[HN Gopher] FastSpring Risk Screening
___________________________________________________________________
FastSpring Risk Screening
Author : kruuuder
Score : 28 points
Date : 2023-12-07 22:47 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (mjtsai.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (mjtsai.com)
| davedx wrote:
| I don't know why anyone would rely on a payment processor that
| seems incapable of taking credit card payments for their own
| service.
|
| As in this case it's being used as a backup provider, you're not
| likely to know how well they'll handle processing if your primary
| provider has issues. Given that this happened, I would question
| the wisdom of remaining with them?
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| Over the 22 years I was selling software online I went through
| four different payment processors (swreg, regnow, blue snap and
| avangate). In the end I decided they are all a bit shit in
| their own way. Changing again is a lot of pain for some
| slightly different problems.
| newaccount74 wrote:
| I recently switched from FastSpring to MyCommerce, but they
| turned out to be crappy in a similar way. While their store
| seems more reliable, they are really expensive because they
| charge a hidden 5% fee on all foreign currencies (they charged
| 8-10%, then I complained and they dropped it to 5%). That's on
| top of their regular fees.
|
| At least I didn't switch to WireCard (I had an offer from them,
| it sounded pretty good but their API seemed a bit half assed,
| so I was sceptical, then the scandal blew up, fortunately
| before I got set up with them).
|
| Paddle seemed pretty sleazy, and switching to a UK company
| during Brexit also seemed like a bad idea.
|
| Anyway, these vendors are all a bit crappy, but they are
| probably still cheaper / easier than doing it all yourself...
| alex_suzuki wrote:
| Paddle has its seat in London but they also have a US company
| registration. Revenue from my US customers goes through
| Paddle in US. It has been working well for me so far, except
| for very long response times from their seller's support.
| mkup wrote:
| I've switched away from FastSpring in 2021, when they outsourced
| their payouts to Hyperwallet (for me this change meant double
| currency exchange USD -> EUR -> USD with associated double
| exchange fees). It looks like FastSpring rolled further downhill
| since then. This reminds me of Plimus/Bluesnap collapse: when
| this kind of company runs of cash, its tends to establish various
| funny fees before finally flipping up.
| handity wrote:
| After ten years using fastspring with no issues and decent sales
| volume, I received the same email. I categorically refuse to KYC
| by uploading a picture of my passport and allowing some algorithm
| to scan my face, and being asked to pay for the privilege is
| especially insulting. I allows my account to terminate. It
| remains to be seen whether they will keep my last two weeks of
| revenue also.
|
| I switched to Stripe for billing, where apparently I do not need
| to undergo such KYC. I expect that won't last forever, and don't
| know how long I can go on hopping services without uploading a
| passport photo.
|
| Modern KYC is an insanely invasive process carried out through
| insane methods, and I wish I saw it getting more pushback. Online
| ID verification should be done through zero knowledge proofs, if
| at all.
| traceroute66 wrote:
| Its not clear the point you are making here.
|
| If you are saying "I should not undergo KYC", then I'm afraid
| that boat sailed a long time ago. Be realistic. It is a
| necessary burden for both the customer and the provider.
|
| If you are saying "don't scan my face", then sadly you also
| have to be realistic because sadly $bad_guys have made
| "liveness" tests a necessity.
|
| Zero knowledge proofs might (eventually) be an option for the
| document-upload side, but is unlikely to ever be a solution to
| the "liveness" side.
| trevyn wrote:
| The point being made is that no, the boat has not sailed. It
| is not necessary. Your version of reality is one of
| submission.
|
| You cannot comply your way out of tyranny.
| orf wrote:
| Similarly, you cannot wish yourself out of reality.
| trevyn wrote:
| I think you missed the point. There are multiple
| realities, and you can choose which one to inhabit.
|
| A lot of people only see one reality, which is
| unfortunate.
|
| Edit: Minds on HN even simpler than I thought. Time for
| bed.
| orf wrote:
| I think you missed the point. There is one reality, and
| you can't choose to avoid it.
|
| A lot of people say they can pick their own reality, but
| really they are just spouting a mix of wishful, naive or
| downright silly nonsense that lacks any nuance or
| understanding.
| traceroute66 wrote:
| > There are multiple realities, and you can choose which
| one to inhabit.
|
| Meanwhile you appear to be living on a different planet
| altogether.
|
| So, let's do a quick check on your "no KYC" world shall
| we ?
|
| I can walk up to your bank and take all the money out of
| your account. You're perfectly OK with that ? Because
| that's what a no KYC world is.
|
| I can open up a bunch of credit cards in your name, spend
| like there's no tomorrow, with zero legal repercussions,
| leaving you riddled with debt. You're OK with that ?
| Because that's what a no KYC world is.
| handity wrote:
| Both. KYC, as justified by antiterrorism laws, is out of
| proportion for a small one-person business earning roughly a
| living wage.
|
| In the eventuality that KYC could be justified, it should be
| in the manner of Estonia and other European countries, who
| have managed to implement digital signatures without the
| insanity of validating infinitely reproducible pictures of
| paper ID documents from the last century, and relying on
| data-hungry third parties to process biometric data through
| "AI" black boxes.
| newaccount74 wrote:
| I'm not sure why you consider it invasive to confirm your
| identity to a business partner.
|
| A local bank wouldn't give you a bank account without you
| showing an id.
|
| Verifying that a business partner is who they claim to be is
| the most basic first step in fraud prevention.
|
| The passport uploading stuff is just an attempt to verify your
| identity over the web, since there is no global way to identify
| yourself digitally. A lot of countries have less invasive ways
| to confirm your identity. For example, in Austria we have
| digital signatures with a government app that sou can use to
| confirm your identity without revealing your passport. However,
| no global service supports it because it's a local solution.
| internet2000 wrote:
| Avoiding this kind of thing is part of why you're paying 30% to
| Apple / Google / Steam, etc.
| newaccount74 wrote:
| For small developers Apple charges only 15%.
|
| If you add up all the hidden fees from FastSpring (eg.
| intransparent currency exchange fees) then I'm not sure it's
| much cheaper than Apple.
|
| So if you are an indie, and just starting out, and you are
| looking for the most cost effective solution, then the App
| Store is actually a good deal.
|
| Only when you get to the 30% fee is when it pays off to look
| for other resellers....
| lapcat wrote:
| The main issue with the App Store isn't Apple's cut, it's all
| of the other rules and restrictions.
|
| A lot of Mac software can't even be sold in the Mac App Store
| because of sandboxing and other technical limitations. Then
| there are also the absurd, arbitrary business model
| limitations in the App Store. And of course, app review can
| reject you at any time for any reason or no good reason.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-12-10 23:01 UTC)