Ready-made Stripe Checkout for freelancers

[dbielik]

Stripe recently launched this feature themselves! https://stripe.com/us/billing

You can set up subscriptions/invoices and send a stripe-hosted link (pay.stripe.com) for the customer to enter their billing.

And you don't need to do _any_ coding. So, I'm not sure what the benefit of this is over using Stripe directly. Am I missing something?

[DavideP86]

This is a good question. I will try to align the main differences (in my opinion):

1. Stripe invoice is part of the recurring billing process and isn’t intended for one-time charges. 2. Like other services, Stripe provides a payable invoice, instead, Wirize is a pre-integrated payment checkout. 3. Stripe invoice is available in the US only at the moment, instead, Wirize supports 20+ countries.

Please let me know if you've more questions.

[marak830]

Oh wow I didn't know about that, thanks!

[tom169]

I think it's fairly clear that judging by the comments, the design and use of the word "Stripe" make this seem like a Stripe product. You could well be infringing on their trademark.

[delinka]

"Connect your bank account to Wirize in just a few clicks (2-minute flow via Stripe)."

This reads to me like it's based on Stripe. And in that case, I don't think it's incorrect to call it "Stripe Checkout." However, I would like this called out at the top of the linked page.

[DavideP86]

Hi tom169, thank you for reporting it. It wasn't our intention to create confusion among the products! Wirize isn't a Stripe product, so we're going to perform some copy changes to clarify it.

[joelrunyon]

"free till beta"

I hate this stuff. Either make it free or let me pay you for it.

What sucks is switching over to it because you think it's saving money, then having them change the fee structure and you have to switch back.

[magic_beans]

I've never seen that before, and it seems like an insult. If it's only free for a certain amount of time, it's not "totally free" AT ALL. Really rubs me the wrong way.

[DavideP86]

Hi Joelrunyon, Thank you for your comment. Precisely we're still defining our pricing model! In my opinion isn't always correct to ask something if you don't know exactly the value of a product, especially from a customer perspective. Actually, If you use Wirize, you're going to pay just a Stripe fee per transaction, and when there will be a new pricing model, it will be very transparent for the customer.

[tomcatfish]

Would you rather pay for an unfinished product? They see value in allowing you to benefit from any utility while giving them testing data and a canvass of the market while they fill out the product. Charging now would cause a sense of entitlement in users that they probably aren't ready to handle yet

[gregoriol]

The pricing part is insane: "... is totally free till beta." => what does that mean?

How could one decide to use the service, without knowing when or how it will be priced?

[DavideP86]

Hi gregoriol, It means that we're still defining our pricing model, so during in beta the product is Free. Actually, If you use Wirize, you're going to pay just a Stripe fee per transaction, and when there will be a new pricing model, it will be very transparent for the customer.

[Cenk]

These services that are layers on top of Stripe really rub me the wrong way. I’m sure it’s useful to many people who want to take credit card payments but don’t know how to code up a Stripe integration themselves, but I really dislike the idea of having another middle-man between the user and Stripe.

[DavideP86]

Hi Cenk, Thanks for your comment. In order to integrate your own Stripe Checkout, don't you need a website? If so, you're going to have different middle-men like a hosting provider, domain provider, maybe a developer etc.. You're going to pay these services on a monthly basis, and theoretically just to get some payments. It's an alternative, and maybe a lot cheaper and faster than the one above. What do you think?

[amelius]

But note that, strictly speaking, Stripe itself is also a middle-man.

[dbielik]

I agree, and they've also built this themselves for people who don't know how to embed/integrate it.

[gregsadetsky]

I agree that the value of this is not perfectly clear, considering what the Stripe dashboard, and Stripe Billing specifically, offer.

I've been wondering for a while what are good Stripe Checkout backend solutions for static / "server-less" sites?

I've been deploying many micro static sites recently (using surge.sh -- plugging them as they're awesome) and whenever I wanted to add a Stripe Checkout JS integration, I was back at the problem of "what to do with the backend".

I usually end up writing a micro Python service, hosted on Heroku, that accepts a SKU, charges the Stripe token, and returns a (CORS-busting) json success/error payload.

I've seen flatmarket [1] which also exists in a deploy-to-Heroku-in-a-click version [2] but I remember having problems with it, and it doesn't look like it has been recently updated. It almost does what I'd like though: define your products in a JSON file, set your private Stripe key, done.

