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So Hackernews is once again the only way to truly get proper stripe support?

This is actually really concerning at this point.

As they grow, it will become like google - even willing employees helpless to escalate internally

I'm just happy to be in an exclusive club that can request stripe support on demand.

There's a 2016 cutoff unfortunately. Anyone joining after that date does not get the premium HN VIP support package.

Our messages go to /dev/null with the rest of the plebs.

And those of us who recycle our social media accounts routinely are just SOL.

What exact date of 2016 we are talking here?

September 13, 2016 when sama became president of YC Group.

Great news, thank you, I am eligible!

Always has been.

While not ideal, it's cool and I think companies definitely keep an eye on HackerNews thanks to the moderation! Once I read more of Dang's moderation comments I realized how deeply he cares about HN. He takes time to explain his view point (which can also change over time), he answers emails, he develops new features to fight spam. I value that more than changing the website layout, dark-mode, font-size.

It's not cool. It shows that companies like Stripe care more about public image than actually delivering a quality product/service

This is standard corporate strategy nowadays. Instead of staffing up expensive customer service departments they wait for posts to go viral on Twitter, Reddit, HN etc. and only handle those.

Externalize triage costs to public forums. Prioritize human support for high profile social media users and viral posts. Reap good PR of solving the problem publicly. Forum owners like this too because it underlines their community value. Win win win (unless you don’t have social media clout).

Thanks very much for mentioning Astiga. I am the 'author' you mention, but I only just saw this because I only consume HN via Hacker Daily, so I'm a day behind.

When I saw your headline though, I almost choked on my coffee. We use Stripe too, but as you mention we aren't a locker, we just connect to the user's pre-existing cloud storage (including self hosted if you have that Internet accessible). That said these kind of corporate decrees are often pretty unsubtle and we could easily get caught up in this. I've had enough "policy" nightmares with Paypal and Google to instill a sense of dread when these black box titans change their mind about something and expect you to dance to their tune.

> This service is different in that it lets you hook it up to your own cloud storage. I am only now realizing why this is such a brilliant idea.

I should mention it's not my idea originally - I purchased the service almost two years ago from this guy: https://koenvh.nl/en/ . Funny story really: https://community.asti.ga/discussion/378/astigas-new-owner

One thing I would strongly recommend. GET OFF STRIPE. Talk to a proper bank like USBank or Chase. It is not hard to integrate with their payment processor. They WILL send you through proper underwriting and will have your back. At least they had and continues to have mine with a firearms business.

Let me be also very clear. When you are going through underwriting, you will feel at times that this was a colossally bad idea, but it pays off its trouble in gold.

What tech do you use to integrate it with your apps? Especially ones that seem to greatly prefer Stripe? Chase has been a solid bank for us but I'd like to not mix my payment processor and bank in case things go south. What are your rates? Do you have to pay monthly gateway fees or minimums? How long did the underwriting process take and what were the major headaches?

My web store runs WooCommerce and there are multiple plugins maintained by the processor that makes the payment processing seamless. They also provide SDKs for many popular frameworks for the integration.

Rate wise, I pay about 2.8% + 0.15c. Obviously different mechanisms (dipped vs typed vs internet) have different rates. There are no monthly gateway fees. The underwriting took about 3 weeks, but again I was very prompt in answering followup questions. I did not feel any additional headaches that I already did not anticipate due to the underwriting process. They did ask for a lot of documentation (that I totally expected them to ask and in my opinion is very relevant), licensing and such but again I am operating in a VERY regulated industry. They did want some clarification of business processes since they were not 100% familiar with selling guns online and in person. But I will say, they were very interested in understanding my requirements and help me do things according to the published laws and guidelines. Feel free to write to me at my hn_username at 80386 dot org if you want to chat. I would love to help with this if you are interested.

You do not need to mix your bank and payment processor. For example, my credit/debit card stack is USBank + Elavon but I bank with Navy Federal. I don't even have a checking account with USBank.

Thanks! I'll definitely reach out as I'm getting closer to the 2nd bank alternative for sure. I'm on Woocommerce as well. Is this Paymentech? You have a business bank account with Navy Federal? Lots of questions ;)

Email me and we will discuss more. :)

Right, to anyone looking for alternatives, check out FISGlobal/Worldplay. They have a payment product that is "closer" to the card network, so it can be cheaper than Stripe.

I would say, they are not Stripe, yet. Unless you go through underwriting, it means nothing.

Also, they just failed a basic sniff test. I called their 800 number to ask if they would work with a firearms business and reached a voicemail. They say department is available between 8AM and 8PM Eastern. It is just after 6PM eastern right now. That does not instill a lot of confidence.

happy to hear it worked out and that other users have provided some great options other than going straight to OS(ing) it. best of luck on your future.