2 years ago, when building out iControlWP, there weren’t a lot of options when it came to payment processing.
Sure, we could use PayPal, but we don’t frankly like them, and they didn’t offer the flexibility our service needed.
Back then, Stripe was in the beta testing stages in the US and much too early for us to implement. So, much to the pain and frustration of both us and our clients, we went with WorldPay.
Why does WorldPay hurt so bad?
WorldPay forces clients to leave the iControlWP App to create an account with WorldPay itself.
The interface is old, slow, and clunky. Updating details requires users to once again leave the App and somehow remember their WorldPay details. We lost count of how often users contacted us after trying to reset their passwords, and the reset process with WorldPay just never worked.
Painful. Really painful.
This doesn’t even describe the technical hurdles with implementing a payment process with their system.
Again, painful. Really painful.
The WorldPay service is absolutely typical of the financial industry as a whole, whose fundamental train of thought when it comes to technology, works like this:
- Is our current service working? That is, does it earn us lots of cash?
Yes. - Would it cost us a lot of money to improve it?
Yes. - Would improvements and upgrades benefit our clients and service providers that use our services?
Yes. - Does our customer base have any other options?
Hmmm… not really. - Do we have statistics that show when a business becomes a customer that there is a huge inertia involved in changing service provider. So in all likelihood, whether we upgrade and improve our systems or not, they’ll stick with us anyway?
Yes. - Shall we upgrade our system then ? (Spending lots of monies that we could otherwise keep for ourselves, even though we know our clients will stick with us anyway)
No.
Whoops.
By now, in 2014, we’re all getting comfortable with picking new, and better service providers because that pain of changing from a monopoly isn’t really hard any more… it’s often more painful to stay.
So WorldPay is signing itself into oblivion every day that they continue to enforce an archaic payment gateway system.
Why do we, and everyone else, love Stripe?
We Love Stripe
We actually have a bit of a crush on them.
Their documentation is spot on, and their API and mode of implementation is so beautiful that it’s sheer bliss to work with.
We can see every aspect of our communication with their system… details of the requests that our system sends them, and verbose details of their responses. Development and debugging against their platform is every developer’s dream.
It’s quite an inspiration and something we’ll definitely try to emulate when we put out our own customer API.
What does our Stripe implementation mean for existing clients?
Don’t worry, we wont force you to run in and update your payment details to use Stripe, but we will in-time offer the option to do so.
Instead, we’ll just continue to use your WorldPay until such times as your card-on-file expires. Then you’ll be prompted to update… and you’ll never again need to leave our system to go to WorldPay.
You’re going to love it… we’ll have a nice walk through wizard to guide you along the way, and with our new invoicing system, you’ll see clearly every single item for which you’re being billed.
It’s been a long road to reach this point, but we’re moving iControlWP into a place that’ll offer all our clients the ultimate in flexible multiple WordPress management. You thought we were awesome already, but the next few months are going to really knock your socks off! 🙂
Question, comments, concerns?
If you want to know any more information, please see our growing help FAQ section on Stripe here, or drop us a support ticket directly from within the App itself.
Many of you have cried out for a replacement to WorldPay, and we’re delighted to offer what we feel is the best in its class. Please feel free to share your thoughts below, or to me directly in the helpdesk.
