Stripe onboarding + integration feedback
We're starting a project to improve the Stripe first-run experience and to make the initial integration with Stripe easier. If any of you have thoughts or feedback, we'd love to hear things like --
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How did your first customer pay you?
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What would be the easiest way you could imagine to start collecting money for your product?
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Do you have any specific feedback on how Stripe could work better while you're collecting your first, say, 10 payments?
One thing that was confusing to me when setting up Stripe for my SaaS app (https://pullreminders.com) was the difference between a "Product" and a "Plan". I just checked your docs and found https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/modeling but it would've been helpful to have been presented that information during my first run experience.
I second this on the confusion over products and plans.
The docs seemed simple enough at first but I was setting up a pricing system with a monthly base fee and usage-based pricing on top. I ended up with a "Base Fee" product which runs counter to my intuition of what a product is. And then I have two separate plans and the products joined together to create what I had previously thought of as simply my one pricing plan.
It did make more sense to me after taking the time to go through the code and examples but the first reading left me confused.
Maybe a "Stripe Glossary"?
I think more examples/guides would be good. The ones that are part of the docs already are really well written and informative, it would be good if you could find one for any which way you want to build a payments system.
What did you end up doing? Did you code a Stripe integration into your app?
I really wish there were a way to only get email notifications for payments from NEW customers instead of all payments. As the number of subscriptions I have has grown, my inbox is starting to get flooded with emails every month when all I care about is knowing about new purchases.
Would you be happy to get notified for new subscriptions in your menu bar instead of an email? I'm literally working on this new feature right now for CashNotify.
@bastienpetit Yep, menu bar would work. Shoot me an email at a@abinoda.com
+1 to this.
First, Stripe is awesome! Thank you @PatrickC
Our first customer paid us via a custom built form.
The easiest way would be if Stripe already had user data so we don't have to ask for billing address, phone number, etc.
nope
Question:
We have a 60-day trial and don't create customers in Stripe when a trial begins. Only when someone subscribes do we create a customer. Seems like I'd have to create a customer when someone first begins their trial. But, if they don't convert they'll still be a customer in Stripe, right?
What's the best way to capture people in a trial?
Hi @dougdosberg! Can you elaborate on your #2?
On your question, Subscriptions support trials!
(I work at Stripe)
Oh, nice! I'll check out the trial docs.
For #2 we collect customer billing (primarily zip code) for tax purposes. It would be nice if we didn't have to ask for this info.
I just finished integrating with Stripe this week. I knew it was a great choice since I started because I read about Stripe years ago and I knew it was very developer friendly.
What I love about it is how mature it is and the many out of the box features it has (automatic billing, easy to access documentation and start testing, products, plans, invoices, etc). All of this is provided with full programmatic control but at the same time you can get started very simply by adding some <script> tag to your site.
My company is based in Dubai, and I have a great feeling that the reason why I am choosing Stripe is the same reason why Stripe doesn't yet operate in the UAE: the major participants in ecosystem here (banks, payment systems providers) are not as open as they should to support startups. You might not even get the chance to test to see if you want to developer using their APIs before you get approved on your business activities and so on.
Any comments on why Stripe doesn't operate in a friendly business environment such as the UAE?
I wish Stripe operated also in the UAE because I already have a business license here and I would not have to incorporate in the USA using Stripe Atlas (which is a stunningly amazing service for entrepreneurs #ThankYou).
The disadvantage of Stripe not operating in the UAE despite having a great solution such as Stripe Atlas, is that now I have two legal entities to manage (one here in the UAE and one in Delaware, USA). This is added responsibility and more legal documents to read, understand and sign, let alone taxes.
I've just finished reading the guide about the differences between LLC and C Corporations and I came here specifically to ask the community about it, only to find YOUR post. I'm excited about this coincidence!
The fact that Stripe works with Orrick to offer entrepreneurs guidance in all this is something that I admire, and I am sure Stripe succeeds because it helps other organizations succeed.
The incorporation item that I wanted to ask about is the item pertaining to "IP assignment" as mentioned here: https://stripe.com/atlas/guides/llc-vs-c-corp
The clause says: "The Stripe Atlas LLC contains an IP assignment in its Operating Agreement assigning relevant IP that has already been created and is held by the members to the LLC at the time the LLC is formed."
