[brnt]

That sort of adversarial weaponization of credit cards is really a US thing. In most of the world, payment is not relevant to the question of liability: you create a debt, whether or not you can debit a card. So, looks like DigitalOcean is another name to avoid.

Also: what's common? At the scale these companies so desire, small percentages are still thousands of users. Supporting them with what's ultimately a fairly trivial option shouldn't be seen as such a hassle.

[croemer]

Partially agree, yes the liability is independent of the payment. But in practice the one who has the money has the benefit of the status quo. The other party without money has to actively take legal action which is costly enough that it's often not pursued.

[brnt]

That again depends on jurisdiction. In much of the EU, this is not expensive and a thriving industry exists to support businesses to get bills paid.

[croemer]

Yes and no, collection costs significant proportions of the outstanding debt, and if you object to the collection of the debt saying it's not justified the business ultimately has to sue. Collector can't do everything.