WooCommerce is definitely great -- for WordPress sites. I don't want to host a WP site. :-)

Any good, simple, hosted/self-hosted backend solutions for Stripe Checkout? It's not a M$ idea/potential, but would this help other people if I pursued this? I don't want to become a middlemen/third-party/Stripe Connect "merchant". I just want to charge the token and return {"success":true}!

Cheers

[1] https://github.com/christophercliff/flatmarket

[2] https://github.com/christophercliff/flatmarket-server-heroku

[nik736]

Something like this will never work in Germany. 99% of business transactions are done via a simple SEPA transfer, which doesn't incur any fees.

[DavideP86]

Hi Nik, You're totally right about Germany. I'm European too! Within domestic markets, a solution like SEPA is definitively convenient and fast, but from my personal experience, the game is totally different if we talk about international transfers. A bank wire from the UE to the US (for example), has high fixed costs, so it can become pretty uncomfortable and expensive for small and medium transactions. In a real scenario, if you require up to $1000, a tool like Wirize can be cheaper than a traditional bank wire. Please let me know if you've further questions.

[scrollaway]

If it uses Stripe Elements for this (the v3 api), there is support for a SEPA dialog in there.

[epanchin]

Do you have figures to back up this claim?

I understand for regular procurement the importance of cost saving. But in product development paying everything with bank transfers rather than with corporate cards sounds like a ballache.

[caiob]

I don't like being negative, and I applaud Stripe's initiative here, but this will never fly in Canada. We have Interac e-mail transfer up here which is easier and better at just about everything.

[timdorr]

This isn't a Stripe product. It only uses Stripe's APIs.

[DavideP86]

Hi caiob, Thanks for your comment. We are aware that Wirize can't compete against a domestic solution like Interac, but in several cases, freelancing is also about international payments. Is Interac convenient for no-domestic payments?

[giarc]

Except Interac e-transfer is a debit, not a credit. Therefore if someone wants to pay by credit card, Interac option is not available.

[desireco42]

Stripe checkout is so easy that I find it very few reasons to use services like this. I do appreciate convenience and I am not a person who likes to build everything by itself, but this is not a problem I or many of my friends have.

If others feel different, please chime in and explain your situation.

[DavideP86]

Hi desireco42, Thanks for your comment. The main difference is that if you go with Stripe directly, you need to integrate the checkout on your personal website, and it requires some code skills, and of course a functional website. Instead, Wirize is a ready-built tool (basically you don't need anything I pointed out above). Anyway, you're totally right, Stripe is very easy to use, but if you've just some one-time payment needs, maybe you don't need to set up a website just to integrate a checkout. What do you think?

[brandoncordell]

Is there supposed to be an animation on the example checkout in your header? If so it's extremely choppy for (new MBPr, i7, 16gb ram). It looks like it's unintentionally growing in size.

[philip1209]

Cool! I found the bank Azlo through Stripe Atlas's new LLC system, and it looks like they support invoices with Stripe payments just like this for freelancers.

[sudhirj]

Does the LLC version of Atlas give you an account with Azlo instead of SVB?

[the-dude]

How is this different from WooCommerce+Stripe except for another middleman?

edit: the beta is free, what will the pricing be?

[DavideP86]

Hi The-dude, Thank you for asking. If you go with WooCommerce+Stripe, you need a functional website, and you've to install WordPress, WooCommerce and at the end integrate Stripe Checkout. Instead, Wirize is a ready-made tool: You can have your own payment checkout in minutes, without a website or anything required above. What do you think?

[h3cate]

What's wrong with a normal bank transfer? Or the many payment apps like pingit?

[DavideP86]

Hi h3cate, Thanks for your comment. There is nothing wrong with bank transfers, and I use this method myself. As explained in another comment, a bank wire is a great solution for domestic payments, but it can be very expensive for international ones. In a real scenario, if you require up to $1000, a tool like Wirize can be cheaper than a traditional bank wire, because it doesn't have fixed costs, and you pay just a small fee per transaction.

[epanchin]

Do many staff have authority to make bank transfers? Are you suggesting they go to finance for every purchase?

[amelius]

Why does Stripe get a % of my income?

Why isn't this capped at, say, $10 or at most $50?

No other bank does this (they only take interest).

[giarc]

If your client pays with a credit card, you either pay the fees yourself or add them to the customers bill. You always pay this, just the % amount changes.

[acover]

I think stripe accepts credit cards. Credit cards charge a percentage.