The Problem We Were Actually Solving
When I first started building my storefront, I thought that using a third-party payment gateway like the one I mentioned earlier would simplify the process and make it scalable. But as my user base grew, so did the fees associated with processing payments. In fact, a single 10% fee on every transaction added up to over $1,000 per month, which was more money than I was earning from my users' purchases. It was clear that I had to make a change if I wanted to stay competitive.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
My first attempt at solving this problem was to look for payment gateways that offered lower fees, or at least more transparency into the fees they were charging. I poked around online, searching for alternatives that would allow me to process crypto transactions more cheaply, but every solution I found had its own set of trade-offs. Some were more buggy than others, while others imposed strict usage limits that would have crippled my business. After weeks of research, I finally gave up on this approach and decided to go a different route.
The Architecture Decision
I decided to take a more drastic approach and build my own payment system from the ground up. I spent weeks researching the different libraries and frameworks available for processing cryptocurrency transactions, and eventually settled on Web3.js, a popular JavaScript library for interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. With Web3.js, I was able to write my own payment functionality in a matter of weeks, rather than months. What's more, I was able to cut out the middleman and keep 100% of the revenue generated by my users' purchases.
What The Numbers Said After
After deploying the new payment system, I was able to cut my transaction fees in half, a savings of over $500 per month. To be even more specific, my average transaction fee decreased from 10% to 5%, which is a significant reduction when you consider that my business depends on a steady stream of small transactions. This was a major turning point for my business, and I'm glad that I made the decision to take on this project.
What I Would Do Differently
As I look back on this project, there are a few things that I would do differently if I had to do it all over again. First, I would probably invest more time in researching the different libraries and frameworks available for processing cryptocurrency transactions. While Web3.js worked out in the end, there are definitely other options available that might have been a better fit for my business. Secondly, I would probably do more to optimize my payment system for scalability. As my business continues to grow, it's clear that I'll need to make some adjustments to ensure that my payment system can keep up. Overall, however, I'm glad that I made the decision to take on this project, and I'm confident that it will pay off in the long run.
Top comments (0)