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Comment by jjtheblunt | Hacker News Reader

They clearly say you can get a developer setup that should cost about 20 cents per month, so that might the new version of what you mention.

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That's a problem, because when you're teaching people to program you often find that anything that needs a credit card at all is a blocker.

Young people often don't have them. People from other countries often don't have one that works. People who work for organizations often don't have the ability to spend any money at all for work they are doing that relates to that organization.

Anyone who can't get a credit card or any legal way to pay Replit isn't gonna be a profitable customer, so I can't blame them for doing that.

Best data I can find is that only 50% of US parents have let their kid use a debit or credit card for online purchases (and many wouldn't do it again). I think it's incorrect to say that 50% of American kids should be written off.

(https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/kids-and-cred...)

Since each kid has 2 parents that means on average they will have 1 parent who will lend them a credit card for such a purchase.

That's short sighted. Getting a credit card when under 18 or an unemployed student isn't possible. Those are the people you want learning on your platform because later on they become your valuable knowledgeable customer.

I'm surprised there - I got a debit card at 14 from my bank, and that was a decade and a half ago!

A debit card can't be used like a credit card online unless you use services like paypal which have age requirements

I'm nearly 30 and only got a credit card like a year ago. Before then, I used a debit card for everything and never had a problem with it. Granted I'm in the UK where debit cards are way more common, but I use plenty of online American tech services.

Just a few months ago, I was able to get a Visa debit card for my two teens for their savings account with no hassle.

A debit card isn't a credit card and can't be used the same way online. You could get them credit cards under your existing account but if they fail to pay you will be responsible.

Many debit cards can be used online. It depends on the particular card and the network it's backed by. In fact I haven't had a debit card that couldn't be used for online purchases since around 2003.

I have a debit card but not a credit card (and can't get one). I'm locked out of many hosting services, which don't want to allow me to pay up-front. It's very American-centric and annoying.

i wonder if it's an admission that these hosting services don't have billing sophisticated enough to alart when you hit a limit, in this case of the debit card's available balance?

This is for hosting. Development remains free

Fantastic, thanks for clarifying.

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