An Online Payment Processor that Developers Love
For the past couple of years, the online payments industry has been experiencing a complete makeover with Square, PayPal, Google and even credit card companies looking to innovate to meet consumer (and developer) demand. San Francisco startup Stripe is proving to be a key player one virtual swipe at a time, disrupting the space with a platform that’s making web developers rejoice.
Since its founding in 2010, Stripe has set itself apart by providing a simple, developer-friendly alternative to accepting payments online for US and Canada businesses (sorry international friends, but have no fear, they plan to expand their reach soon). Citing that web transaction issues are rooted in code, not finance, the startup strives to help businesses create the best payment experience for both websites and mobile apps, eliminating the complexity associated with most online payment services.
One of Stripe’s biggest selling points is that its APIs allow developers to build their own payment forms, brand the experience and allow sites owners to remain on the site for the checkout experience. This means no more checking out on an outside site, which commonly results in a dropped transaction. Our developers at IZEA have used Stripe for some side projects and fell in love with the simplicity and power of their APIs.
Processing Fees
Really the only drawback to Stripe is that it doesn’t have the lowest processing fees out there – 2.9% plus $0.30 cents per successful charge – which can add up if you are doing large transactions or micropayments. However, this fee is for all charges, no matter the amount, and only successful payments are charged. There are also no setup fees, monthly fees, card storage fees or hidden costs.. not to mention all the headaches and development time you can avoid.
So, in the long run, it could actually be cheaper to transact using Stripe if you are a smaller organization or have other use cases.
Setting up an account is fast and easy, and the company handles everything from security to daily bank account transfers. An all-in-one user-friendly dashboard allows users to review payments, customers, transfers, subscription plans and more. It’s no wonder that thousands of businesses and organizations use Stripe, including Fortune 500 companies, rapidly-growing startups, side projects, nonprofits and everything in between.
Stripe Founders
Stripe is the brainchild of young twenty-something co-founders and brothers Patrick and John Collison, who were tired of dealing with complex transaction platforms. Power to young entrepreneurs! Their company has already raised $40 million from a number of big name investors, including PayPal founders Peter Thiel and Elon Musk as well as Sequoia Capital. Patrick and John have managed to amass an incredibly talented team of developers and designers.
I really think Stripe has staying power, especially if they can get their processing costs down or offer tiered services levels. In my opinion it is the only thing holding them back for those processing higher volumes of credit card transactions. I’m eager to see if it can catch up to Square’s $341 million funding and widespread adoption. Only time will tell.
