Ask HN: Best payment gateway for small transactions?

2 pointsTallianar5y ago4 comments

I have a web app that offers a simple service for a one time fee of $0.99. Payment fees are killing me right now as almost 50% of the revenue is going to fees.

I pay $100/month + 3%/transaction + $0.3/transaction.

All the gateways I looked at seem to have a relatively similar fee structure. Because of the low price of the service the $0.3 fee is really huge.

I don't need a store or subscription billing or anything fancy, I just want the customer to pay and I get a ping on an webhook. I really can't increase the product price either. It's a small impulse purchase, making it more expensive would completely remove any appeal.

I looked at:

- Stripe

- Podia

- Gumroad

- Mollie

Any other suggestions? Thank you very much.

4 comments

ssimoni5y ago

I feel your pain. The flat cents make small online transactions hard to do.

If you can add a 30 cent transaction cost at checkout then you are just paying 2.9 percent on the cart price.

I know that isn’t a great answer to your question. “Raise prices”.

I do think there is room for pricing model innovation at the vendors you looked at. But I don’t see it happening in the next few years.

TallianarOP5y ago

That's a real shame... I will consider raising the prices but I am really worried about it because it's really just an impulse purchase for a very small thing and I feel like almost no one will be interested if the price is too high.

tobltobs5y ago

As far as I know there is nothing. If your customers do maybe buy your product multiple times you could sell credits (10x, 20x). If not you are out of luck.

TallianarOP5y ago

Guess I'm out of luck :/ thank you anyway!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

Ask HN: Best payment gateway for small transactions?

2 pointsTallianar5y ago4 comments

I have a web app that offers a simple service for a one time fee of $0.99. Payment fees are killing me right now as almost 50% of the revenue is going to fees.

I pay $100/month + 3%/transaction + $0.3/transaction.

All the gateways I looked at seem to have a relatively similar fee structure. Because of the low price of the service the $0.3 fee is really huge.

I looked at:

- Stripe

- Podia

- Gumroad

- Mollie

Any other suggestions? Thank you very much.

4 comments

ssimoni5y ago

I feel your pain. The flat cents make small online transactions hard to do.

If you can add a 30 cent transaction cost at checkout then you are just paying 2.9 percent on the cart price.

I know that isn’t a great answer to your question. “Raise prices”.

I do think there is room for pricing model innovation at the vendors you looked at. But I don’t see it happening in the next few years.

TallianarOP5y ago

tobltobs5y ago

As far as I know there is nothing. If your customers do maybe buy your product multiple times you could sell credits (10x, 20x). If not you are out of luck.

TallianarOP5y ago

Guess I'm out of luck :/ thank you anyway!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse