The Problem We Were Actually Solving
We had been trying to build a platform that was accessible to digital creators all over the world. We saw ourselves as part of this global movement, where artists and writers could share their work with anyone, anywhere. And we were proud of what we had built. But there was a problem. The payment processors we had chosen worked great in the US, Europe, and Australia. They worked fine in Brazil, Indonesia, and other countries with relatively stable economies. But in Venezuela, they just didn't.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
We initially thought it was a problem with our implementation. We double-checked our API keys, made sure our URLs were correct, and debugged our code until the cows came home. We even added some error handling to make sure our users got a nice, friendly error message in case something went wrong. But no matter what we did, the payments just wouldn't go through. We were starting to think it was a problem with our application, not the payment processors.
The Architecture Decision
It wasn't until we dug deeper that we realized the problem wasn't with our application at all. It was with the payment processors we had chosen. They had all been optimized for large, Western markets with well-established banking systems. They just hadn't been designed to work in countries like Venezuela, where the economy was in shambles and the banking system was more or less non-existent. We made a decision to switch to a payment processor that was specifically designed for markets like Venezuela. We chose an open-source alternative called Pagos.
What The Numbers Said After
We switched to Pagos in January 2019. In the first quarter of that year, we saw a 25% increase in sales from our Venezuelan customers. By the second quarter, that number had jumped to 50%. And by the end of the year, we were selling as many digital products to Venezuelans as we were to customers in the US and Europe. The numbers were dramatic, and they spoke for themselves.
What I Would Do Differently
If I had to do it all over again, I would be even more aggressive in my search for alternative payment processors. I would have spent more time researching and testing different options before making a decision. And I would have been more careful in my selection criteria. I would have looked for a payment processor that wasn't just designed for Venezuela, but for countries like Venezuela. I would have looked for a payment processor that was specifically designed to handle the kind of economic chaos that Venezuela was facing. And I would have looked for a payment processor that was more flexible and more adaptable than our original choice.
In the end, we made a decision to switch to a payment processor that was specifically designed for markets like Venezuela. It was a decision that paid off in the end, but it was also a difficult one to make. It was a decision that required us to think outside the box and to be more creative in our solution. And it was a decision that ultimately allowed us to build a platform that was more accessible to digital creators all over the world.
Top comments (0)