Now, I am concerned that a significant change in velocity/volume like this is going to set off a flag with Stripe, and I fear that my Stripe account will get nuked, kill the launch, all the momentum I've been building, my reputation, and all my regular business to boot -- if I lose access to Stripe I lose a very significant portion of my business. Even if its just for a couple weeks while I'm "being reviewed".
There seem to be many threads here on HN about getting killed by Stripe without explanation, without easy recourse, without customer support or quick resolution -- especially as a small fry like me.
Are there any suggestions for a non developer, one-person-shop to avoid this seemingly common pitfall?
Why do I think I'll get flagged? In recent history had one invoice that was unusually large for my transaction history -- I landed a really good project. I feared this would set off a trigger with Stripe, and sure enough I was flagged "as a part of our ongoing account review process".
Stripe sent very vague and *very "phishy"* seeming emails. After logging into Stripe I had to give access to my bank accounts and get through a "review" of my business.
I really feared I was going to be cut off then. So, I harbor no illusions that it will happen again next time should I enjoy a modicum of unusual success. I certainly learned that in the future I have to invoice large projects in smaller incremental chunks and not in the one-lump that the client preferred.
But I don't know how to handle if the velocity of transactions changes.
Past HN comments on Stripe the person never really said what they were selling, which is also a huge part of processing credit cards as the sponsor bank also signs off on the products that are sold as well, not just Stripe.
We can't keep letting them get away with screwing the little guy like this.
I'm not going to defend Stripe as I've had my fair share of frustration with them, unfortunately they are the best game in town that I can see [0]. I can comment on change in velocity/volume on the Stripe platform. I've gone from testing amounts of traffic (so <$100/mo or so), to $500-$2000/day for 2-3 months, to $20K-$40K/day for 2-3 days, to then $100K+ for 1-2 days, then back to $0-100 for ~9 months, rinse and repeat (it's software for festivals). I did all of that without needing to pre-clear anything with Stripe and without issue.
Maybe the semi-gradual ramp-up kept me under detection levels (though I was a little worried about the $20K+ days as it was 10x+ normal) but I wanted to provide a data point to you.
[0] I'm open to other options but before you comment know that the following is what I consider baseline: iOS/Android/Web SDKs that support Credit/Debit/Apple Pay/Google Pay, same or better rates as Stripe, decent docs/api, decent dashboard. I've tried alternatives and their docs are a mess, their API is confusing, their dashboards are dated/broken, their support is somehow worse than Stripe, and sometimes you find out one of their SDK's just doesn't support Credit, Debit, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Also I need in-person hardware support (bluetooth connection to a phone/table, not wifi, not ethernet), ideally paying in-person would result in lower rates.
Adyen is a possibility. I never used their services so I cannot say if they are a good alternative. But they exist, and some people swear by them.
That means that in a crisis you can still sign users up, and take a few days to sort out the billing situation.
Could save some time up front, and if Stripe ends up never causing a problem you didn’t waste effort on unneeded complexity.
If you’re worried about being flagged, talk to them about your expected increase in volume _now_.
You're better off spending the effort on having a backup replacement ready to go (or even balance between them in normal operation).
If you are that worried about Stripe that it is keeping you up at night, just move off to another payment processor, sure their documentation will suck, and you may need to use some really terrible library, but besides that it's the exact same. You may even safe a few cents a transaction as Stripes fees are not that cheap.
You are overthinking this - if you have to use game theory and uncertainty to plan your relationship with a vendor (instead of picking up a phone or sending an e-mail to ask or solve your issues), you need to find a new vendor.
Use multiple providers, if one shuts you down you still have other options. When you're large enough that it makes financial sense, apply for your own merchant account and use a processor like Authorize.net for that too.