It got me worried the LLC will now own everything I own as a person, and selling the company (or the transfer of the company's ownership in any other way) will include rights to IP I've created before and also what I created for the company!
My guess is that this isn't the case, but the clause says "[...] relevant IP that has already been created [...]"
I realize this is a hybrid comment/question, so I appreciate any response.
Thanks and best regards
I've owned LLCs in the past and, as an author and software developer whose career has spanned ~5 companies and will likely span more, I can empathize with the concern about making sure that IP ownership is predictable and reasonably scoped.
When my LLCs and I divvied up IP that I had created, I was relatively unconcerned about the LLCs attempting to do things injurious to my interests because, at the end of the day, I controlled the LLCs. It would be exceedingly unlikely for an entity I controlled to claim ownership of something I had done which I would not expect the entity to own, while at the entity.
Supposing I were to sell an entity, which of course sells the IP inside of it, there would be a protracted negotiation with the buyer of that entity, which (both times I did it) included exhaustively listing everything that was going along in the sale. Both times I did it, the buyer and I, in consultation with our lawyers, negotiated a clause which said (briefly non-professional gloss here): "Everything on this list transfers. Nothing that is not on this list transfers without being specifically agreed to in writing by both parties."
Note that, generally, LLCs are a creature of contract law and that one can sign all sorts of contracts after creating them.
Kudos on being detail-oriented with regards to a detail that matters!
Thanks for taking the time to read it and replying!
What you say makes sense to me. The LLC is a legal entity strongly connected to its owners, and in my case, it's just me. I'm not worried the LLC might take action not in my interest, but my mind actually went into a direction where, for example, for some crazy reason, control of the LLC somehow is "taken" from me.
I feel embarrassed saying something like this; as an an entrepreneur I should have a more optimistic perspective (but I will keep going even if I'm worried or uncertain). The thing is that the world of "technical" and "political" law related things can be vicious and I am always cautious about legal agreements (because you do have to abide to them).
My business is nothing controversial. It's a normal SAAS that targeted towards e-commerce shops.
I don’t know if this is relevant but i’d like an option with Stripe to have free trials but without needing a card upfront.
Granted this is not THAT difficult to handle at the app level, but given that Stripe is so awesome I don’t think it’s outwith their skills to come up with a solution for this.
This is supported :)
Sorry I should have been clearer. I am looking for this functionality with the need to enter a card upfront.
@Primer let me know if I'm missing something about your question, but that's supported as well. you can start a subscription on a customer that does not have a card attached to it, as long as that subscription is starting as a trial.
I use Chargebee.
Stripe Billing to handle VAT would be a dream.
It's coming!
🎉That’s amazing
Hi @PatrickC
More feedback :D
I recently started the Stripe Atlas joining process. Everything seemed very smooth, even with some quick emails going back and forth (to upload another ID and then to confirm I want an LLC)
The questionnaire step was a bump. First, I didn't understand some of the technical banking terms used (e.g. ACH payments, wire transfers) and some estimates (expected market regions and percentage of expected payment types).
I had to read a little to understand how to answer the survey. Turns out that ACH payments are the way banks settle credit card payments (not sure if it applies to debit cards). Why can't the question just ask about bank cards (debit or credit)? Not that I am upset I learned something new.
I am totally ok answering this, and I understand the bank needs this, but what I found strange is that I'm setting Stripe Atlas to use Stripe to accept online payments which essentially means credit and debit card payments.
This gives Stripe all the information to know technically (from the banking perspective) what kind of payments I expect to receive.
When I asked about the questionnaire, the answer wasn't really helpful (it was as much of a guess as my very own question, and I was suggested to contact Atlas). Stripe should know how Stripe sends money the bank account that I set up with Stripe Atlas. Am I right, or am I missing something major here?
Now that I answered the questionnaire and replied saying that I did so, I'm not sure what happened since a couple of weeks. Haven't gotten any reply. Not sure if I messed up something in my questionnaire responses? Or is it the LLC thing taking more time since it is Beta.
