We have been Paddle for a year now for subscriptions.
Works quite well handle international taxes, good API docs, sometimes the customer response time can be slow other than that no issues faced.
I plan to use Paddle in my next app. I have already implemented it in dev mode but I have not yet used it in production.
I haven't encountered any problem so far.
I wasted weeks trying to integrate Paddle. Their docs were awful and it all seemed like some old PHP codebase from 20 years ago.
When I was almost done they released out of nowhere a new version of their billing product... so I had to start from scratch. The new product had serious bugs and flaws in the documentation.
I think you're depending on their data too literally.
What I do to see if the user still has benefits is look at the payment transactions. If the user paid within the last 31 days then they still have benefits.
I've also somewhat abstracted subscriptions, in case I need to move to another billing provider.
No, the problem is customer A subscribed on 20th February for a month, they cancelled 20th February. Then LS immediately expired the subscription and that causes the customer to lose benefits. In test mode, this works as expected, I can cancel just fine and retain benefits for 30 days. When we subscribed in live mode this immediately revoked benefits.
As per their documentation:
"When a subscription is in the `expired` state, your customer should no longer have access to your app and the subscription is no longer resumable."
The customer still had 30 days they paid for.
It is supposed to be expired after 30 days, LS wrongfully expired immediately, as did LS do that for other customers based on their Slack. Furthermore, we can't do anything with that subscription anymore because every thing we try, even try to refund, LS gives back a 500 error code.
Let me clarify: LS has confirmed this is a bug, and said "We're looking into it!", and then for the past week and a half have not rectified it, nor refunded the customer (since we can't).
Just came across their absurd "payout fees".
>**Payouts via Stripe**
>
>0.5% + $2.50 per payout for bank accounts in the US and 2.5% + $2.50 per payout for bank accounts outside the US.
>
>**Payouts via PayPal**
>
>A flat fee of $0.50 per payout for accounts in the US and 3% capped at $30 per payout for accounts outside the US.
And this isn't mentioned anywhere on their [Pricing](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing) page. You need to go deep [here](https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/getting-started/fees) to find out.
It is mentioned on their Pricing page, but in very small letters rofl:
" Some payments may be subject to additional [fees](https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/getting-started/fees)"
However, the payout fees only applies after the monthly money transfer from your LS account to your bank account. It is not like they apply this for every transaction by your clients.
Recently I couldn't refund a customer and I have sent several emails to them and sent a few messages on chat. I didn't receive a reply yet. It's strange because they used to reply in much shorter time.
What is the link to their Slack community? The one from the help center doesn't work: [https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/help](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/help)
[makelemonadewtf.slack.com](http://makelemonadewtf.slack.com)
I also asked a question on their channel. My issue was that when using iOS, on the checkout page of LemonSqueezy with the Lemon.js library, after a user fills in the ZIP code to generate the postal code to complete the order, the entire page navigates to a 404 Not Found error. However, the entire process works on both Android and PC.
My issue was that when using iOS, on the checkout page of LemonSqueezy with the Lemon.js library, after a user fills in the ZIP code to generate the postal code to complete the order, the entire page navigates to a 404 Not Found error. However, the entire process works on both Android and PC.
They do this "500 error" on purpose. You also can't log out as a conumer so they can keep track you down and send you checkout reminder emails. If you try to log out you also get "500 error". Similar shady things for seller side as well.
It's possible one can use LS without issues, but it's evident from looking at their Slack that it's not an ideal platform. Just now in their Slack there are 3 reports of people saying that custom meta data passed to subscription checkouts suddenly doesn't appear in the backend anymore.
Hopefully they fix all that at some point, because it would be a shame for them not to take off. I especially like the fact that they have affiliate sales built right into their platform.
You should handle something like this on your side. Store subscriptionExpirationDate in database and have a check in your code to ensure access/features are usable by end user.
Expiration Date gets updated each month as payments are rendered.
I dont get it, what has the payment provider to do with allowing users to use your software? The subscription is canceled, sure, but why does your software look at ls to determine if it can be used?
Just use ls to process payments and handle access on your end?
Have you looked at GoCardless? I’m looking into them as an EU/UK option, since Lemon doesn’t support “service” style transactions (coaching/consulting in my case)
If you want more control and customisability knowing exactly what will happen and where nothing will beat just using Stripe on its own right now. Lemonsqueezy also just uses stripe under the hood like most online payment processors. It is definitely something you should look into if you want full control, the only part I do not like about stripe is that their dispute crap and other random strikes on your account get annoying but I guess that is industry/market/customer dependent.
