Stripe account creation

[Changaco]

Copying https://github.com/liberapay/liberapay.com/pull/1181#issuecomment-407044761 into an issue:

I think Stripe's sign up form would confuse and discourage many potential users, it's not designed for a donation platform like Liberapay and it's bloated with JavaScript (it literally makes my Firefox lag).

[Changaco]

For anyone who wants to test: https://liberapay.com/about/me/payment/.

[mattbk]

Agree that they ask for a lot of information.

[nijel]

Also they support only few countries and the list is not really extending much (I wanted to use it for Weblate few years ago and the list of countries still seems to be about the same as back then).

[mattbk]

Right off the bat I'm not sure what to put, and this is required:

Describe what you sell, whom you sell to, and when you charge your customers.

If I'm accepting donations, "I don't sell anything and Liberapay charges people weekly" doesn't seem like it would fly with Stripe's KYC.

[mattbk]

Which flavor of Stripe are you using? It looks like Stripe Connect Express is designed to "onboard recipients quickly and at scale" and Stripe Connect Custom would give you control over the whole pipeline.

Example app is much easier to onboard than the form set up on Liberapay right now: https://stripe.com/docs/connect/express-accounts#express-demo

Fees are different, though: https://stripe.com/us/connect/pricing

ETA: Never mind, Express is US-only:

Users based in the United States: Express accounts are available only to individuals, businesses, and nonprofits located in the United States. Contact us if you are interested in support for users outside the U.S.

ETA: Bonus thing I never noticed, perhaps important if you don't like big banks: (explained here that this is needed for credit card processing

Stripe, Inc. is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA

[LiamDawe]

Honestly, had no issues with the Stripe sign up form. The kind of information I expected them to want.

[jelv]

@mattbk Stripe is not part of Wells Fargo. But the Wells Fargo terms are needed for the credit card processing https://stripe.com/wells-fargo/legal

[mattbk]

Thanks @jelv, my comment is updated.

[trebmuh]

Copying a comment from Mastodon:

(disclaimer: I didn't checked if myself, just copying it here)

I checked for you with Stripe support... In France you can set up a Stripe account as an individual / sole proprietor.

[trebmuh]

related: FAQ about Stripe

[trebmuh]

related: https://mastodon.tetaneutral.net/@freetux/100527572140270818 (a bunch of information about Stripe - in French)

[schmittlauch]

The problem about the Stripe form currently used is that it is targeted at small companies/ creators that want to integrate a payment system in their products/ shops.

That is really confusing for the use case of just wanting to support creators but not being a company one self. So there should be an easier onboarding form at least for users that are just contributing.

[mattbk]

@schmittlauch you don't need a Stripe account to just contribute. This is stated at the top of https://liberapay.com/about/me/payment/.

[schmittlauch]

@mattbk I do not know how I got that impression, you're right.

[mattbk]

Sorry @Changaco, my mistake.

[Changaco]

https://stripe.com/blog/connect-onboarding-for-standard-accounts-stub

A new, improved onboarding and verification flow for Standard accounts—The new UI makes it easier for your users to activate their Stripe account. It’s optimized for mobile, supports prefilling all information via the API so users don’t need to enter their information twice, lets users save their progress and complete the form later, and is localized in 35+ countries. Learn how to get started