Now there's news about the whole Stripe raising more money [3], [4], [5], eyeing an exit within 12 months.
What does this mean for Stripe customers now and 12 months from now?
I would like my payment infra to be stable, boring, and profitable/sustainable. But the news is giving me mixed impressions...
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32261868
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32854528
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34233011
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/technology/stripe-thrive-funding.html
[4] https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/27/fintech-stripe-tried-to-raise-more-capital-at-a-55b-60b-valuation/
[5] https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/26/fintech-stripe-eyes-an-exit/
I moved all my clients off Stripe as a precautionary measure, and now in the process of moving our last Stripe account with 100+ Stripe Connect accounts away. It eventually just got to be comical how infuriating their ability to dodge responsibility became, or even just simply being helpful; i.e. "we can't unblock those payments or that account, it's just our policy because x,y, and z", or "we can't tell you what your transaction threshold is, or where you are at in it, and we can't increase it, or let you check via the API". IF YOU CAN'T DO ANY OF THAT FOR ME, WHY AM I PAYING YOU AND WHO DID YOU BUILD YOUR SYSTEM FOR? Answer: not you or me.
Stripe is a great way to get something quick and dirty off the ground, but you better have a plan or timeline from day one for replacing it.
Treat it like eating McDonalds. It's fine as a one-off to get you through a hard time, but as soon as you depend on it, you'll be in a world of hurt with no one else to blame.
I have 4 direct contacts with their cell phone numbers and also within an hour's drive of me.
I know that sounds crazy, and it isn't like I'm actually going to show up at their house or anything. That's not the important bit; what is important is that they get my business and the context I'm working in, and they get the context of all my clients, and they personally onboard each of my clients with me, and are the same contact month after month. If that sounds like old school and friction, you're right, it is. But it makes for a much smoother experience when anything abnormal (but legitimate, or authorized) happens down the road. For example, when a client has an unusually high transaction on Stripe, their mostly useless fraud detection blocks it, and also likely puts the whole account on hold. If you can even get a hold of support within a few days, after a few more days of automated responses, you have a different support agent on the end of each response. Now, not only do you get someone every few days, you also have to rehash the whole issue over and over again. After that, you have to go through endless hoops to prove who you are, your business legality, etc. Stripe is the arbiter of truth, and they hold your money until you've danced to their jig.
Contrast that with Gravity, where I'm usually one phone call away from direct support who is in my zip code and already knows all about me and my clients and their context, and if he's on vacation or busy, I have three backups. Plus their general support line, but I've never even needed that.
It's a refreshing concept from the "good ole days" when you actually personally knew the person responsible for making sure your payments work, and can fix it when they don't. It shouldn't have to be a concept though, or even rare. But it is, unfortunately.
Also, I don't work for gravity and never have, I've just been overly pleased with their gateway for 6+ years, as I've watched the Stripe train go from "can't do any wrong" to "whoa....watch out! Let that train pass..."
You want a merchant account from a bank + what ever processor they offer.
I'd think that would mitigate most of the risk, because then the gateway usually is a relatively neutral middleman-- the processors are more in contact with the actual money and more likely to be the true source of arbitrary and weird behaviour, so I can concur it makes sense to be less dependent on them.
It means that it will become just like PayPal. I would not sit on one payment gateway in the long run.
As companies age and become more mature, they tend to become more risk-averse. They also become slower moving. The exact opposite of a startup. And why startups can and have beat incumbents.
