I am launching a marketplace for gaming equipment (PC, screens…).
I use sharetribe Go self-hosted.
I completed Stripe’s verifications and they did not accept my business, saying it is too risky.
I have a feeling it has to do with the Stripe Connect parameters we have to select to work with the Sharetribe integration, where we “say” that we receive payments from buyers and release them to sellers.
Has anyone else experienced this?
My business is not at odds with their restricted or prohibited business policy, at all.
I mean if we can’t do a marketplace for electronics and computers, i imagine, we cannot do anything using Stripe.
Finally, would using the hosted version of Sharetribe allow me to use Paypal as the payment processor instead?
I’m sorry to hear that Stripe rejected your account and business! I’m 100% sure that it has nothing to do with the Stripe integration in Sharetribe but is instead a mistake from Stripe or their own actual judgment (for whatever reason) that your business is indeed to risky for them to accept it.
Sharetribe relies on Stripe Connect. This Stripe product is designed exactly for marketplaces: they’ve built it to power payments on website when the money paid by buyers is held on the Stripe platform account until it is released, later, to the provider. This is what you pay Stripe for (through their fees) when using Connect so there’s absolutely no reason they would reject your account/business because of this flow.
In addition, Sharetribe powers thousands of marketplaces relying on this payment flow, without any issues.
However, we’ve heard a few times of Stripe rejecting a business/account. Stripe has its own process for this, and they use both automatic algorithm and manual reviews to decide. They don’t share their rules or even the reasons why they reject some accounts.
Based on our experience, this is happening because:
it is a mistake from their review process
If you apply again (with a new account), this may go through
If you contact their support, they may review things again and accept your business
your application had inconsistent answers
maybe your location does not match your currency, or your business category does not match your website URL and content, etc
Stripe actually considers that your business is too risky
It may be that they’ve identified your location, or your personal history, or your business line to be a risk
Stripe has it in their terms that they can decide, at any point, to reject a business.
I think you should now contact the Stripe support team, provide details on why you think this was an incorrect decision, and ask for more details. If they don’t let you go through a second review, you could start from scratch with a new account: it may go through (we’ve seen this happening once with a Sharetribe customer)!
When it comes to support for PayPal, the hosted version of Sharetribe Go did support this, indeed. The code is available in the Community Edition of Sharetribe Go, but PayPal no longer delivers new approvals for the use of this product, so you won’t be able to configure it in the CE edition.
I don’t remember ever having to tell Stripe anything about the Connect parameters or Sharetribe’s integration. However, Stripe Connect does have Direct Charges which works a little differently to the Destination Charges in the new Sharetribe/Flex. I believe Go supports Destination Charges and Separate Charges and Transfers [not Direct Charges]. If Stripe’s gripe is that you receive the payment and manually payout sellers, then Direct Charges are the way to go, which would require custom coding on either the old Go or the new Sharetribe.