Stripe - Sharing my Experiences and I need a help too

Instagram Marketing
#1

Stripe doesn’t support where I live.
But, there’s always a way around.
And I’m doing Instagram client Management.
Since PayPal has lots of restrictions, I always needed an alternative.
By far ‘Stripe’ seems to be the best.

Here’s what I did

1. Formed an LLC in the US
Yes, even if you aren’t a US resident, you can form an LLC.
That’s easy. Super easy, I should say
I formed my LLC in Delaware. But, you shouldn’t, in terms of Annual Fee.
Your annual fee for running an LLC in Delaware would be USD 300/Year + Registered agent fee.
If you are planning on forming an LLC, I recommend you should try Wyoming.
The annual fee would be just USD 50 + Registered agent’s fee
Keep in mind, you will have to pay for setting up your LLC as well. Onetime payment

2. Obtain your Employer Identification Number [EIN]
For none US resident, we don’t have a Social Security Number. [SSN]
But, EIN is similar to SSN, in terms of doing business in the US
When you have an EIN, you can create a Real US bank account.
But, you’ll have to visit a bank in the US. or else, you can’t have a ‘Real US bank account’

And here’s what I did

3. TransferWise
I know most of you already know this and use it.
When you have an EIN, you can apply for a TransferWise business Account.
When you get approved, you will have access to the US bank [With Payoneer, you can do the same. But, I prefer TransferWise]
You will be given a Routing Number + Account number to your US bank account.

Now you have your EIN, US bank details and it is time to try Stripe
I did the same and my Stripe account got approved. With EIN, it is easy

4. Stripe Banned me, as soon as I got the first payment
Yes, just the first payment and they banned my Stripe.
I asked them why and they emailed me ‘I’m doing a High-risk business’
Yes, I told them that I’m not selling Instagram Likes, Followers, Views or anything.
I’m just managing Instagram accounts. [Of course with Jarvee automation :smiley: ]
But, they never listened and banned my account

5. I’ve seen Instagram growth services are using Stripe
Yes, I’ve seen there are so many businesses are using Stripe as their credit card processor.
And I’ve heard they aren’t using Stripe directly

They use Chargebee or similar services to manage recurring billings
So the process is [What I understand]
They have a Stripe account and they plug their Stripe with Chargebee
Stripe is the credit card processor and Chargebee is for automated billing [is it?]

What I need to know is, if I do the same, what kind of records/information will go to Stripe?
I mean will Stripe be able to know, I’m still selling Instagram management services or they’ll just get money to their account, collected by chargebee?

If anyone knows how it works, then it would be so kind of you to share what you know.

Just because of PayPal, I’m losing 5-7 clients per every two months. They just don’t like it and they’d love to pay directly via Credit Card

And if anyone needs to know about forming an LLC, you may leave a reply and will do my best to help you.

Thank You.

Best,
NM

12 Likes
#2

pls how much those Registered agent’s fee

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#3

I will confirm this with my agent.
But, it won’t be much.
My Delaware Agent charged me USD 50 as the fee.
Still need to check this with Wyoming

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#4

It sounds like Stripe cancelled your account because you aren’t working with deliverables.

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#5

I’m not sure.
But, they told me that my business is a High risk one.
I told them that I’m not selling likes, followers or anything.
But, still they decided to cancel the account.

#6

Some high risk processor discussion on shopify forum[1]

[1] https://ecommerce.shopify.com/c/payments-shipping-fulfilment/t/looking-for-high-risk-merchant-gateway-hoverboards-362276
[2] http://www.authorize.net
[3] https://www.plugnpay.com
[4] https://www.netbilling.com
[5] https://www.payeezy.com/content/payeezy/www/en_us/index.html

Since you have LLC they would accept you fast.

#7

I’m also in need of an LLC. Where did you find your Registered agent? Does he charge a recurring yearly fee?

#8

I am also thinking about forming an LLC for Dropshipping. How much is your total yearly cost with the Delaware company? (accounting ect)

#9

Well, Thank You for all the info.
I reached-out to PaymentCloud, the one Strip proposed me when they ban my account.
Payment cloud accepts High-risk businesses.

But, they needed a Social Security Number [SSN], even though I have an EIN.
I told them that I don’t have an SSN and they told me ‘Sorry, we can’t process your request’
But, I never checked all the other processors you mentioned.
Thank you again

My First agent was DelawareInc.com
And for forming my LLC they charged USD 179 [Check here]

Annual Delaware LLC Fee is USD 300. If you failed to pay on time, you will be fined an extra USD 200. They have ZERO tolerance for late payments :smiley:

And my registred agent fee was USD 50/Year

Since Delaware’s annual fee is bit higher I decided to move my LLC to Wyoming.

I used ‘Wyoming Trust and LLC Attorney’ to form my Wyoming LLC
The annual fee for Wyoming LLC is just USD 50 and registered agent fee is also the same AFAIK

Think I already answered you. But, I never used any service for accounting.
Hope this helps

2 Likes
#10

last thing to do is use Stripe with a subcription service especially Social Media related, you need a high risk merchant. Chargebee is just the payment merchant and Stripe is the processor to my understanding I have had 4 Stripe accounts this year all locked for up to 3 months around 100,000 USD in locked fees very dangerous I would never use Stripe as they can bite you when you don’t expect it my business nearly went bankrupt due to them.

#11

Thank you very much for sharing this information with us. Can I please ask, does your agent or Wyoming also advice you on the taxes you need to pay every year?

#12

Normally if you can show them what you’re delivering to clients they’re okay with it.

If you’re “managing accounts” then you don’t have anything to show.

Trust me, I’ve done this song and dance with them before.

#13

Your first issue is you mentioned Instagram management period. You need to stick to general terms like Marketing services and consultation fees. They typically don’t have an issue with social media in general but if that’s all you do they may not look twice especially without an established history.

It also may not help that you setup an LLC but it’s a new company and you’re international as the registered owner. It very much could be a red flag as someone trying to skirt the system. Especially if they see you are in a country they don’t naturally support.

Ie the response may have been “high risk” but might not have had anything to do with anything you were doing but rather who you and more importantly where you are. Your best approach would be to partner with someone in a Stripe supported country with an established history who can handle billings for your clients under their umbrella. There’s a whole legal process to do this so it doesn’t raise any money laundering flags but it can be done. A lot of it though would mean giving up control of your clients to that partner and trusting them to pay you (to do it right)

1 Like
#14

Have you found a solution? I received the same “high risk business” warning

#15

How do you manage accounting etc?

#16

So just my experience but 4 days ago I get an email from Stripe about ways to avoid chargebacks. I haven’t had many at all so I replied to the email with a short question. Stripe replies that they just looked at my account and I’m now banned as it’s high risk. They say I should use paymentcloudinc and there’s nothing they can do. I call up paymentcloud and honestly it’s only slightly more expensive but I wasn’t looking forward to having to move everything over to them. And then the next day I get an email from Stripe saying they restored my account and they’re sorry. Really strange.

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#17

Hey guys, i ran into same issue like some of you - stripe has banned my account. Here is a message that i got to my email some days ago:

I’m thinking if its possible to get it back?

I was using stripe for more than 6 months for selling my instagram growth service and never had any issues, no chargebacks or something. But recently i sent some custom invoices to some of my clients named “instagram growth”, maybe that could trigger this?

I saw plenty of people on this forum who wrote that they’re using stripe and they had no problems. So i’m thinking why some people are able to use it without any problems and some get banned… Maybe someone could help me??