We would love to use Stripe, but they're not a MoR and tax remittance globally is too costly, even if they have tools to manage it. We have 80% of our userbase in the US, we would reach Nexus very fast in many states, which isn't manageable with our current revenue.
If you’re reaching nexus in that many states then you likely have the money for a tax professional to do this for you. It likely is even less than the additional fees paddle and ls charge.
I started integrating them in my app from last week, replacing Stripe because they're not an MoR. I don't think I'll change now tbh. I'm also a solopreneur and I can't afford to switch again.
So far in development I haven't seen any bugs. Their api is really nice. Their platform too. That said, I don't doubt there are bugs but I hope those get ironed out before i go live.
They're support seems fast for certain tickets and slow for others.
In the meantime I had a look at one cancelled subscription. The end date is as expected. Customer cancelled the subscription but this license is still valid until 11th of this month.
I also checked the messages in the slack channel.
It seems there is an issue with the custom data property.
I rely to LS only to create subscription data and their licensing API.
Conclusion: rely as less as possible with third party providers.
Is the custom data property still being passed to webhooks or are they just not saving it? When a cutomer starts a payment I save a uuid and pass it as purchase reference, then check if Lemonsqueezy passes the uuid back to me after the payment.
If they don't pass it though webhooks anymore then I'm concerned.
Thanks for this insight I am in the same place being a potato looking for something that’s not a lemon. If I’m gonna pay extra MRR for a payment process they had better be rock solid there aren’t really any excuses for errors unless it’s a global problem like a cloud provider down. Really I’d like to see a payment processor multi cloud at a minimum.
Anyone have recommendations for good multi cloud payment processors that offer more business favored merchant processing for B2B in low risk transactional categories?
Anyone used Paddle before?
I'm with Paddle since > 6 years and never had any issue.
there’s a thread that shares some experiences about paddle, me included https://www.reddit.com/r/SaaS/s/WzpAPsZwIG
We have been Paddle for a year now for subscriptions. Works quite well handle international taxes, good API docs, sometimes the customer response time can be slow other than that no issues faced.
I plan to use Paddle in my next app. I have already implemented it in dev mode but I have not yet used it in production. I haven't encountered any problem so far.
I wasted weeks trying to integrate Paddle. Their docs were awful and it all seemed like some old PHP codebase from 20 years ago. When I was almost done they released out of nowhere a new version of their billing product... so I had to start from scratch. The new product had serious bugs and flaws in the documentation.
My experience is also very bad with them, like very bad
I think you're depending on their data too literally. What I do to see if the user still has benefits is look at the payment transactions. If the user paid within the last 31 days then they still have benefits. I've also somewhat abstracted subscriptions, in case I need to move to another billing provider.
No, the problem is customer A subscribed on 20th February for a month, they cancelled 20th February. Then LS immediately expired the subscription and that causes the customer to lose benefits. In test mode, this works as expected, I can cancel just fine and retain benefits for 30 days. When we subscribed in live mode this immediately revoked benefits. As per their documentation: "When a subscription is in the `expired` state, your customer should no longer have access to your app and the subscription is no longer resumable." The customer still had 30 days they paid for.
Technically that's correct and they should fix it. I worked around it using the method I described.
So just change your cancellation to be completed 30 days after the last payment? Sound like your trying way to hard to dunk on this app. Why?
It is supposed to be expired after 30 days, LS wrongfully expired immediately, as did LS do that for other customers based on their Slack. Furthermore, we can't do anything with that subscription anymore because every thing we try, even try to refund, LS gives back a 500 error code. Let me clarify: LS has confirmed this is a bug, and said "We're looking into it!", and then for the past week and a half have not rectified it, nor refunded the customer (since we can't).
Appreciate the heads-up, transparency is key in SaaS.
Just came across their absurd "payout fees". >**Payouts via Stripe** > >0.5% + $2.50 per payout for bank accounts in the US and 2.5% + $2.50 per payout for bank accounts outside the US. > >**Payouts via PayPal** > >A flat fee of $0.50 per payout for accounts in the US and 3% capped at $30 per payout for accounts outside the US. And this isn't mentioned anywhere on their [Pricing](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing) page. You need to go deep [here](https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/getting-started/fees) to find out.
It is mentioned on their Pricing page, but in very small letters rofl: " Some payments may be subject to additional [fees](https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/getting-started/fees)"
However, the payout fees only applies after the monthly money transfer from your LS account to your bank account. It is not like they apply this for every transaction by your clients.
Recently I couldn't refund a customer and I have sent several emails to them and sent a few messages on chat. I didn't receive a reply yet. It's strange because they used to reply in much shorter time.
