Helium
Web and SaaS
payments checkout
SHOW HN2012
109points
78comments
#194of 1,677 in 2012
Top 12%of 2012 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
11 positive, 22 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 14 critical, out of 51 comments about the project. Thread score -0.02.
Design: 6 for, 2 againstPricing: 2 for, 3 againstIdea: 2 for, 3 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 2 againstDocs: 1 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Design is polished and attractive
From 4 comments
Beautifully presented, wow.
prezjordan on HNThat page is just beautiful. Well done.
iaskwhy on HNI really like the clouds in front of the airship! The movement is very subtle, which gives the design a refined feeling. Totally the kind of detail that could be overdone and…
d2vid on HNI've been following you guys for a while, and really love your sense of design. As for the product, is this a direct competitor to Gumroad?
alexmic on HN
Simple, useful use case for small sellers
From 2 comments
very cool.. the Odio family always up to big things :) love the simplicity + the design + the use-case. releasing this as a wordpress plugin would be killer - the entire shopping…
rohamg on HNI run my lady's dog treat site. Arrfscarf.com We have been trying to find a great solution for web ordering. We sell doggie ice cream. We currently sell retail in Chicago. Have a…
fumar on HN
Objections
2% fee on top of Stripe fees is too high
From 3 comments
So is your target customer is very small transaction web sellers? Because 4.9% + 30c per transaction is extremely high. That's 2.9% + 30c from stripe and 2% from you.…
chank on HNIt seems like a good idea, but I think 2% additional per transaction is a tough sell.
madoublet on HNYou need to state your pricing structure clearly. Saying that you charge 2% over what Stripe charges makes it seem like you are hiding the total cost of transactions. Using…
orangethirty on HN
Missing company names and contact info makes it look like a scam
From 2 comments
You're asking me to connect my stripe account to your site, and give you 2% of my money and you won't even give me your first name? All of your info is anonymized and your domain…
ChrisNorstrom on HNNow that I've calmed down, I have to say I'm so sorry for my rude rant. I don't know what triggered it but honestly my heart rate literally increased when I saw you didn't have a…
ChrisNorstrom on HN
Payment page served over HTTP
From 2 comments
I'd be loath to put my credit card info there since it's on an HTTP (not HTTPS) page. How is this remotely secure?
graue on HNIt's actually against the stripe Terms of Service to use live mode keys on a non-https site.
zrail on HN
Stripe could easily copy the product
From 2 comments
I think this is very risky since stripe could easily put them out of business by providing the same thing and for no additional cost.
chank on HNStripe so far has been really developer focused and so they've really targeted themselves towards that audience (home page, docs, marketing, etc.), unlike PayPal which is more…
terryjsmith on HN
Requests
Show a demo or screenshots on the home page
From 3 comments
I would really strongly encourage y'all to put this demo on your main home page. Maybe auto populated with fake values and a cute little 'demo' warning. Also the toggle buttons…
gourneau on HNI have something similar going at https://www.bngal.com Your homepage design is definitely better but it would be really nice to see a demo, screenshots, or a video somewhere.…
callmeed on HNIs there a demo anywhere?
excid3 on HN
Email invoice feature
From 1 comment
Here's something I need which I would pay 2% for right now - the ability to email someone an invoice. I'm stuck with PayPal, which I hate.
davidkatz on HN
Mobile iPhone browser support
From 1 comment
Nice job! Are there plans to support mobile browsers? Works great on iPad, but not iPhone at the moment.
mbmccormick on HN
Clearer checkout form labels and layout
From 1 comment
The payment UI looks unfamiliar and slightly confusing. ``` https://gethelium.com/static/images/sales/overlay.png ``` * Why are the labels _inside_ the input field? It's…
aiurtourist on HN
Questions
How does it scale as sellers grow and fees become large?
From 1 comment
Here's a question about Helium. The premise is that for 2% any site could be made an eCommerce store, making total transaction fees around 5% for a dead-simple solution. This is…
dkokelley on HN
How are chargebacks handled?
From 1 comment
Do sellers need to have an account with Stripe ? How do you handle chargebacks ?
neerajdotname2 on HN
Is it a direct competitor to Gumroad?
From 1 comment
I've been following you guys for a while, and really love your sense of design. As for the product, is this a direct competitor to Gumroad?
alexmic on HN
Alternatives named
Shopify
From 2 comments
So is your target customer is very small transaction web sellers? Because 4.9% + 30c per transaction is extremely high. That's 2.9% + 30c from stripe and 2% from you.…
chank on HNA few comments are making an issue of the pricing (2% + Stripe's 2.9%) saying it's too high. It's not too high. If the product does it's job and makes it dead simple for the end…
jcc80 on HN
Gumroad
From 2 comments
I've been following you guys for a while, and really love your sense of design. As for the product, is this a direct competitor to Gumroad?
alexmic on HNYou're asking me to connect my stripe account to your site, and give you 2% of my money and you won't even give me your first name? All of your info is anonymized and your domain…
ChrisNorstrom on HN
Stripe Button
From 1 comment
The Stripe Button is a step in this direction: https://stripe.com/docs/button
excid3 on HN
WePay
From 1 comment
I don't know what your requirements are (U.S. versus Foreign, etc.), but WePay has a nice email invoice solution: https://www.wepay.com/online-invoicing
jeandenis on HN