Stripe is cheaper than most other processors and charges a flat rate for the transaction, regardless of the upstream cost. Amex is more expensive than Visa for example. A fact of doing business is that things will go up in price, as I'm sure your company also raises prices from time to time.
I think what is being mentioned is that Stripe started keeping the original transaction fees on refunds. In my opinion this is borderline fraudulent since visa/mc/amex do not keep these charges and refund them back to Stripe.
You do realize that this is a free market? If visa/mc/amex are so much better, people can use them. Charging a flat fee for a service doesn't seem that fraudulent to me.
Based on your comment you're clearly not a Stripe user, so I'm not sure why you felt the need to post this.
If visa/mc/amex are so much better, people can use them.
Stripe uses visa/mc/amex, it is not a competitor. You completely missed my point. Stripe uses visa/mc/amex to process credit card transactions, then when a refund is issued the CC companies return the charged amount to Stripe, but Stripe does not return the full amount back to the customer. They keep a percentage. This is what I consider "borderline fraudulent".
Charging a flat fee for a service doesn't seem that fraudulent to me.
But it is not a flat fee. They keep a percentage of the refunded amount. So if a customer bought a $1000 item, then changed their mind and cancelled the order 5 min later, Stripe would still keep $40 just for the fun of it. A small flat fee to cover network expenses would be more appropriate, not a percentage of the amount.
So you have to charge $1000 + ($40 * % of users who return + cushion) for the product. That means non-Stripe businesses can start to out-compete you on cost.
What makes it so that Stripe has such a unique position and can impact your costs and competitiveness to such a large degree?
> A small flat fee to cover network expenses would be more appropriate
That sure seems like the solution a free market in processing would settle on. Something is up.
So you have to charge $1000 + ($40 % of users who return + cushion) for the product. That means non-Stripe businesses can start to out-compete you on cost.*
If you charge your customers more you will still end up paying more. The $40 was based on a 4% fee. (I'd like to make a correction, as in my case it is actually 3.5%)
What makes it so that Stripe has such a unique position and can impact your costs and competitiveness to such a large degree?
Stripe and PayPal are the biggest players in this space. There are others but they are either built on top of these two or do not have the easy API's and/or integration with other 3rd party services. PayPal was the first to start keeping the fees for refunds, and then Stripe followed.
Stripe is a great company otherwise, and I will continue being a customer but that doesn't mean that I can't get upset over such an blatant money grab.
I am the CTO of a semi-successful startup but I believe, this is actually my biggest cause of stress and depression. I have been a software developer for roughly 8 years so I am still learning a lot. I was able to scale the company to handle hundreds of thousands of photos a day but the second I hired a more senior developer I find myself feeling like an imposter. I am always second-guessing myself, how I name things, how I am organizing my code to the point where I really start to become unproductive. I worry that the more senior developer is judging me or something, even though he is pretty laid back. In my personal life, I am spread way too thin due to debt from medical bills and a growing family. I find it takes a toll on me physically, which ironically, leads to more medical bills. I feel like I am stuck at my current company and in my current position. I wish I could get back to just being a software developer without all of the CTO stuff. I always feel bad complaining about these things because they seem so first-world, but it is constantly on my mind. I am just waiting for the day we make an exit and I can do something else.
I'm way less experienced than you but I can tell you without doubt: as a CTO you are not expected to be the best developer/technical person in your organization. You're supposed to have good enough skills to understand what's going on and "rockstar ninja 10x" (lol) planning and communication skills, to act as a bridge between the technical team and customers/CEO, and to make sure you provide your team with anything they might need to get their work done, including moral support.
A leader is supposed to bring smart people together, not be the smartest guy in the room.
I'm really sorry to hear what you are going through, I can't offer you any sage words of wisdom. Just solidarity and recognition of the difficulty you must be having.
I honestly have no clue what I would do in that situation. All I know is circumstances change over time. Also, you hired him because he is good, that speaks to your judgement as CTO.
EDIT: Personally I tend to feel like someone who is more competent than me in a specfic area is secretly judging me, I've rarely found that to be the truth. I'm not a mind reader, but my brain tends to act like I am one.
Life's Plot Twist = Most people in C-level positions are "making it up as they go along". Don't worry too much if you are not doing a "perfect" job as a CTO. I consult for a various companies and it amazes me that you can do everything wrong (sometimes illegal) and still make millions. I try to convince these companies that if they did everything right, they can make so much more money. I too wish I could go back to being a developer. Being a consultant feels like you are getting paid lunch money to do everyone else's high-school homework.
Is it just me or this is thing ugly? I think the price tag associated with it will make it hard for most to justify when you can, in my opinion, get a much better-looking car for less money that has a proven track record and AutoPilot. I am happy to see more EV companies popping up, but I think they need a consumer grade car or something really game-changing to get their start.
I use a Mac because they come with a bunch of tools that I need out of the box and are easy to use. The interface is nice and I am comfortable with it. On top of that, I have had the same MBP for 7 years. I have never been able to make a computer last 7 years before buying a MBP.
I recently went through a change where I manage people but still try to code and I don't enjoy it at all. I also prefer to code rather than manage the politics and emotions of the developers I manage. I hope I can move back to coding full time at some point but we're a startup and I'm the CTO so I'm nervous that won't be the case. If you're able to make the change back I would just tell them you don't enjoy your current role and go back to being a developer. You don't have to be unhappy just to make your team happy. There are others that will manage them just as well and will enjoy it.
I’ve read it’s common for the employees to realize that they are working on world changing projects and thus work the crazy hours. They believe in the greater good and give their time to the project.
Retro is not automatically bad because hipsters like it. Also, "hipsters" did not exist prior to 10 years ago. They've been doing this for a whole lot longer than that.
Our app, CompanyCam, is entirely React Native. We did write some bridges for our camera, but you can still lay it out in React Native so its mainly React Native.
