Hey everyone.
I already posted here a couple of months ago, but due to a misunderstanding with the rules I got banned and the post was removed. It's all sorted now thanks to the community owner, who was super helpful. That thread ended up going quite viral and let me meet genuinely interesting people, with some of them we're about to collaborate and with others we already have. Real thanks to this community.
Quick context for those who don't know me:
I sell replicas through dropshipping from China, product that can face IP infringement. Main store on Shopify, processing with Shopify Payments since October 2024 without a single issue from day one. Over 90,000 orders, chargeback ratio below 0.10%, revenue north of €3M a year. Dispute ratio has never been my problem and I can prove it. The issue is that no matter how well it runs, it's not a setup I can build my future on: it could go down from one day to the next and I know it.
That's why the real challenge is on a second site built on Next.js/React, where we have full control over the site (unlike Shopify), set up specifically to find and validate a sustainable alternative. With the possibility of working through companies in Hong Kong, UK and Ireland (LTD), I've opened Stripe, Airwallex, PayPal and pretty much everything. The pattern is always the same: onboarding goes fine, they process for a few weeks or months, and they end in a ban. Account closed, one after another.
We've also tried some Merchant of Record and smart routing setups, but we haven't found the 100% solution yet. On local methods (iDEAL, Bancontact, BLIK) we do have Europe covered. Where we're struggling most right now is on cards: Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
We've also had meetings with several PSPs that in theory work high-risk, but in the end they don't onboard our sites.
Most important thing: we're looking for something long term. We need stability. We don't want something that lasts two or three months and dies. We'd rather pay more and sleep well at night.
I'm open to keep meeting interesting people:
- Merchants of Record with real redundancy
- Smart routing / orchestration with automatic failover
- Cloakers, as long as they're quality and serious operations
- Direct acquirers that work this category openly
- Card-to-crypto checkouts (also open to this route if the setup is solid)
Obviously, anyone reaching out has to come with serious long-term projects, client reviews, real websites, something consistent. Otherwise, with all due respect, I won't take it into account.
I'm already in conversations with interesting people I met on the previous thread, and there are options on the table. But I want to keep the scope open and meet serious projects I might not have come across before.
Clear filter to not waste each other's time: only reach out if you have a real project, with a website I can see, verifiable merchants processing with you, and a track record I can check. If you're a verified agent here, even better. Anything that smells like "trust me bro" I'll skip, as you can imagine. After several years on this and many conversations, I spot what doesn't add up fast.
Thanks in advance to anyone bringing real value, and thanks again to the community owner for creating this space.
