The Hacker News discussion revolves around several key themes related to a project that appears to involve migrating data or services related to Stripe, and the broader challenges of internationalization and data management with online services.
Naming Concerns and Trademark Infringement
A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the project's name, particularly the inclusion of "Stripe." Many users express concern that this could lead to trademark infringement issues with Stripe, the payment processing company. The potential for drawing unwanted attention from Stripe's legal team is a recurring point.
- "I think you might want to rename, having “Stripe” in the name is asking for trouble." - joshstrange
- "Was wondering about this as well. Might fly under the radar for a while but if your project grows you might draw attention from Stripe and having to rebrand later on will become difficult." - absoluteunit1
- "It's unlikely to fly under the radar as Stripe founders and employees are regularly on HN." - rstupek
- "Still, risky to use someone else's trademark regardless, if they suddenly don't like you anymore they'll start to enforce it at the worst moment." - diggan
- "Their chief counsel will insist on enforcing it immediately. You can't be lax about protecting your trademarks some of the time." - kevin_thibedeau
The discussion also touches upon the nuance of how "Stripe" is used in a name. One user pointed out that a name like "Move for Stripe" might be less problematic than "Stripe Move," which could imply direct affiliation or origin from Stripe.
- "The issue isn't having "Stripe" in the product name, it's having it in a way that implies it's by Stripe, mostly by putting it first. The top 3 hits from your linked search don't really have that issue. "Stripe Move" makes it sound like it's a product from stripe, "Move for Stripe" would not." - gruez
The project's author defended the naming choice, stating that other similar services also use "Stripe" in their names and have been operating for years. They also noted that the name was chosen to make the project's purpose clear, given its strong connection to Stripe, and that they are prepared to rebrand if necessary.
- "We went with it because the other services I mentioned also had Stripe in their names and have been operating for a few years. At the moment our product is so connected to Stripe that we felt having Stripe in the name was necessary to make its purpose clear. We added to our content that we are not affiliated to them, if we have to change the name in the future that is something we will have to deal with when the time comes." - felphos
- "It's a concern we raised while starting the project but the other services I mentioned also had Stripe in their names and have been operating for a few years. Because our product is so connected to Stripe we felt that it was necessary to make its purpose clear so we took the gamble and added to our content that we are not affiliated to them. If we have to change the name in the future that is something we will have to deal with when the time comes." - felphos
Challenges of Internationalization and Account Management
A significant part of the conversation shifted to the difficulties users face when changing their country of residence or operation, especially with large online service providers. Several users shared frustrating experiences with companies like Google, Sony (Playstation), and Microsoft (Azure) regarding their inability or reluctance to update account information or allow service usage in new regions.
- "Indeed, and in some areas, it's easier to make the move with the government, than getting all the for-profit services to accept your country change." - diggan
- "For example, Sony/Playstation straight up refuses to change the country on your account, so even though I lived in Spain for more than 10 years, Playstation Store is still in Swedish and using SEK, and when I reached out to support they told me to create a new account if I wanted to change the country." - diggan
- "Google is another company where moving countries is really disorganized. I still get emails in Swedish, and a "payment/billing account" (different from "payment method") is still somehow locked to Sweden and cannot be changed or removed." - diggan
- "To actually get the residency with the government, I basically had to queue at the police station for some hour, then go to the bank and then I'm 100% done with my move. I'm surprised how much easier it was to deal with the government about this move, than companies that I actually pay money to..." - diggan
- "Microsoft is incapable of switching countries as well. I can't use Azure because of this." - jwr
Users also discussed the potential application of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in situations where companies fail to accurately update user data, such as country information.
- "I would be very tempted to invoke GDPR in this situation. Company's have an obligation to hold accurate data about you[1], which clearly neither Google or Sony are currently doing if they think your payment account is in Sweden, or your local currency is SEK." - jon-wood
The humorous observation that LLM-based support agents might offer a "get out of jail free" card via account deletion was also made.
- " "Understood, we have now processed your complete account removal per GDPR. Please create a new account with us soon. Good luck." =)" - NitpickLawyer
The project author also shared their personal experience of underestimating the complexity of this process.
- "I had no idea either until I was in the middle of it! It was quite a stressful process, especially with a tight deadline." - felphos
Grammar and Wording Nitpicks
A recurring, albeit minor, theme is the correction of grammatical errors and awkward phrasing in the project's descriptions. Users identify specific instances in the project's website or documentation.
- "Also, tiny grammatical nitpick: the subheading should use the word seamlessly, not seamless there I think." - absoluteunit1
- "nit: on the front page it says "transfers everything seamless", I think you want to say "seamlessly" instead." - elemeno
- " “Transfer everything with few clicks” should be “Transfer everything with a few clicks”; although the former version is not grammatically incorrect it’s not how this phrase is typically used." - adriand
The project author indicated these have been fixed after being pointed out.
- "Thanks. Fixed." - felphos
Stripe's Migration Support and B2B Issues
The discussion also delves into the specifics of Stripe's own capabilities and limitations concerning data migration and business-to-business (B2B) features.
- Users noted that Stripe's core migration process only transfers customer records, requiring manual intervention for subscriptions.
- "We've been in that situation 5 years ago. Stripe's customer service moved the data (customers, subscriptions) over for us. Edit: I've been corrected by my collage. Stripe only copied customer records. We had to manually stop and recreate the subscriptions." - mtmail
- One user expressed frustration with Stripe's lack of a "company name" field and the inability to correct invoices for subscriptions, deeming these as significant drawbacks for B2B use cases.
- "Stripe has many issues, the missing migration is one. In my case there is alos the fact that there is no "company name" field and there is no way to issue an invoice correction for subscriptions... This makes it problematic for B2B use cases. I have alrady contacted them multiple times to ask them to add these very basic features but to no avail." - janmo
This led to a question about how such corrections are currently handled by users.
- "Where/what object would you like to use the company name field in? Can you describe a situation where you need to do an invoice correction on subscriptions (ie how do you handle this now)?" - soared
Market Viability and Target Audience for Migration Services
The high cost of specialized migration services was discussed, with one user speculating that the niche nature of the market might be the reason for the pricing.
- "I guess I'm "that guy." Have you considered that the reason is this as you say is niche thing and there simply is not the market to make it profitable? That is the reason they have to charge out of your budget for it to be worth their time?" - citizenpaul
This user also suggested that targeting businesses (B2B) rather than individuals might be a more profitable strategy for such niche tools, noting that businesses often utilize numerous high-priced, specialized software tools.
- "I would actually target it at those exact businesses rather than individuals. B2B tool. Let them handle the mess of sales negotiations and change your pricing model to the number of accounts or something like that. Accounting firms always have a million high priced tiny tools they use for odd cases. Ask me how I know....." - citizenpaul
Finally, one user expressed hope that Stripe might directly acquire such a migration solution, suggesting that it would be a valuable native feature for their platform.
- "Stripe should just have this native as part of platform. Hope it gets acquired." - xyst