HN Explorer

Ask HN: Stripe equivalent in the EU?

13 points by nickbruun ↗ HN
Hi everyone,

I'm putting the last leg on a product here, and that of course entails getting payments set up. The model is simple; monthly recurring billing via credit cards. The problem is however, that I'm in the EU (Denmark, to be exact) and while it is relatively easy to get set up with a merchant account etc., the up front costs are relatively high.

So, I was wondering if anyone know of any services equivalent of Stripe (www.stripe.com) that bypass all this bullshit and just let you get on with it? I know that PayPal to some degrees offers this, but with the recent scandals, I'd rather not risk taking this route.

Kind regards, Nick

13 comments

[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 52.8 ms ] thread
calculus
I'm in the exact same situation, it's a real problem in Europe :(
leh
This question regularly pops up here on HN.

Seems nobody is bold enough to tackle this problem :)

calculus
Heavy regulation (due to customers protection) prevents small players to engage the market. Without few millions and an army of lawyers, you can't.
glimcat
Isn't that exactly the problem which VC funding claims to address?
maushu
VCs will not tackle this because it's considered "risky".
k3liutZu
A similar implementation to stripe available in Europe would have a lot of fans.
skrish
You can get started with 2Checkout or PayPal, get some traction and include multiple gateway support when you are ready to get a merchant account. You could also use a good subscription billing abstraction service to use like ours who do not charge minimums. ;)

Your customer card info stays with PayPal or 2CO and if you are building a business focused product that requires beta with fewer customers initially, you could request them to migrate over in the interim if that is possible.

The place I come from most startups are at a disadvantage with gateways demanding huge upfront fees or yearly minimums and this is one approach that generally works. See Deskaway or VisualWebsiteOptimizer that have built their entire business around 2CO or a combination of 2CO & a local gateway.

ig1
Just use Paypal, don't violate their terms and conditions, sweep payments to your back account daily and move to another solution when it's commercially viable.
ciaron
There's GoCardless (https://gocardless.com), currently UK only, but their FAQ says they're planning a European rollout by mid-2012.
mrkmcknz
I think payments in Europe are beginning to catch up with the US services of stripe and square.

iZettle are running a beta test and you can request an invite on Twitter. However, no stripe equivalent yet.....