Forex page

[dmdj03]

Structure:

1. what forex is
2. the benefits: better user experience, lower chargebacks
3. how the API call would look
4. pricing
5. send feedback / get notified of release

[dmdj03]

expanded list of support currencies (placeholder currencies):

[steveklabnik]

David mentioned that we may not want to show 2.9% + 30, as many of our customers will be getting volume discount pricing.

[Torlus]

Do you plan to do DCC as well?

[coderanger]

Maybe pull a retail and do "starting at 2.9%"?

[steveklabnik]

@Torlus can you expand that TLA for me? I'm assuming you mean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_currency_conversion ?

[coderanger]

@steveklabnik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_currency_conversion

[Torlus]

@steveklabnik Direct Currency Conversion *Dynamic, doh

[Torlus]

DCC is a PITA, though, especially with marketplaces and tax regulations across countries...

[steveklabnik]

@Torlus let's try to keep discussions about the actual feature set in the master ticket over at https://github.com/balanced/balanced-api/issues/100, and just keep this one about looks and messaging. However, this is a big enough issue that I'll just open another one and cc you on it.

That said, your comment is pointing out that it's not clear what exactly is supported here, so thanks :+1:

[Torlus]

Sorry, you're right. :)

[Torlus]

You should explain what are the rules applied to currency conversion in case of "long"-time escrow. For chargeback, it is pretty obvious (a customer that paid C100 will be refunded of C100). But what about merchants? These rules should be described at the API level as well.

[steveklabnik]

Agreed! That's absolutely going in the documentation, I'm unsure if it's too much detail for this page, though.

[steveklabnik]

Initial @matin comments:

This should be focused on international in general, not just forex, we want to add to it later.

one api call, not two

just show the 2% on pricing, not the whole pricing box, link to the other pricing page

have a FAQ with questions about how this relates to other international stuff

[steveklabnik]

So, various bits of text, moving towards the 'international in general' theme:

Title changes from "Foreign Exchange" to "International Payments"

First thing changes to "Let's take Balanced worldwide. We'll start with accepting payments in 120+ local currencies.

The API call changes to just one:

curl https://api.balancedpayments.com/cards/CC5cX8TtoEgQ7nY3a8pj5D7f/debits \
     -H "Accept: application/vnd.api+json;revision=1.1" \
     -u ak-test-2qEM0Znvd8LIVbZ01LbFHvHgab4fkNr3c: \
     -d "amount=100" \
     -d "currency=EUR"

And one more little section at the bottom:

FAQ

Q: This is just for paying in. What about payouts? A: We're doing international support in pieces. Payouts to non-US bank accounts will come next.

Q: When will that be? A: We're not willing to commit to a date for that yet. One step at a time.

Q: What happens in the case of a refund? A: Your customer will get the full amount back in their original currency.

Can't think of a whole lot else at the moment, but we can add more later as people ask.

The rest of the text is fine, I think. @jkwade , thoughts?

[steveklabnik]

Forgot API response:

{
  "debits": [
    {
      "status": "succeeded",
      "description": null,
      "links": {
        "customer": "CU4K1Vmh90f3OqCXn3A7Gu3P",
        "source": "CC5cX8TtoEgQ7nY3a8pj5D7f",
        "order": null,
        "dispute": null
      },
      "updated_at": "2014-04-16T19:11:30.968627Z",
      "created_at": "2014-04-16T19:11:28.762935Z",
      "transaction_number": "W168-003-4420",
      "failure_reason": null,
      "currency": "EUR",
      "amount": 100,
      "failure_reason_code": null,
      "meta": {},
      "href": "/debits/WD72u8rXuaBjt3qdNjxNRG3L",
      "appears_on_statement_as": "BAL*example.com",
      "id": "WD72u8rXuaBjt3qdNjxNRG3L"
    }
  ],
  "links": {
    "debits.customer": "/customers/{debits.customer}",
    "debits.dispute": "/disputes/{debits.dispute}",
    "debits.source": "/resources/{debits.source}",
    "debits.order": "/orders/{debits.order}",
    "debits.refunds": "/debits/{debits.id}/refunds",
    "debits.events": "/debits/{debits.id}/events"
  }
}

We may want to trim that down a bit...

[steveklabnik]

How about this, as a cut-down example:

{
  "debits": [
    {
      "status": "succeeded",
      "currency": "EUR",
      "amount": 100,
      "href": "/debits/WD72u8rXuaBjt3qdNjxNRG3L",
      "appears_on_statement_as": "BAL*example.com",
    }
  ],
}

With a note that says "some parts of the response omitted for brevity"?

[matin]

@steveklabnik equivalent currency for Order/Escrow?

