Watercooler - 2023

[Changaco]

This is Liberapay's "what's up?" thread. Previous: #498.

[Changaco]

I'm pleased and relieved to announce that https://github.com/liberapay/liberapay.com/pull/2202 has successfully thwarted the criminal(s) who had been abusing Liberapay and Stripe for quite a while.

[Changaco]

For the record, the reason why there hasn't been any visible progress in January is that I've started working on a big technical change: I'm trying to get rid of SQL entirely, replacing it with pure-Python code. I'm hoping that this will be beneficial in the long run, but it's a bit of a gamble, and I don't know how long it'll take. If I succeed, a whole bunch of issues will be closed or unblocked.

[Changaco]

Stripe is increasing its fees on card payments

[Changaco]

uTip : la plateforme française de soutien aux créateur·ices ferme ses portes

uTip has announced on Twitter that they're shutting down today, blaming Mangopay for kicking them out.

[Changaco]

I've enabled Cloudflare's new DMARC report handler for Liberapay's domain names, because we didn't have one.

While I was at it, I also enabled DNSSEC for the liberapay.net and liberapay.org domains.

[Changaco]

Email from Stripe:

Hello,

We’re letting you know that some payment methods will be subject to Japan Consumption Tax (JCT) from October 1, 2023. We’re also sharing Stripe pricing changes, along with ways we can help you optimize costs and grow revenue.

Japan Consumption Tax

Some payment methods (https://support.stripe.com/questions/october-2023-japan-consumption-tax-updates-and-pricing-updates-for-businesses-based-in-japan), including JCB cards, are subject to Japan Consumption Tax (JCT). Starting October 1, Stripe will collect JCT and support you in claiming tax credits to offset costs. Learn more. (https://support.stripe.com/questions/october-2023-japan-consumption-tax-updates-and-pricing-updates-for-businesses-based-in-japan)

How you can claim tax credits:

• Stripe will issue invoices, including those created using Stripe Billing and Stripe Invoicing, which you can use to claim credits to offset JCT on Stripe fees.

Disputes

Whether you win or lose a dispute, Stripe incurs a fee. To cover these costs, starting October 15, Stripe will no longer return the ¥1,500 disputes fee for successfully contested disputes. The dispute fee itself is not changing. Learn more. (https://support.stripe.com/questions/october-2023-japan-consumption-tax-updates-and-pricing-updates-for-businesses-based-in-japan)

How you can prevent chargebacks and win more disputes:

• Stripe Radar (https://dashboard.stripe.com/b/acct_1ChyayFk4eGpfLOC?destination=%2Fradar) helps automatically reduce disputes by 41% on average, and we’ve enabled this for your account at no additional cost.

• We now recommend what evidence to submit (https://stripe.com/docs/disputes/best-practices) by analyzing millions of disputes, so you can fight the right ones with compelling evidence.

Network tokens are now free

We’ve decided to make network tokens (https://stripe.com/guides/optimizing-authorization-rates#network-tokens) free starting immediately for businesses on standard pricing to help increase your revenue. Network tokens automatically update card details when cards expire, so your customers don’t need to re-enter anything. There’s nothing you need to do: we’ll turn it on for your account if it isn’t on already.

Currency conversion

Stripe lets you accept money from customers in 135+ currencies and convert the purchase amount into your primary currency. Today, when a transaction is converted, Stripe charges a fee and returns it for refunds. Starting October 15, 2023, when a transaction is refunded, we will no longer return this fee in line with our existing policy. The currency conversion fee itself is not changing. Learn more. (https://support.stripe.com/questions/h2-2023-changes-to-currency-conversion-fees-for-refunds)

We’re here to help you navigate these price changes and grow your business. Visit our support page (https://support.stripe.com/questions/october-2023-japan-consumption-tax-updates-and-pricing-updates-for-businesses-based-in-japan) to learn more or reach out to our team.

— The Stripe team

[Changaco]

Liberapay's domain names now have basic CAA records. This addition was prompted by Let's Encrypt's blog post: “Increase your security governance with CAA”.

[Changaco]

I accidentally lost 696 rows of the email_blacklist table. I was trying to remove duplicates and I was counting on an SQL transaction to enable me to roll back changes, but a connection timeout occurred and the psql client handled it incorrectly.

liberapay=> begin; delete from email_blacklist as b1 where exists (select 1 from email_blacklist b2 where b2.address = b1.address and b2.ts > b1.ts) returning *;
FATAL:  terminating connection due to idle-in-transaction timeout
SSL connection has been closed unexpectedly
The connection to the server was lost. Attempting reset: Succeeded.
psql (11.20, server 14.7)
WARNING: psql major version 11, server major version 14.
         Some psql features might not work.
SSL connection (protocol: TLSv1.2, cipher: ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, bits: 256, compression: off)
…
DELETE 696
liberapay=> rollback;
WARNING:  there is no transaction in progress
ROLLBACK

[Changaco]

Email from Stripe:

Hello,

From October 3, 2023, you’ll be able to accept payments from customers using JCB cards, allowing you to benefit from increased buyer reach.

JCB is currently only available in a limited number of countries (https://support.stripe.com/questions/accepting-japan-credit-bureau-%28jcb%29-payments), but on October 3, we’ll expand availability to Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, and 30 EEA countries. Pricing for JCB payments is in line with your current credit and debit card pricing, and your acceptance of JCB card payments will be subject to the terms of your Stripe services agreement and any terms that JCB may require from time to time.

If you have any questions, you can contact us (https://support.stripe.com/contact) at any time from our support site.

— The Stripe team

[Changaco]

Patreon unveils redesigned app, community chat, commerce feature, and new brand identity

[jorgesumle]

Today I gave a talk where I spoke a bit about Liberapay (link to slides) at the Spanish Esperanto Congress. I showed some profiles of Esperantists who use Liberapay. The talk was about free software and free culture (the title in Esperanto was Libera kulturo kaj liberaj programoj, ankaŭ en Esperanto).

[Changaco]

Email from Stripe:

Hello,

We’re writing to let you know that we’re changing how Stripe verifies business information for US connected accounts accepting card payments.

There’s no action for you to take for Liberapay. We’ll reach out to any of your connected accounts that need to provide updated information. You can monitor the status of your accounts using the Dashboard or API.

What to expect

Starting October 24, 2023, your Stripe onboarding flow will automatically update to collect the required information from new connected accounts.

Starting January 3, 2024, we’ll reach out via email and the Dashboard to your connected accounts that need to provide updated information by a certain date. If an account doesn’t provide the required information by that deadline, their payments and payouts will be paused.

Monitor the status of your accounts

While there’s no action required, you’ll be able to see the status of your connected accounts in the new Accounts to Review list in your Dashboard. We also recommend reviewing the new verification errors your users may encounter. You can listen for account updates via the Accounts API.

If you have any questions, you can review our FAQs, attend a 30-minute discussion with Stripe experts on November 15, or contact us via our support site—our team is ready to help.

— The Stripe team

[Changaco]

Email from Stripe:

Hello,

We’re writing to let you know that we’re making some changes to how we onboard new users in India.

From December 1, 2023, businesses signing up to Stripe in India will experience a waiting period to activate their account and start processing payments.

As a platform using Stripe Connect, there is no impact to your existing connected accounts in India. You’ll still be able to onboard new connected accounts outside India with no waiting period. Only new connected accounts in India will be subject to this waiting period.

As a strategic partner for Stripe, we will prioritise your new users through a priority onboarding queue set up specifically for Liberapay. You do not need to make any changes to your Stripe integration.

The timeframe to activate new connected accounts may differ based on the level of onboarding reviews required, and is subject to the submission of complete and correct information to Stripe. Connected accounts will be contacted once all reviews are completed and we are ready to fully activate their account.

You can learn more about this change by reviewing our FAQs. If you have any questions, or if you’d like guidance on how to manage expectations for your connected accounts, you can contact us from our support site or reach out to your account manager.

—The Stripe team

(Reminder: Indian Stripe accounts don't work with platforms like Liberapay.)

[Changaco]

It looks like both Bountysource and Flattr have finally shut down this year. This is noteworthy because both of them were old, predating Gittip (Liberapay's ancestor, launched in 2012).

Flattr seems to allow users to withdraw leftover funds, but Bountysource seems to be insolvent and unresponsive. NewPipe lost access to approximately €6,000 in bounties.