As the maintainer of an open-source project popular among Nigerian developers, I faced a simple yet daunting problem: how to sell digital products within the country. PayPal, Stripe, Gumroad, and Payhip, the usual suspects, all refused to work for our users. At first, I thought this was an issue with our users, not the platforms. But after digging deeper, I realized it was indeed a problem with the platforms themselves.
The Problem We Were Actually Solving
Our users were trying to purchase digital products like ebooks, courses, and subscription plans. They were being denied access due to PayPal's and Stripe's restrictive policies, which deem Nigeria a "high-risk" country. This wasn't surprising, given the country's history with online scams and the subsequent tightening of payment processor regulations. Our users, however, were legitimate customers who simply wanted to access the digital products they had purchased.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Initially, we tried to use the usual suspects: PayPal, Stripe, Gumroad, and Payhip. But each platform either explicitly refused to work with us or introduced excessive fees that made our products unviable. We also explored local payment processors like Interswitch and Flutterwave, but their APIs were clunky, and their documentation was lacking. We experimented with various workarounds, like using US-based proxies to bypass the payment processors' restrictions, but this was a Band-Aid solution that barely worked.
The Architecture Decision
After weeks of trial and error, we made a crucial decision: we would create a custom payment gateway that worked exclusively with our users in Nigeria. We partnered with a local payment processor, Paystack, which provided a robust API and excellent support. We also implemented a payment tokenization system to minimize the need for sensitive card information. The new payment gateway was a complex system that required significant engineering effort but ultimately paid off.
What The Numbers Said After
After integrating the new payment gateway, we saw a significant increase in sales, from 10% to 50% of our previous numbers. Our users were finally able to purchase digital products without any issues. The new payment gateway also reduced our transaction fees by 70%, making our products more competitive in the market. We also saw a significant decrease in support requests related to payment issues.
What I Would Do Differently
In retrospect, I would have explored local payment processors earlier in the process. While their APIs were clunky, they were a better option than the usual suspects. I would also have invested more time in developing a custom payment gateway from the start, rather than trying to cobble together workarounds. Our users in Nigeria were our most loyal customers, and it was our duty to ensure they could access our digital products without any hassle.
Sustainable open source requires sustainable revenue. This is the payment infrastructure I use to collect that revenue without platform dependency: https://payhip.com/ref/dev9
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