[anthonyeden]

Digital River emailed out of the blue a few months back saying we need to do new Know-Your-Customer paperwork. The forms are painful and I've had to resubmit a couple of times for minor mistakes - unsure if they'll ever actually accept it, and it seems to take a week or more for any response to a ticket.

Their new platform terms come into effect today, and they have absolutely buried the scale of their new monthly fee (US$100/month for me - unsure if it varies per customer). None of the emails mention the fee amounts. Customer support couldn't tell me the fee amounts. I checked the portal again today and the new contract finally has the new fees in it.

I setup a new merchant of record a few weeks ago, but that doesn't help the fact they're sitting on a few grand of my sales. My balance is above their new payout threshold (US$2500), but it wouldn't surprise me if they sit on the money and let the monthly fees eat into it until it's back below the threshold.

Thought I was doing the right thing by using a merchant of record to handle my international B2B sales since 2016. Apparently not. Fun times.

[troymc]

Using a merchant of record is a good idea in 2024, now that every little jurisdiction wants you to collect their sales tax for them, and to remit that sales tax to them. (That wasn't always true.)

Stripe recently acquired Lemon Squeezy, another merchant of record, so maybe look into that. (Stripe Tax will help you collect the right amount of sales tax, but that's only half the problem. You still have to remit it to all the relevant jurisdictions.)

Other options are Paddle and FastSpring.

[anthonyeden]

Thanks. I ended up going with Lemon Squeezy a couple of weeks back. Had a lot of account verification problems (500 errors on various screens), but eventually got that sorted after their support realised there was an actual product problem. I like their product, but wish the product setup & cart was more flexible.

[morpheuskafka]

I saw a thread here a couple days ago about new product liability rules for software in the EU that would apply to importers/distributors where the manufacturer is overseas. I wonder if anyone will still be willing to provide this "merchant of record" service in the EU once that takes effect.

[SSLy]

Aren't those rules related to software shipped in hardware?

[victorbjorklund]

No, it is broader than that. It includes software in general (but excl open source)

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024...

[bryanrasmussen]

at the worst wouldn't it just mean that a lot of merchants of record will say we don't handle software, and maybe one or two big ones scoop up all the software business with some fancy insurance deals?

I believe this is what the theories of capitalism say would happen.

[aitchnyu]

What are the options if a business wants to collect subscriptions worldwide and pay cashbacks to US customers? Guess Stripe offers tools for both.

[archy_]

Isn't that just a nationalist version of a ponzi scheme?