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Ask HN: Presale Tool?

2 points by kulikalov ↗ HN
Love "The Mom Book" and the whole Lean Startup approach.

However, there is one bureaucratic problem. It's not easy to do presale. Not sure how it works in US, but in Ukraine, where my bank is, it freaking hard to accept payments online.

I have to go through a whole bunch of verifications processes to start accepting payments on my website or app. And the verification is done by internet acquiring service provider as well as Master Card. First one is not interested in startups with next to none revenue, the latter one is not interested in anything that reviewer doesn't understand. For instance, the guy who reviewed my last project was unable to comprehend what is "Browser extension". I don't think

How can I do presale? At this point I don't care about service fees much. I just want to validate my idea by accepting prepayments from people who tell me that they want to buy my product.

I have 2 means of accepting legal payments from abroad companies: Payoneer and SWIFT transfer. Paypal is illegal for some f*king reason.

5 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 20.2 ms ] thread
mryalamanchi
Could you elaborate more on what this "project" is about to better understand which payment channel can be used?
kulikalov
I can tell you about the current project, but this is irrelevant. I test different ideas. What matters is: it's b2c and I want my potential users to prove they are interested by making a payment. It could be escrow or any kind of refundable payment. I'd prefer to accept payments with google pay or apple pay, but any easy payment methods at ok. Bank transfer is not easy at all.

Payments amounts vary from $10 to $200.

mryalamanchi
Are you targeting for subscription plans (or) is it a one time payment?

Which payment integrations have you tried so far?

Bank transfers for small amounts have too much friction at this point.

If it's a simple file like a pdf, audio or video file or even an executable file then I would recommend to go for Gumroad. Wouldn't recommend if it's an App that has to be put on an App store or Play Store.

kulikalov
I need at least the one time payment option. Having subscription would be absolutely terrific.

I've tried bunch of shitty local service providers last time. Awful experience, takes months to get approved.

I can't use Gumroad. They offer bank transfers only for US. The rest of the world suppose to use Paypal. And Ukraine is that part of the "rest of the world" that doesn't allow to accept payments from Paypal.

hosker4u
If its an online service, Why not set up in another country? Who don't have such tight restrictions. You can try e-residency in Estonia.