I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining because I'm not really. Stripe is still amazing in my eyes and I'll just send a follow up email regarding my case now.
Cheers
Nice ideas shared, but I do fill that most of those are more related to as " Feature Requests " for a specific startup, or specific needs, but not focused on the " General Good ".
After following a lot of Indie Hackers and startups, there are needs that stripe is not covering and it should.
Validation for the CC ( if they are active CC or it has funds - any funds ). The number #1 reason of failed charges is that because cards have no funds at all or bank decline payments. If there was a way to validate that, it would save us a LOT of churn. And no, the 0$ / 1$ authorization does not work, because after reaching around 100K we still have a lot of failed monthly charges and those come ( based on my review ) of those reasons.
Split Payments. A bit issue is that a lot of CreditCards have limit. Stripe, does not support an option to split a payment into parts. Why? As a churn reduction reason also of-course. Why cant I split a payment into parts, when it is for example 2K, to avoid the account been cancelled and have the user still been a client of mine :)
Emails recipes to have custom options / editing, like text to be added.
Just realized Indie Hackers is a Stripe website (just saw this https://www.indiehackers.com/blog/acquired-by-stripe).
I thought it's just that @csallen happens to work at Stripe! Cool! Fit great together.
Setting one currency and displaying the local amount based on IP would be nice.
@Primer would you be comfortable with the fact that your customer's price would fluctuate if you were doing that?
As my app involves rebates, Stripe denied our account without consideration. It was really devastating at the time as I really like their feature set. But, in the end, it was for the best because I discovered Dwolla whom is really easy to work with and charges by API call rather than a percentage.
Thanks, @PatrickC !
My first customer paid me by Paypal because it was easiest. I just had to share my email address. I've taken payment from several customers via Stripe Billing in the past couple of weeks, though, and it has been much simpler than the docs had me concerned it would be. It's a very simple integration though, and I haven't implemented that much on my side.
I have two ideas to improve the early process:
Support emerging languages, specifically Elixir and Rust!
Allow email to be used as a drop-in replacement for web hooks.
I know there's some burden involved with supporting more programming languages as first class citizens, but at this point, Stripe is so gigantic, that it's hard to see how it's not worth it to support the up and coming languages.
Implementing web hooks can be a hassle early on. Since a lot of new companies start by doing many things manually, communicating the same information via email is good enough for the first 10 or even 100 customers in many cases. If the emails have a structured format, founders could even set up something with Zapier or IFTTT to automate everything without ever needing to deal with verifying a
Stripe-Signature, etc.Hey @alchemist, you might want to have a look at an app we’re making, and which gives you real time notifications of failed charges (and more) without setting up anything: https://CashNotify.com. I have a feeling it could be helpful.
@alchemist at you what point did you move from Paypal to Stripe billing, and why?
Your "email as webhooks" idea is interesting! Which webhooks would you like to see as emails, and how would you imagine actioning them (either manually or via Zapier/IFTTT)?
The low hanging fruit is just catching payment failures. After that, would be catching subscription state changes.
Each person will deal with webhook responses differently (e.g. changing a flag on the customer's user record inside your database, emailing the customer, etc). Regardless of how you want to handle them, you can manually do the same thing for the first handful of customers that you would later automate for everyone.
What I would do on a failed payment is:
Email the customer about it (and cc it myself)
Set the
is_memberflag on the relevant user record in my DB tofalse.I moved from PayPal to Stripe once I was ready to automate subscriptions. For a one-off payment, nothing is more convenient than PayPal, but using their API is painful according to everyone who has talked to me about it.
Hi there - One thing that would be really helpful is something that would walk through the different ways to configure the text / description of what will show up on an Customer's bill. For example, there can be individual, subscription level text that is configured to show up, but then there is overall / company level text identifying the name of the company. When the name of the company is different than the particular subscription - it isn't always clear which text will show and which will take precedence. My guess is that credit card's / banks will also play a role in what they display on a bill, so I realize this will be difficult. I was going to start testing this out / showing the results for different credit cards, e.g. amex shows this, USAA shows that.. type of thing - but I thought I'd ask here first - maybe there is a better resource that already exists.