[steveklabnik]

Yeah, if they charge 100€, and it's refunded, they're gonna get 100€ back. That's my current understanding.

[matin]

Per our other conversation, the response should show how much 100 EUR is in the marketplace's local currency/the currency of the Order. What's the amount in USD?

[Torlus]

I won't agree with that. If you do this, expect many questions from the merchants because the amount in USD will change.

[steveklabnik]

@matin I forgot to add those fields to the mock response. I'll add them in to the example soon.

[steveklabnik]

@Torlus this is consistent with the other implementations of forex that I'm aware of from similar vendors. Someone has to take the risk, and we generally side with 'not the customer.' It's the same way that chargebacks aren't great as a merchant, but are fantastic as a customer.

[Torlus]

Agreed, but in the case of marketplaces, be sure to state that it is not the marketplace that will take the risk. Escrow change the rules, and that's why it is such an issue in Europe.

[steveklabnik]

Can you elaborate on the European issue you're talking about?

[Torlus]

If you don't mind, as it is a quite complex topic, and maybe out of the scope of this issue, I'll send you an e-mail about this. About the general idea, I'll state on the website that it's very much like a standard 'customer-to-merchant' transaction, and that it will be up to the merchant to take the risk.

[steveklabnik]

Sure thing! steve@balancedpayments.com

[dmdj03]

Some copy changes / FAQ section added:

[mjallday]

@tarunc any ideas of a saas service for collecting those email addresses? i'm hoping we don't need to build anything for this and can just glue something together

[tarunc]

MailChimp is one.

• http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/how-can-i-add-my-signup-form-on-my-website/

[tarunc]

MadMimi is another.

[coderanger]

@mjallday LaunchRock is the one I used before, super recommended.

[jkwade]

@dmdj03 @steveklabnik Can we do anything to make it more clear that this is the first step toward "International Payments?" I'd recommend a 3 step flow chart at the top of the page, before the main text, showing "1) Forex" as the first step, followed by "2) Canadian Payouts" and "3) European Payouts." I think this would clearly show that this is the necessary first step for a true cross-border solution

[rmanisha]

@dmdj03 @steveklabnik Another possible question for the FAQ: "What if the USD in an order is less than the amount needed for a full refund due to a change in conversion rate?"

Also, can we expand on how a seller would be able to determine the price when listing in the local currency? Can the marketplace query the applicable exchange rate before a customer is charged?

[dmdj03]

[dmdj03]

[steveklabnik]

:heart_eyes:

[jkwade]

@mjallday @coderanger let's use Mailchimp for the email collection since we already use it to manage other email lists.

@kyungmin @steveklabnik The only thing I would add to the FAQs is:

Q: Can I used Balanced if I'm not based in the US? A: Unfortunately Balanced is only available to customers with U.S. bank accounts and a valid US tax ID number.

@rmanisha is that ^ language ok?

We'll also need to update a bunch of our help desk articles: https://support.balancedpayments.com/hc/en-us/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=international

[rmanisha]

@jkwade agree with your addition to the FAQ, but I think the language is a little ambiguous. I feel like people might assume we're talking about their buyers when we say "customers". Let's change "customer" to "platform" or "marketplace".

[KimlingLam]

@steveklabnik @dmdj03 I have suggestions to modify the copy.

Balanced is going global starting with payments in 120+ local currencies

Also with most flows, steps 1-3, I think of 1)payment 2) escrow 3) payout. Not sure why 2 and 3 are switched in the current flow. Can you clarify?

[steveklabnik]

It's 150+ now, but yes, seems fine.

because we are implementing it in terms of 1, 3, 2.

[KimlingLam]

@steveklabnik That makes sense, but the way the steps are displayed look like they are in a flow, not the order in which we are implementing. Not a huge deal, but we should clarify the steps as the implementation roadmap or something similar.

[steveklabnik]

The small text doesn't tell you that? Hm.

[KimlingLam]

@steveklabnik small grey text doesn't tell me that, no.

[kyungmin]

We can add a label, "Implementation roadmap," on top of the timeline.

[KimlingLam]

@dmdj03 or @kyungmin Can we move the email registration from the bottom of the page towards the top below the banner image? Or we can have 2 registration areas, top and bottom.

[kyungmin]

@KimlingLam This change would require more design work and we're about to push this out to the public. Unless it's a blocking point, I'd suggest we discuss making additional changes after we push this.

[KimlingLam]

@dmdj03 @kyungmin Text changes:

Balanced goes global starting with payments in 150+ local currencies

We've begun development on supporting foreign currency. The first step is to accept payments in local currencies. Payouts and escrow are on the roadmap. Here's how we envision the payment feature to work. As always, we welcome and appreciate your feedback.

Add 1st email CTA directly below and leave the 2nd email CTA at the bottom