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Comment by valueprop | Hacker News Reader

Stripe, please, please, invest in a better PayPal alternative. That is:

* let people hold money into their Stripe account instead of transferring to a bank immediately

* let people transfer money from their Stripe balance to any other account's Stripe balance for free (PayPal charges a fee for "cross-border" transactions)

* make it possible for marketplaces to pay their workers through Stripe (PayPal and sometimes Payoneer are the only choices now). Workers can then withdraw to their bank accounts from Stripe balance, or use it to pay directly for other stuff on the web

* have a low commission for merchants, if not free, for payments of goods using Stripe balance

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If they hold money in their Stripe account, it would transform Stripe into a money transmitter. The regulations involved are completely different and immense and would change Stripe into a different company. Also, the regulations are different for every state they're in, with different requirements on the board of directors (like NY state). A lot of the things they do as a processor right now would be impossible if they turned into a money transmitter. They would turn into Paypal not because they want to, but because the regulators would force them. Including everything that's bad about Paypal.

Didn't realize it. Thanks for the insight.

> Including everything that's bad about Paypal

Not everything that's bad. A sucky API and UI isn't because of regulations.

You're the guy who thinks the Porsche could be improved by adding a flatbed, another row of seats, and a lift kit with mudding tires.

If you want paypal, why not use PayPal?! You think Stripe could turn into an multinational bank/processor/transmitter/card network/tokenizer/anti-money laundering quasi governmental entity plus whatever the hell else PayPal is without having the same problems PayPal does?

Why is transferring to a bank immediately beneficial?

I've read of stories of people getting burnt by getting significant amounts of money frozen that they had left in their merchant PayPal accounts (without transferring it to a bank) for inane reasons. Not holding on to the money eliminates that worry and builds trust, doesn't it?

While you're at it, let me add one to your list

* allow true multicurrency operation - a Stripe client in any country should be able to accept funds in any currency Stripe supports.

Case in point, as a Canadian, I can accept only USD or CAD. But I have clients in the UK, and am stuck using Paypal to accept GBP directly.

(I work at Stripe.) We're working on it! What's your email? I'll let you know once this is live. (Alternatively, feel free to shoot me an email: lachy@stripe.com)

I thought you could already do this? I use Stripe in the UK, and can accept multiple currencies. I can also set up multiple bank accounts for deposits in each of those currencies (although I do not at the moment). I suppose this varies by country?

The Collison's will probably use this money for growth & new products. Growth in the form of country expansion and new products which are probably along the lines of something like "Radar" and less like a full scale PayPal alternative. Upending PayPal is much harder than it looks, despite their long term threat to Stripe's business.

This sounds like Square Cash?

Which didn't work well for me, so it would be nice to see Stripe get into that space. When I linked my Square Cash account to a Chase debit card about a year ago, one or two friends were able to pay me but the next ones only saw weird errors on their end and when I contacted support, it took them forever to get back to me and eventually they emailed to say my account was being closed due to suspicious activity. No answers, no help, nada. Who would trust their financial transactions to a service like that? So yeah, go get 'em Stripe!

I'm assuming by "cross-border" that you mean across currencies. You really expect a company to do foreign exchange for free?

Foreign exchange can easily be "done for free" by properly setting the exchange rate. All Stripe has to do is publish an exchange rate that is a 0.N% deviation from the current market rate and they'll cover their costs, have a profit, and provide a "free" service. This would likely be significantly cheaper than international wires.

Nope - it is a fee for money that travels between PayPal users in different countries. It's about 1% for Canadian accounts, depending on the payment's source or destination [1].

[1] https://www.paypal.com/ca/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees

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