Ask HN: I don’t have a company, how can I be paid on the internet? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I don’t have a company, how can I be paid on the internet?

51 pointsnapolux32 comments

As per title. I would like to test some ideas online but I don’t have a registered company. How can I accept payments on a website as an individual with something similar to stripe or more complex e-commerce solutions like Shopify?

I would like to avoid crypto if possible

Is PayPal.me viable? Or is there something I’m not aware of?

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PayPal is dangerous they say [0]...

[0] https://minifree.org/paypal/

If you're in a country where Stripe allows account with Sole proprietorship, then it's the best away ahead. Having access to API and underlying implementation is game changing if you're doing online ecom.

Otherwise you may look into Gumroad. It hides away all the implementation and pays you directly into Paypal account. But I am not so sure about the Shopify integration part.

Uh, thanks! I totally forgot about gumroad!

Gumroad is pretty great, but definitely check out some of their competitors https://www.producthunt.com/alternatives/gumroad some of them are also amazing.

I really prefer Payhip over Gumroad, mostly because I'm in the EU. Thread: https://twitter.com/m_herrmann/status/1153387040714711040?s=...

Thanks!!!! Looks cool!

What do you have against Stripe? Normally, and I believe it does in Italy, it supports sole proprietors. Otherwise, use Square, Gumroad, Amazon Payments, Authorize.net, or any other payment processor. Paypal.me would normally be good, but in the event of refunds, you are still liable for the 2.9% + 30c fee typically assessed on transactions, and they can freeze your account at any time. I assume that in Europe, as they are registered as a bank, they are required to have more accountability, but I'm not sure.

Are you looking for a one stop solution like Gumroad or something more like Stripe?

Nothing against stripe, but in Italy they don’t accept sole proprietors AFAIK

Before the Internet if you wanted to sell things via mail or other remote method, money orders were a good way to pay for it. It doesn't carry the same consumer protections as credit cards or PayPal, and I'm sure it's not workable for things in the thousands of dollars, but it worked. I bought many things through mail order in the 90's with money orders before online shopping became ubiquitous and expected.

You can accept payments via paypal as a person too. Check if there is a threshold of income/year up to which you don't need to register as a sole entrepreneur or company in your country.

I use https://www.buymeacoffee.com/

I think if you do some research, you can find similar services with lower fees.

There is a non-zero chance PayPal will steal your money, but if you're just testing some ideas before registering a proper corp you might as well go that route.

Can you use Square? A lot of local merchants use it to sell handmade goods, and I'm sure they aren't registering companies to do this.

Sounds like you pretty much have it. Set up a Stripe/Shopify/PayPal/etc. account for free and hack shit. There are no rules. Or there are some rules - the most important one being that you solve user's problems. If 3.5% vs 2.5% is a problem for you early on, you probably have other problems...

PayPal.me is really easy to integrate. By far the easiest of all, however, you get no callback. This is a showstopper for most and also recurring payments aren’t possible either. I used paypal.me for both my apps; gif.com.ai and 2fb.me just because it was the most direct way for a chance to be paid over the web.

DON'T. USE. PAYPAL.

Qwil is fantastic, take a look here: https://www.qwil.co/freelancers

You can also use Mollie payments, they just transfer the amount to your account. Similar to stripe.

How about getting a company?

Not the OP, but I have similar problems as I don't have a fixed address, or even country of residence. I can get around that by hiring a postal address (...I think). Either way, it's not as easy as "just fill in a form" and there are real costs (probably more than the income it'll give me).

(after that, there's the entire hassle of taxes. I don't mind paying them but at this point I have no idea who to...)

In my country is not as simple/cheap as in other countries. Thanks

"Italian web developer."

I was expecting something along the lines of Angola, or Salvador. In your case, Italy is Europe. Open a UK Ltd, or an Estonian Entity. Before you will have to worry about anything related to "esterovestizione" you'll already know whether the company is actually working or not. If you start to have cashflow, get an accountant, if you file your taxes in Italy, and there's nothing shady about the Company, you're doing nothing wrong.

In most countries, technically, a 6 year old’s lemonade stand needs a license and to pay taxes on their 72 cents in profit.

But nobody really cares about either.

Until it becomes a business, it’s a hobby. If you’re not earning thousands in revenue per year, treat it like a hobby.

Obviously, lots of caveats with that approach (e.g. your product has a high chance of killing someone), but meh, just start.

Nah, dunno if you're italian man, but "esterovestizione" is kinda peculiar.

I would like to experiment (and pay taxes on profits, if any, as a person), then open a proper italian company.

Then get a "partita Iva". It's free to open, allows you to invoice people and companies and pay taxes.

Plus 3K euros/year for nothing at INPS. Plus 2k/year for an accountant

I did the math already.

Well, you did it wrong then. Unless you already had a partita Iva, we are talking about 5% tax on 67% of your income (depending on the activity you want to perform) plus about 25% inps for gestione separata with no ninum. That means that if you don't have taxable income from the Partita Iva, you are paying no taxes. The accountant is going to cost you less than 400 yearly if you pick a decent one (like the guys at fiscozen).

My advice is to do some more math and research and maybe being more open to advices ;)

By the way, opening an srl in Italy can be done autonomously without the need of the notary by following online wizards like the one from iubenda. It's kind of cheap and gives you limited liability. Saying that opening a company is complex makes me think you kind of don't understand how complex running a business is.

Having opened a company and managed it for years around 2008/09 I’m quite sure I know how it is. ;)

I want to run some experiments, easily and fast. If not 100% needed I don’t want to invest time and resources in managing a company, for what probably is going to fail really fast.

Never really looked into SRLs or similar recently. Thanks!

why avoid crypto?

I'm willing to sell something to "normal" people and crypto are kinda complex.

there are several services that you can use. You can accept fiat from them and get crypto for you etc. BitPay and others provide these things. Not sure what the requirements are though. In regards of "normal", 3B will start using Libra at some point so.. that's another discussion :)

I’ll have a look at bitpay, thanks!

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