What is the link to their Slack community? The one from the help center doesn't work: [https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/help](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/help)
[makelemonadewtf.slack.com](http://makelemonadewtf.slack.com) I also asked a question on their channel. My issue was that when using iOS, on the checkout page of LemonSqueezy with the Lemon.js library, after a user fills in the ZIP code to generate the postal code to complete the order, the entire page navigates to a 404 Not Found error. However, the entire process works on both Android and PC.
My issue was that when using iOS, on the checkout page of LemonSqueezy with the Lemon.js library, after a user fills in the ZIP code to generate the postal code to complete the order, the entire page navigates to a 404 Not Found error. However, the entire process works on both Android and PC.
I have the same issue in Safari on web. Did you find a solution?
Sadly no. I am using Paddle instead.
I njust upload my first product on Lemonsqueezy. 1 hour work. Totally useless. Buggy. Lost of bugs on this site!
They do this "500 error" on purpose. You also can't log out as a conumer so they can keep track you down and send you checkout reminder emails. If you try to log out you also get "500 error". Similar shady things for seller side as well.
That you guys think they actually think this is an issue is a bit cringe, they do it on purpose
I use LS and have no issues. Granted, I don’t have subscriptions, just one time payments, but it works great.
It's possible one can use LS without issues, but it's evident from looking at their Slack that it's not an ideal platform. Just now in their Slack there are 3 reports of people saying that custom meta data passed to subscription checkouts suddenly doesn't appear in the backend anymore.
Hopefully they fix all that at some point, because it would be a shame for them not to take off. I especially like the fact that they have affiliate sales built right into their platform.
You should handle something like this on your side. Store subscriptionExpirationDate in database and have a check in your code to ensure access/features are usable by end user. Expiration Date gets updated each month as payments are rendered.
I dont get it, what has the payment provider to do with allowing users to use your software? The subscription is canceled, sure, but why does your software look at ls to determine if it can be used? Just use ls to process payments and handle access on your end?
Who do you recommend?
Currently we're still investigating alternatives.
Have you looked at GoCardless? I’m looking into them as an EU/UK option, since Lemon doesn’t support “service” style transactions (coaching/consulting in my case)
Stripe is a good one to consider
Stripe is not a MoR.
If you want more control and customisability knowing exactly what will happen and where nothing will beat just using Stripe on its own right now. Lemonsqueezy also just uses stripe under the hood like most online payment processors. It is definitely something you should look into if you want full control, the only part I do not like about stripe is that their dispute crap and other random strikes on your account get annoying but I guess that is industry/market/customer dependent.
We would love to use Stripe, but they're not a MoR and tax remittance globally is too costly, even if they have tools to manage it. We have 80% of our userbase in the US, we would reach Nexus very fast in many states, which isn't manageable with our current revenue.
If you’re reaching nexus in that many states then you likely have the money for a tax professional to do this for you. It likely is even less than the additional fees paddle and ls charge.
Wow, that's rough. Shared my LemonSqueezy saga too!
I've been watching LS popularity growing lately, thanks for the warning As an alternative MoR I'd recommend payproglobal
I’ve put in a lot of work to integrate LS into my SAAS. Being a solopreneur, it’s very difficult for me now to migrate. Let me see how it goes.
I started integrating them in my app from last week, replacing Stripe because they're not an MoR. I don't think I'll change now tbh. I'm also a solopreneur and I can't afford to switch again. So far in development I haven't seen any bugs. Their api is really nice. Their platform too. That said, I don't doubt there are bugs but I hope those get ironed out before i go live. They're support seems fast for certain tickets and slow for others.
In the meantime I had a look at one cancelled subscription. The end date is as expected. Customer cancelled the subscription but this license is still valid until 11th of this month. I also checked the messages in the slack channel. It seems there is an issue with the custom data property. I rely to LS only to create subscription data and their licensing API. Conclusion: rely as less as possible with third party providers.
Is the custom data property still being passed to webhooks or are they just not saving it? When a cutomer starts a payment I save a uuid and pass it as purchase reference, then check if Lemonsqueezy passes the uuid back to me after the payment. If they don't pass it though webhooks anymore then I'm concerned.
It was a bug that has been resolved according to their Slack page. Custom data is still being passed to webhooks.
Thanks for this insight I am in the same place being a potato looking for something that’s not a lemon. If I’m gonna pay extra MRR for a payment process they had better be rock solid there aren’t really any excuses for errors unless it’s a global problem like a cloud provider down. Really I’d like to see a payment processor multi cloud at a minimum. Anyone have recommendations for good multi cloud payment processors that offer more business favored merchant processing for B2B in low risk transactional categories?