Project Turned down by Stripe
by 4lien_devI'm quite sad to announce that the SubsCrypto project has ben turned down even though it was profitable due to the payment processor Stripe. But no worries, we' ll come back stronger.💪
As a newbie indie hacker, and SubsCrypto being the first project that generated me revenue, I was not very experienced in terms of managing payments, specially taking care of fraudulent payments 💳🕵️, which are the cause that made Stripe rate my company as not sustainable❌. Apparently, it's the company who has to prevent the fraud and block all incoming suspicious payments, and not Stripe as I though (I discovered that there are a few measures that you can take from Stripe's dashboard, but some people report that they are insufficient). My site, being a DCA as a service (getting Bitcoin based on a monthly payment), was seen by scammers and fraudsters as a way to convert their cash into crypto, but of course this was not the goal of my app.
Anyways, I have seen that even @levelsio complains about that https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1652300067272003584?t=oOWwUr_5yfVO8wC-RfVHfw&s=19 so that makes me feel a bit better as I thought I was doing something wrong.
Now what? Well, I will research for alternatives to Stripe, such as Gumroad (even though I have seen many people complaining about its high fees), or even implementing a simple form made by me and processing the payment with Paypal or Revolut (yes, Revolut allows you to receive money paid by card through a simple link, just like Stripe). After choosing a winner, I will implement it on the app and make sure that no more fraudulent payments go through. I really believe in this project and will get it back running soon! ✅📈
-
3
I learned this lesson the hard way as well. Stripe shut me down because I was a "crypto company", gave me a 10 day notice, then shut off my payment services 2 days after receiving the warning email. I had to scramble to replace the functionality. It was not a fun experience. I now always support AT LEAST two payment processors whenever I launch a new product.
For those of you that run crypto projects, I recommend Circle and Square. Their services are not nearly as mature as Stripe, but you get direct access to crypto conversions and stable coins.
-
1
Wow thanks a lot for the information. I just read this after I set up the whole process again with Sqaure, so I guess I was lucky.
Will see how it goes now, but as you say maybe it's a good idea tu support multiple payment methods
-
-
2
The payments industry is a big fat scam. Everyone just pushing the liability to the weakest link. Fradulent payments and chargebacks have, obviously, become merchants' problems. Makes complete sense, right? card issuers have laxed security and it is the guy selling ice cream that needs to implement 3d secure, validate customer information, do KYC and decline business from customers that "feel suspicious" for wearing a VPN. The payments industry is probably the most fiat of fiat industries.
It's sad to see your DCA service not working out due to payment processing but unfortunately that will be the fate of all businesses that arbitrage risk: you take risky fiat on your end to give customers safe Bitcoin on the other.
But don't let that bring you down! there are many more businesses you can build and accept bitcoin (reversing the risk scale)
-
1
That's great advice! Thanks for your comment, and yes I learnt how scammy the payment industry is... Quite sad :(
-
-
2
You need find a payment gateway which is Crypto friendly. Maybe try Coingate, BitPay.
Stripe sometime doesn't even allow Ecom store, so getting approval for Crypto is tough.
-
1
That is actually a great idea and another indie hacker contacted me to help me support crypto payments. That was not the main idea, but I'll try if it works!
-
-
2
Don't quote me on this, but try Monzo. I would talk to them directly first before signing up though.
-
1
Never heard of it before, I will research it, thanks!
-
-
1
This comment was deleted 2 years ago.
-
1
Sure :) write me on Telegram at ferran_dev
-
