Saw a link to this blog post on Mastodon regarding the recent payment processor shenanigans facing Itch.io and Valve/Steam. Found it an interesting read, and it helps explain why the situation is...
Saw a link to this blog post on Mastodon regarding the recent payment processor shenanigans facing Itch.io and Valve/Steam.
Found it an interesting read, and it helps explain why the situation is as complicated as it is. I did turn “reader” mode on my phone on to make it easier for me to read on mobile.
That was a good read! I’ve done a bunch of research into payment systems in general, and I’m glad that my conclusions line up with the author’s — with the exception that it seemed as though...
That was a good read! I’ve done a bunch of research into payment systems in general, and I’m glad that my conclusions line up with the author’s — with the exception that it seemed as though starting a bank (credit union, really, as the requirements for banks are much more strict) was the best way forward. There are so many middlepeople involved in the modern financial system — as noted by the author — that trying to “fix” several types of problems in it requires tearing large parts of it out; hence the need to incorporate (or use crypto, which probably has most of the same problems).
There is an option the author didn’t mention: to split your traffic amongst PSPs. Normal transactions go a normal PSP (Stripe, adyen, etc). Porn goes to high risk PSPs (CCBill, etc). On the...
There is an option the author didn’t mention: to split your traffic amongst PSPs. Normal transactions go a normal PSP (Stripe, adyen, etc). Porn goes to high risk PSPs (CCBill, etc). On the latter, you increase the price by a significant margin to cover the high risk PSP’s margin requirements + higher fees. Sucks for the porn, but is what it is. It mitigates the damage of using high risk PSPs to just what you need it for.
I’d imagine 99% of what’s sold on itch is fine to go on a normal PSP.
What I'm saying is yes, Itch could deal with CCBill or Epoch for porn. It would be a nightmare at every level and they probably can't afford to. Even only sending 18+ game purchases to them, there's giant recurring fees just for the privilege.
Saw a link to this blog post on Mastodon regarding the recent payment processor shenanigans facing Itch.io and Valve/Steam.
Found it an interesting read, and it helps explain why the situation is as complicated as it is. I did turn “reader” mode on my phone on to make it easier for me to read on mobile.
Good read, now I want to read the crypto rant.
That was a good read! I’ve done a bunch of research into payment systems in general, and I’m glad that my conclusions line up with the author’s — with the exception that it seemed as though starting a bank (credit union, really, as the requirements for banks are much more strict) was the best way forward. There are so many middlepeople involved in the modern financial system — as noted by the author — that trying to “fix” several types of problems in it requires tearing large parts of it out; hence the need to incorporate (or use crypto, which probably has most of the same problems).
There is an option the author didn’t mention: to split your traffic amongst PSPs. Normal transactions go a normal PSP (Stripe, adyen, etc). Porn goes to high risk PSPs (CCBill, etc). On the latter, you increase the price by a significant margin to cover the high risk PSP’s margin requirements + higher fees. Sucks for the porn, but is what it is. It mitigates the damage of using high risk PSPs to just what you need it for.
I’d imagine 99% of what’s sold on itch is fine to go on a normal PSP.
This is what OnlyFans does, for instance.
I think they talked about this: