------
apitts
I was just looking at Connect a few days ago and had one issue - the fact that
the customer account needed to bear the fees. Very happy to see the option for
the platform account to bear the fees. Much simpler for the customer to
understand!

------
bharris315
How much of this decision was based upon regulatory / payments compliance
pressure?

------
colemorrison
So the blog post on connect says "Managed Accounts" are available to anywhere
that stripe is supported. However, on the docs, it says that it can only be
used in the US and Canada. Which one is it?

~~~
bkrausz
You can create managed accounts anywhere Stripe is, but your platform needs to
be in the U.S. or Canada. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

~~~
colemorrison
OHHH! That makes SO much more sense. Okay, yeah you guys should clarify that,
that's a huge selling point. Thanks for the response.

------
wmboy
> _...our platform can support sellers anywhere Stripe operates (18 countries,
> more coming this year)._

Asking from New Zealand, any hints on the "more coming this year" countries?

------
sorenbs
probably OT: Is it possible to link Stripe to a credit card so I can perform
an online shopping transaction on behalf of my customer without handling their
credit card data?

~~~
collision
What's your use case? You can't use cards stored in Stripe on non-Stripe
sites, if that's what you're asking.

~~~
sorenbs
What I was imagining is stripe issuing a credit card that my system can use to
perform credit card payments on any generic webshop (either manually or some
web scraper) and have that linked to a payment into my stripe account by a
specific customer. I am not aware of anyone offering this service.

~~~
brandon272
Why on Earth would you need to be able to do that?

~~~
adyus
Sounds like an extra layer of card fraud protection might be a use case.

Automating some shopping cases might be another.

------
rebelidealist
One question that came up when browsing thru the api doc. What are the
advantages of "Charging through the platform" vs "Charging directly"?

~~~
bkrausz
Charging through the platform has you pay all of the fees and take on
chargeback liability, whereas charging directly passed those on to the managed
account. This also affects the default statement descriptor and contact info
on statements.

~~~
rebelidealist
Hmm correct me if i'm wrong, but it doesn't seem like it would be that
advantageous to take on the chargeback liability just for the statement
description unless 'charging thru the platform' also provides a escrow system
for the safety of the buyer.

~~~
bkrausz
When you charge through the platform we issue the charge on behalf the
connected account, so you are never actually in the flow of funds.

Re: chargebacks, there are 2 situations where this becomes relevant:

\- With managed accounts, you're responsible for losses in the end anyway.
This mostly dictates which account balance the fee comes from.

\- Generally if you're providing the customer support it can make sense to
take on liability. Take Lyft for example: they don't debit driver bank
accounts if they get a chargeback.

------
rjurney
What is the name of the person that created this design?

~~~
bkrausz
Philipp Antoni made the gravity header -
[https://twitter.com/phlntn](https://twitter.com/phlntn)

------
higherpurpose
Does Stripe support all the EU countries yet?

~~~
collision
In our defense, they keep adding new EU countries. But no, we're not in all of
them yet. We're in 13 EU countries, Norway, and Switzerland:
[https://stripe.com/global](https://stripe.com/global)

~~~
daniel_levine
If it helps, they seem to also be on the brink of losing some. Congrats on the
launch!

~~~
mooreds
Pluses: Stripe increases EU coverage

Minuses: global financial earthquake

Hmmm.... :)

------
dopamean
That is not how orbital mechanics work...

~~~
dewey
They are aware of that ;)

[https://twitter.com/aphyr/status/580060489796829184](https://twitter.com/aphyr/status/580060489796829184)

------
abnathan
Any timeframe on when managed accounts are expanding beyond US/Canada?

~~~
krithix
I work at Stripe. We're looking to expand as soon as we can in the 18
countries we support ([https://stripe.com/global](https://stripe.com/global)),
but no ETA yet I'm afraid. If you're interested in helping us test a private
beta, shoot us a note at connect@stripe.com.

~~~
Shizka
How does it look with transfers for other countries than US?

------
milkmanjr
current balanced customer who is soon to be a stripe convert.

very thrilled about this and being able to payout internationally as a
marketplace!

------
edmack
This is great! Well done!

------
_pius
Love it, awesome stuff.

------
kategleason
gorgeous!!!

------
needhelpplz
I want to start a code marketplace using Stripe connect. someone posts a job,
people bid on it, someone pays the person doing the job, I take the payment
and release it when the work is confirmed to be done.

Is there an existing script that I can use and integrate stripe connect with?

------
devonoel
Dat landing page tho

