[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":431},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-45196945":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":29,"sentiment":30,"stance_mix":31,"scored_comments":36,"aspects":37,"strip":49,"post_text":50,"what":51,"said":91,"maker_in_thread":187,"shape":195,"grid":200,"attempts":395,"same_week":396,"maker_shows":43,"maker_hidden":424,"reader_version":425,"card":426},"45196945","Small Transfers","charge from 0.000001 USD per request for your SaaS","title","Show HN: Small Transfers – charge from 0.000001 USD per request for your SaaS","https:\u002F\u002Fsmalltransfers.com\u002F","smalltransfers.com","strnisa",1757508979,2025,198,78,332,3837,9,"notable","web_saas","payments platform","api",[24,25,26,27,28],"micropayments","pay per request","usage based billing","stripe connect","saas payments","mixed",0.01,{"positive":32,"neutral":33,"mixed":34,"critical":35},11,13,4,7,35,{"execution":38,"idea":41,"pricing":44,"design":46,"docs":47,"privacy":48},{"positive":39,"critical":40},0,1,{"positive":42,"critical":43},5,3,{"positive":34,"critical":45},2,{"positive":39,"critical":39},{"positive":39,"critical":39},{"positive":39,"critical":40},[43,43,39,42,39,39,42,42,40,42,43,43,42,43,43,43,43,42,40,42,39,40,43,42,43,42,42,43,43,39,40,39,42,39,43,40,39,40,39,40],"Hi HN,\n\nI built Small Transfers, a payments platform for SaaS \u002F API makers who want to bill customers per request instead of pushing them into subscriptions or pre-buy packages.\n\n*Why?*\n\n\n```\n  - Many customers hate subscriptions and\u002For want to use a service occasionally.   - Traditional payment processors add a fixed fee to every charge, making charges below 1 USD impractical.   - Stripe UBB tracks usage, but you still need to write your own auth, add spending limits, and each merchant charges cards separately (extra fees for customers). \n```\n *How it works?*\n\n\n```\n  - Each merchant has a Sma",{"problem":52,"audience":58,"pricing":62,"motivation":69,"time_to_build":73,"stack":74,"openness":89,"stage":90,"team_size":89},{"value":53,"source":54,"evidence":55},"Subscriptions and prepaid packages push customers away; card processing fixed fees make sub-$1 charges impractical","maker",[56],{"id":57},"post",{"value":59,"source":54,"evidence":60},"SaaS and API makers who bill per request or occasional users",[61],{"id":57},{"value":63,"source":54,"evidence":64},"Per-request charges from 0.000001 USD; customers pay monthly-ish balances",[65,66],{"id":57},{"id":67,"by":11,"text":68},"45209902","If a customer's balance is under $1 at the end of the month, we delay charging them for up to 60 days and send email reminders. If it's still under $1 after 60 days, we charge at…",{"value":70,"source":54,"evidence":71},"Customers dislike subscriptions and occasional-use services need cheap billing",[72],{"id":57},null,[75,79,85],{"value":76,"source":54,"evidence":77},"Stripe Connect",[78],{"id":57},{"value":80,"source":54,"evidence":81},"Stripe Radar",[82],{"id":83,"by":11,"text":84},"45219763","We run Stripe Radar and 3-D Secure when adding a card (before first use), which filters out a lot of obvious fraud (and 3DS often shifts liability to card networks in many…",{"value":86,"source":54,"evidence":87},"Next.js",[88],{"id":57},"unknown","launched",{"praise":92,"objections":112,"requests":133,"questions":151,"alternatives":166},[93,105],{"value":94,"source":95,"evidence":96},"Idea is interesting and useful for AI content and pay-per-use models","commenter",[97,101],{"id":98,"by":99,"text":100},"45218344","more_corn","This could be a great way to charge ai for access to content.",{"id":102,"by":103,"text":104},"45197623","huem0n","I've been wanting something like this for a long time. There's a lot of ways this could go wrong, but I hope it works. I'd especially love a video platform using this model. I…",{"value":106,"source":95,"evidence":107},"Good to see the micropayments idea implemented",[108],{"id":109,"by":110,"text":111},"45197129","freakynit","I had 100% same idea since a few months now. Didn't pursue it because of lack of companies and customers willing