Show HN: FlyCode – Recover Stripe payments by automatically using backup cards

If customers aren't renewing then they probably don't need the service and forgot they're being charged. It feels unethical to rifle through their online wallet and look for another card to charge.

Congrats of the launch! For which types of companies did you see the FlyCode model most successful? What are the results for the average SaaS? I’ve been evaluating a few solutions but it seems like some of em are mostly focused on e-commerce

This seems like a way to squeeze money from users who forgot about their sub with unsuspecting payments.

If the service is declined and they use it, they would just resubscribe.

This is just basically a tool for businesses to scam unsuspecting customers?

Also - do the customers agree for you to charge their other payment method? If not, how is that legal? It's also seems like it would be against stripes terms of service

I reported this to stripe to see what they have to say

Is there a concern that the reduction in chargebacks is stemming from using cards that may not be monitored as closely as a customer’s “primary” card?

Out of curiosity, what made you pivot from a web/translation editor to recovering stripe payments? Was it primarily because of the teams prior experience in payment recovery or something else?

I am surprised Stripe does not offer this feature to their customers. There is probably a reason why they don’t. What is their feedback?

One thing that I never see brought up in these kinds of discussions is that payment of subscription fees is almost orthagonal to the subscription itself. Stripe eventually gives up, which seems like a fair default, but Stripe is also ignorant as to the legal agreements customers and merchants have made.

There's a whole industry around managing subscription-related debts and debt collecting that folks often forget about.

That is to say that there are alternatives to cancelling after a few failed payments, other than trying other cards in the customer's wallet. They may be worth exploring.

I reported the app to stripe as well.

Reviewing the website and seeing the endorsements makes me question the legitimacy of this in many ways.

One small suggestion for the landing page, switch the columns “with flycode” and “without flycode” so “without” appears first, on the left.

I can't imagine this is in accordance with the terms of service nor legal. You need explicit authorization to charge the card, but you don't have it.

I’m Tzachi, one of the cofounders here at FlyCode. It’s great to see the discussion here. It’s really helpful for us and we’re taking everything under consideration. It’s interesting for me to see the “consumer” perspective vs. the merchants (our customers) perspective that use this product at scale for failed payments. Thanks

Thank you for reminding me about a subscription i accidentally signed up for and need to go cancel.

If a card i didn't explicitly authorize for a recurring charge was charged like this, I'd be livid. Different cards are used for different things for real reasons.

If your "service" happened to me I'd be very, Very, VERY ANGRY and if possible (and most of my (online) subscriptions luckily are a "want" and not a "need"), I'd CANCEL the subscription manually (+ look into legal action if your customer would not comply due to periods... which would make me even ANGRIER if not possible and eating up my time), send a VERY ANFRY email to your customer, send them a GDPR deletion demand and (after hopefully having been told after many weeks of simmering waiting time why the &_+@^=~ that happened in the first place) look VERY HARD into cancelling all my other subscriptions in Stripe or moving them to a different payment method.

Not all credit cards are linked to the same account, or have the same conditions.

I usually when possible take advantage of yearly over monthly payments with the associated discounts. That means that it is VERY BAD for me if suddenly without warning possibly HUNDREDS OF EUROS/DOLLARS are siphoned off from the wrong place. (again, not all credit cards have ideal terms!)

Even if I have the funds and buffers, it could potentially wreck some important mandatory payment, which I might not notice in time maybe because of the same meatspace $REASONS I couldn't update the credit card details in the first place!!!

Thanks for the PSA to stay away as possible from Stripe handled subscriptions and that this is even possible, as well as a reminder to review all my subscriptions and my Worst Case Infos for family members.

(throwaway account for privacy reasons)