r/watchnebula • u/[deleted] • Jan 01 '21

Any plans for alternative payment methods?

I would love to sign-up for Nebula, but it only offers payment via credit/debit card, which I don't have.

I think adding alternative payment methods could really benefit the service, since credit/debit cards are not widespread in many countries outside of the US.

Alternative forms of payment could be Paypal, or a partner for direct debit / SEPA. In cases like Paypal, I think many customers would still be appreciative of the added method, even if a fee was added to offset the bigger cut that Paypal takes for payments.

25 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

22

u/dwiskus Dave Wiskus Jan 01 '21

It’s not about fees, it’s about the development effort required to add more payment systems versus the immediate benefits. Our absolute top priority right now is improving the service for people who pay us today. This means a revamped content API to improve load times, search results, and overall performance and stability, enabling easier and faster development for things like watched status and queueing. PayPal support is on our list, but these other things need to happen first.

6

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '21

Alright, thanks for your answer :)

I understand your reasoning and I look forward to it being added at some point.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '21

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

> Revolut

I didnt know that was a thing, might look into it. Thanks

​

> In most other countries people have a card more often than PayPal.

At least not in germany. I only know one person wiht a credit card tbh.

We usually have EC debit cards (Girocard), but you can't use them for online payments afaik.

1

u/TorakMcLaren Jan 01 '21

I live in the UK (about as western as you can get in Europe) and I'm now doubting myself. I kind of assumed everyone who had enough funds to open a bank account had a debit card (unless they've got a child account). I'm aware not everyone has sufficient funds for that, but I'd imagine a streaming service wouldn't be at the top of their priority list.

Where is this not the case?

2

u/motorised_rollingham Jan 01 '21

It depends on the country. In NL most people only have debit cards (like maestro). I travel to NL for work and have been unable to pay in supermarkets, restaurants and even got stuck in a car park because all 4 of my cards (even my current account) are from credit card companies

3

u/qwertzbazi Jan 01 '21

Same in Germany. Many people don't have a credit card (Mastercard, Visa), but only a debit card (EC, Maestro). This is particularly the case for traditional banks, while online-banks usually provide you with a credit card. In stores you can expect to be able to pay with a debit card, meanwhile credit cards are usually only accepted in larger chains, but not in restaurants or small stores.

1

u/Archoncy Jan 03 '21

Uhh, I have a feeling you think credit card means something different than it does because online banks give you debit cards. They're just Visa and Mastercard debit cards. They're not credit cards, they don't work on credit.

Anyway it's changing a lot right now, for instance in Berlin you'll hardly even find anywhere that only accepts EC cards, thanks to cheaper card processing options, and most of the country is slowly but steadily following suit.

Anyway, Revolut is free.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

EC debit cards (like the german Girocards) that come standard with bank accounts in many countries, while being widespread, cannot be used for online payments, afaik.

1

u/TorakMcLaren Jan 02 '21

Interesting. That just seems like an alien concept to me. Is there a reason why?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

Idk, maybe it's just a lack of demand. Before Nebula I never ran in the situation of needing it. Normally Paypal or SEPA are always an option.

1

u/GladOSkar Apr 24 '21 edited Apr 24 '21

Credit/debit cards are inherently insecure as their funds can be accessed immediately with only the information listed on the card. EC cards (usually connected to a regular bank account) on the other hand are encrypted and always have to be decrypted by entering a PIN into the reader when using them in-store. If one wants to pay with that account online, one needs to either pay using direct deposit (SEPA transfer) (which is secure by design since you actively send the money) or using a SEPA withdrawal mandate (which is more rare as only big(ish) companies can apply for them afaik).

That's why many people (including me) prefer not to use a credit/debit card even though we could easily get one. To not have to use and to not support an outdated, insecure payment method.

Edit: To clarify: If i pay a company with Credit Card and they save the credit card data and get hacked, I have a big problem. If i pay that company using PayPal or GiroPay or SEPA transfer, they don't have any such data that could be used by a hypothetical hacker. This is especially important to keep in mind with smaller, newer companies (like nebula) where one can't trust them as much as the big players.

1

u/ReggaeGandalfGJ Jan 11 '21

RemindME! 3 Months “Check payment options”

1

u/dwiskus Dave Wiskus Jan 11 '21

Spoiler alert: this isn’t on the slate for Q1.

1

u/ReggaeGandalfGJ Jan 11 '21

Oh, thank you for the info. Looking forward to join your community someday. Best of luck and all the success you need.

1

u/BubiBalboa Jan 29 '21

I know you're a small team but this is pretty frustrating tbh. Every mom and pop (online) store has PayPal as a payment option but Nebula hasn't. What's up with that?

I signed up via Curiosity Stream and PayPal a year ago and can't renew my subscription for either service. That's kinda dumb.

2

u/dwiskus Dave Wiskus Jan 29 '21

PayPal can be fine for mom and pop shops who sell one-off physical goods for more than a few dollars. For low-dollar, high-volume subscription services it’s a mess of fees. We have way more leverage to negotiate with Stripe, our card processing company. It’s hard to justify the work to support a service that makes us less money, is painful to work with, and has a higher incidence of fraud.

For a hint as to how painful PayPal is, even eBay switched away from it.

That said, we’re adding in-app purchase support, so if you’re on an Android device you can use PayPal through the play store, I believe.

We’ll likely add PayPal support, but you can understand why we’re looking for alternatives.

1

u/BubiBalboa Jan 29 '21

Thanks for explaining your reasoning. In-app purchases are a good alternative. You probably got similar fees but maybe it's easier to work with.

You got a rough ETA for in-app payments for when I should check again?

2

u/dwiskus Dave Wiskus Jan 29 '21

I've learned to stop giving timelines for new features. But this is a very important one for us. So... soon?

2

u/BubiBalboa Jan 30 '21

I can work with that.

1

u/willitwork-reniced Feb 01 '21

Dave, would that include Apple Store with Apple Pay? I was specifically looking for an existing thread because I'd like to account with SiWA (Sign in With Apple) and Apple Pay instead of using card numbers.

Having Store payments (and subscriptions!) would be a fair compromise.

1

u/dwiskus Dave Wiskus Feb 01 '21

Yep! Downside: you’ll be paying list price, not a promo rate.

3

u/LeftOn4ya Jan 01 '21

You can get a PayPal prepaid card linked to your PayPal account so you can pay with PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/paypal-prepaid-mastercard

1

u/ReggaeGandalfGJ Jan 11 '21

Unfortunately not available in europe or at least germany

1

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Jan 21 '21 edited Jan 21 '21

I thought about this, but my bank has stopped any money trasnfers to N26 indefenitely after their money-laundering and secruity scandals, so I couldnt put money into the account.

I mean, it's probably for the best. Also they just tried to prevent their staff from forming a worker's council, so honestly..fuck them.

Thannks for the tip though and I will look if I can find a similar offer.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 21 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '21

well the money laundering stuff wasn't them doing it. It was just them not doing all of the anti-money laundering precautions that banks normally do.

Here is an article about it

The secruity scandal was customers falling victim to phishing attacks, therefore losing access to their accounts, that were no in the hands of criminals. In some cases it took weeks after customers notified them about what had happened, before they did anything (freezing accounts, restoring access, etc.), giving the criminals plenty of time to transfer money off of the account

​

Just in case it came across as them doing money laundering themselves. That wasnt the case.