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Comment by pc | Hacker News Reader

> I don't like companies abusing sites like Hacker News and posting links to their products.

For what it's worth: I work at Stripe, and we didn't submit this story. If you've any suggestions as to what we should do to make the submissions less annoying, I'm all ears.

I think it's just the case that a lot of people in the various countries tend to care. For example, to take another benchmark, Stripe was a Twitter trending topic in both Ireland and Dublin when we launched this morning: https://twitter.com/TrendsDublin/status/374809599691325440, https://twitter.com/TrendsIreland/status/374806974908477440.

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Don't spread FUD about competitors. Statements like this are incorrect: "Accepting internet payments involved weeks of setup, reams of paperwork, and bureaucratic approval processes"

Your rates are the same as every other damn payment processor, that's why I fail to see the excitement. I'd also be interested to know if you pay tax in any of the countries your service operates.

Sadly, it is not mere FUD for people based here in Ireland. (I agree that it was somewhat better in the US.) Here's what Liam Casey (CEO of PCH International[1]) said earlier: https://twitter.com/liamcasey/status/374690420556443650. He's speaking from personal experience. (I've talked to the engineers who were trying to set up that merchant account.)

And, yes; we charge VAT on our services in Europe; this goes straight to the government.

[1] http://enwp.org/PCH_International

Do you pay corporation tax in Europe?

If "stripe in Ireland", and an office in London then you should right?

Bingo!

If they do a Google they will claim that UK transactions are really Irish transactions and pay tax in Ireland.

If they do an Apple they will claim that their Irish company owes vast technology licensing fees to a company in Bermuda.

Net result is that revenue is shuffled around until it ends up in a tax haven, ready for future distribution when the political tax climate or personal circumstance of key shareholders allows.

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