to use such a platform as intermediatory. Secondly, the legal…",[113,120,127],{"value":114,"source":95,"evidence":115},"Card fixed fees make small balances expensive for customers",[116],{"id":117,"by":118,"text":119},"45209822","fastest963","What's the payment threshold? I assume you're paying 2.9% and $0.30 (or around there) for the transaction. You charge that to the customer but what if their bill is $0.01, are…",{"value":121,"source":95,"evidence":122},"Fraud risk from deferred charging and end-of-month billing",[123],{"id":124,"by":125,"text":126},"45216996","Roguelazer","Some API questions\u002Fobservations - I don't see an idempotency key in the request to authorize a charge; that might be something nice for people looking to build reliable systems…",{"value":128,"source":95,"evidence":129},"E-money and regulatory concerns about holding customer value",[130],{"id":131,"by":11,"text":132},"45219818","That approach generally doesn't work from a legal perspective: prepaid tokens are often treated as e-money (especially if it's not for company's own products or services), and in…",[134,138,144],{"value":135,"source":54,"evidence":136},"Idempotency keys",[137],{"id":83,"by":11,"text":84},{"value":139,"source":54,"evidence":140},"Headless OAuth for AI agents",[141],{"id":142,"by":11,"text":143},"45255666","I misunderstood this comment originally. In principle, Small Transfers (ST) could let a content site bill AI agents per request. Each site (acting as an ST merchant) would expose…",{"value":145,"source":95,"evidence":146},"Embedded checkout without a separate account",[147],{"id":148,"by":149,"text":150},"45266806","felipe-pathwave","That's a very cool idea! To me the main barrier of adoption would be asking my users to create an account with a 3rd party provider in order to be able to pay me. That's a lot of…",[152,159],{"value":153,"source":95,"evidence":154},"Why hasn't this model worked before",[155],{"id":156,"by":157,"text":158},"45201716","ed","I mean this in the most constructive way possible: why do you think this idea hasn’t worked before, when it’s been fairly obvious and easy to build for a long time? And what’s…",{"value":160,"source":95,"evidence":161},"How it differs from Lightning payments",[162],{"id":163,"by":164,"text":165},"45206968","petertodd","Why would you use this over Bitcoin Lightning payments?",[167,174,180],{"value":168,"source":95,"evidence":169},"x402",[170],{"id":171,"by":172,"text":173},"45217569","smoyer","Interesting ... A web2 equivalent to the x402 specification. Thanks for the explanation of how fees are handled below. https:\u002F\u002Fx402.org",{"value":175,"source":95,"evidence":176},"Stripe usage-based billing",[177],{"id":178,"by":11,"text":179},"45197144","You're right to consider this, as it's an important aspect from a legal perspective. Since Small Transfers doesn't store customers' funds or allow them to withdraw a balance, the…",{"value":181,"source":95,"evidence":182},"Lightning Network paywalls",[183],{"id":184,"by":185,"text":186},"45204345","PhilippGille","I think micropayments are important for a healthy web economy. In 2018 I built a pay-per-call API paywall using the Lightning Network (a Bitcoin Layer 2 protocol\u002Fnetwork that…",{"comments":188,"answered":33,"key":189},27,[190,191,194],{"id":131,"text":132},{"id":192,"text":193},"45250252","The key legal issue is interchangeability. Single-merchant vouchers are generally acceptable. If a voucher can be used across multiple merchants, it's often treated as e-money