from Hacker News

FastSpring Risk Screening

by kruuuder on 12/7/23, 10:47 PM with 20 comments

  • by handity on 12/10/23, 5:47 PM

    After ten years using fastspring with no issues and decent sales volume, I received the same email. I categorically refuse to KYC by uploading a picture of my passport and allowing some algorithm to scan my face, and being asked to pay for the privilege is especially insulting. I allows my account to terminate. It remains to be seen whether they will keep my last two weeks of revenue also.

    I switched to Stripe for billing, where apparently I do not need to undergo such KYC. I expect that won't last forever, and don't know how long I can go on hopping services without uploading a passport photo.

    Modern KYC is an insanely invasive process carried out through insane methods, and I wish I saw it getting more pushback. Online ID verification should be done through zero knowledge proofs, if at all.

  • by mkup on 12/10/23, 5:22 PM

    I've switched away from FastSpring in 2021, when they outsourced their payouts to Hyperwallet (for me this change meant double currency exchange USD -> EUR -> USD with associated double exchange fees). It looks like FastSpring rolled further downhill since then. This reminds me of Plimus/Bluesnap collapse: when this kind of company runs of cash, its tends to establish various funny fees before finally flipping up.

  • by maxshm on 12/20/23, 1:19 PM

    Also got such email from FastSpring.

    I dislike this $150 payment requirement from them!

  • by King000 on 12/11/23, 8:35 AM

    We will not pay and we switch away. Forget them.

  • by internet2000 on 12/10/23, 6:38 PM

    Avoiding this kind of thing is part of why you're paying 30% to Apple / Google / Steam, etc.

  • by davedx on 12/10/23, 3:22 PM

    I don't know why anyone would rely on a payment processor that seems incapable of taking credit card payments for their own service.

    As in this case it's being used as a backup provider, you're not likely to know how well they'll handle processing if your primary provider has issues. Given that this happened, I would question the wisdom of remaining with them?