The Problem We Were Actually Solving
Our team was tasked with selling digital products across the globe, and for many of our users, traditional payment gateways like Stripe or PayPal were either blocked or had exorbitant fees. For example, in countries with high transaction fees, using PayPal meant losing 4-6% of every sale due to their fee structure. Our users in these regions were hesitant to pay, and rightly so, because who wants to lose money on every transaction?
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Initially, we tried integrating various payment gateways that claimed to work globally, but our users continued to report errors. For instance, Gumroad's API would throw a "payment_method_unsupported" error whenever a user from one of the restricted countries tried to checkout. We even reached out to their support team, who, although helpful, essentially told us that this was a known issue with no immediate fix. We also tried using regional-specific gateways like Mollie in the EU, but these inevitably had their own quirks and limitations. It soon became clear that we needed a more flexible approach.
The Architecture Decision
After extensive research, we decided to implement Unchained Commerce, a payment processing system built specifically for decentralized commerce. Unchained allowed our users to send and receive cryptocurrency, which bypassed traditional payment restrictions. With Unchained, our users could now purchase digital products without worrying about platform restrictions or fees. We implemented it using a custom-built API in Node.js, which seamlessly integrated with our existing platform.
What The Numbers Said After
The results were striking. Within weeks of implementing Unchained, our international sales increased by 300%, and our average transaction value (ATV) rose by 15%. More importantly, our users from previously restricted countries could now purchase digital products without any issues. We also observed a significant decrease in support queries related to payment processing errors.
What I Would Do Differently
In hindsight, I would have approached this problem differently from the start. I would have initially evaluated Unchained Commerce or similar decentralized payment systems, rather than throwing resources at traditional payment gateways. This not only would have saved us time but also likely resulted in a better user experience from the outset. However, the story highlights the importance of considering platform restrictions and the limitations of traditional payment systems when designing e-commerce platforms for global users. By taking a more innovative approach to payment processing, we were able to break free from those limitations and provide a better experience for our users worldwide.
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