in…",{"id":83,"text":84},{"commenters":196,"max_depth":197,"maker_replies":188,"first_comment_mins":198,"lifespan_hours":199},38,10,16,216,[201,203,206,208,211,214,217,219,221,224,225,227,231,234,236,238,242,244,245,247,250,252,256,258,261,264,266,268,270,273,275,277,279,281,283,286,289,293,296,300,302,303,304,307,309,312,314,315,317,319,322,323,324,325,328,330,332,334,338,340,342,345,349,351,354,355,357,361,365,367,371,375,378,379,383,386,389,391],[124,39,43,202,125,39],"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fexecution",[204,39,43,205,110,39],"45218416","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[131,39,39,207,11,40],"commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[209,39,39,210,110,39],"45229115","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[212,39,39,210,213,39],"45236577","NoahZuniga",[215,39,42,216,110,39],"45238675","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fpricing",[218,39,39,207,213,39],"45239147",[220,39,39,207,110,39],"45246241",[222,39,39,207,223,39],"45250127","ta12653421",[192,39,39,207,11,40],[83,39,39,226,11,40],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[228,39,42,229,230,39],"45235867","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea","franga2000",[232,39,39,233,11,40],"45236002","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing",[235,39,42,216,230,39],"45236355",[237,39,39,233,11,40],"45236441",[239,39,40,240,241,39],"45221312","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fexecution","pjc50",[243,39,39,226,11,40],"45221539",[102,40,42,229,103,39],[246,40,39,205,11,40],"45197821",[248,40,43,205,249,39],"45207954","cedws",[251,40,39,205,11,40],"45208906",[253,40,43,254,255,39],"45211283","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","jazzyjackson",[257,40,39,205,11,40],"45211709",[259,40,42,260,255,39],"45218778","maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone",[262,40,43,205,263,39],"45226239","strbean",[265,40,39,205,11,40],"45226813",[267,40,43,205,263,39],"45252989",[269,40,39,205,11,40],"45253484",[271,40,43,205,272,39],"45220236","namibj",[274,40,39,205,11,40],"45220352",[276,40,43,205,272,39],"45233304",[278,40,39,205,11,40],"45233594",[280,40,43,205,103,39],"45231727",[282,40,39,226,11,40],"45233485",[284,40,42,216,285,39],"45208485","perilunar",[287,40,39,207,288,39],"45218568","TrinaryWorksToo",[290,40,40,291,292,39],"45220979","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fpricing","crowbahr",[294,40,42,216,295,39],"45218855","etskinner",[297,45,43,298,299,39],"45299510","project\u002Fmixed\u002Fpricing","d--b",[301,45,39,233,11,40],"45301216",[117,43,40,291,118,39],[67,43,39,233,11,40],[305,43,43,205,306,39],"45217907","soared",[148,34,43,308,149,39],"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fdesign",[310,34,39,311,11,40],"45274057","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign",[313,34,42,260,149,39],"45288115",[171,42,43,205,172,39],[316,42,39,205,11,40],"45219962",[98,318,42,229,99,39],6,[320,318,39,321,11,40],"45219867","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs",[142,318,39,205,11,40],[109,35,42,229,110,39],[178,35,39,205,11,40],[326,35,43,226,327,39],"45201508","otterley",[329,35,39,226,11,40],"45201682",[331,35,43,321,327,39],"45202544",[333,35,39,321,11,40],"45202909",[335,336,39,210,337,39],"45220553",8,"nprateem",[339,336,39,233,11,40],"45220752",[156,18,40,341,157,39],"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fidea",[343,18,39,344,11,40],"45202225","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[346,18,39,347,348,39],"45203363","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea","drewp",[350,18,39,347,157,39],"45204631",[352,18,42,229,353,39],"45241963","bluesnowmonkey",[184,197,39,347,185,39],[356,197,39,260,11,40],"45204405",[358,32,39,359,360,39],"45239230","other\u002Fcritical\u002Fidea","anonymous344",[362,363,43,226,364,39],"45197239",12,"kolistivra",[366,363,39,226,11,40],"45197283",[368,363,40,369,370,39],"45202013","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fprivacy","codedokode",[372,363,39,373,374,39],"45202096","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fprivacy","blacksmith_tb",[376,363,39,373,377,39],"45208575","64718283661",[163,33,40,341,164,39],[380,33,43,381,382,39],"45207263","project\u002Fmixed\u002Fidea","Spivak",[384,33,39,359,385,39],"45215434","yieldcrv",[387,33,39,347,388,39],"45219200","beeflet",[390,33,39,347,385,39],"45219467",[392,393,40,341,394,39],"45211713",14,"up2isomorphism",[],[397,402,407,412,416,420],{"id":398,"name":399,"points":400,"category":401},"45181535","Term.everything",1094,"dev_tools",{"id":403,"name":404,"points":405,"category":406},"45154609","Mitch 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