How does one circumvent this hostility? Obviously it's possible, since Patreon and Drip exist, but I didn't know where to start. I still think my idea is worth a try, but I'm stuck.
How does one circumvent this hostility? Obviously it's possible, since Patreon and Drip exist, but I didn't know where to start. I still think my idea is worth a try, but I'm stuck.
Otherwise, it's a pretty complicated negotiation and certification process as in addition to the processor twitchiness there are a bunch of state wire transmission/money laundering laws that you are getting rather adjacent to that can be a mess to navigate.
That may make you a "money transmitter". I did a lot of reserch on whether every marketplace (Uber, TaskRabbit etc.) needs to get a money transmitter license.
It seems this is a grey area, and the answer is probably: no, you don't have to register, because you aren't just sending money but paying people for services.
Where it gets tricky is when services are "broadcast" to many people. Then you get into Online Courses territory. People can purchase subscriptions to your courses etc.
The short answer is, you can circumvent gateways by using permissionless currency networks like bitcoin and litecoin.
But what I want to know from the HN crowd is, what kind of hostility can Stripe have when they power marketplaces all the time??
We're in the process of integrating connect and when we started, it is was not a full-blown product yet.
Here's my experience so far:
Adyen.
Overwhelmingly hostile to startups. All telephone numbers get routed to support. So if you call sales, someone in support answers. The individual who answers the phone also has very basic knowledge of their product line.
Each office that I contacted (US, Europe/London and Europe/Amsterdam. All gave differing reasons why I was not suited. Where it last ended, because I wasn't doing $1m a month. I was not a suitable candidate for their services. Even though someone in the London office did mention I could email my business plan in, although there was no chain of custody and who knows who would be looking at it or when they would come back to me. I think they were really saying that to make me feel better.
So really. How can I get to $1m/month, if I cannot start?
Braintree.
Had good response with braintree, was about to pull the trigger. But then their marketplace solution has been superseded by paypal's new offering of marketplaces.
Paypal.
Called their business team and been forwarded to partnerships. Can't get a hold of their partnership team as they don't have an email or telephone number. 14 days has passed by and all I'm looking for is a simple yes or no. I have filled in their contact form (3 weeks ago) here: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/partner-program/contac... But never hear anything back.
Stripe.
Even though this was my initial provider to go with. It's currently a non-starter and I am leery to approach them. With no actual phone number to contact them on and previous email exchanges being less than steller and not having someone who actually could understand the business model. Note: Shopify is doing the same for heavens sake (yes I am frustrated lol).
Additionally, I am not in the US, so there is also the extra hurdle of having to go through stripe atlas. But again, not really wanting to forward my business plan into the void.
If Stripe had a phone number that I can call, I would investigate that possibility. Can't really understand when I can call lots of other finance companies. I can't get hold of Stripe directly.
Worldpay.
Didn't understand my business model. Even though they promote themselves as being able to deliver complex solutions. It was determined that they could not support my marketplace.
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Finally, if anyone is reading this and is from an acquirer in the US or perhaps from the companies mentioned above. Or perhaps a partner of stripe-atlas so I don't have to wait two weeks/direct contact. Please let me know. My forecast is that there will be a tipping point in the first year where I will be doing $5m a month.
The sad part here. The development of the platform/marketplace. This was the easy part. The difficult part, is finding someone high-up enough the ladder to see that they will be on-boarding a company who their closest competitor is now doing $100m a year. Where that competitor is tiny in the overall competitive space.
I'd like to dig into the previous emails you mentioned. Could you email me at edwin@stripe.com?
Phone support is great. Phone SALES, that would be even better.
Honestly, don't worry about the previous emails. They were in the latter part of 2016 and times have moved on. There is connect and Atlas that have answered part of the conversion back then.
After contacting 25 companies in the finance space both in the US and UK. I find better luck with discussing my business with someone not in support. With someone who can actually make a decision or has a direct route to a decision maker. I hope you can understand where I am coming from.
The whole area is a minefield of not just corporate support but also regulation, especially internationally.
I have seen that no limit coin can be purchased by Visa and there are stores in the US that take that for physical products.
So as Mike Tyson says: "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
Believe me, I've been punched quite often on this journey of mine. I'll happily investigate every path available.
While we generally work with many high-growth startups, our solution for marketplaces is designed for enterprise merchants. We are currently streamlining our processes in order to support startups on our marketplace solution.
-Lucas