Some good points.
The silliest part of this whole thing is that it’s perfectly legal to sell/ buy seeds and clones. Between industry bias towards this type of business, convoluted tax laws makes what should be a simple transaction a bit more complex.
I enjoy using your site from time to time and I hope you continue to improve not only payment processing but also a more robust rating system for sellers.
I know… I have had this conversation with payment processors for years. The bottom line is they not only rely on what is legal or not, they mostly rely on their internal risk management policies.
Our industry falls into the same risk bucket as porn and gambling. They say there are higher than average occurrences of chargebacks and frauds and therefore, refuse to serve us, OR come up with unacceptable terms (e.g 8-14% fees on all transactions in their own pockets + full enhanced KYC of all payment recipients). I can’t implement something like that.
The new transaction system aims to improve the rating system. There were few occurrences of sellers and buyers colluding to leave each other positive reviews for transactions that did not actually happen (perhaps 3-4% of all reviews). Because there was no payment system integrated, it was cheap to do so (a couple back and forth messages). I could do some clean up but had to always be reactive.
Now, you have to make a payment to the seller to be able to leave review down the road. It is a lot harder to game the rating system. We are also giving more time for buyers before reminding them to leave a review. The goal is to allow them to grow for a few weeks before being told “hey how is it going, don’t forget to leave a review, based on the quality of the material you received”.
Oh I am quite aware. In another lifetime I worked with payment processor’s, banks and various other on and off ramps for fiat. It was frustrating to say the least but it seems to be very very slowly getting better.
Same issues now as then…cost, industry bias, anonymity and a technical barrier for users depending on method chosen.
I will leave you with one final thought Monero > Bitcoin for anonymity. Not sure about fees as I haven’t kept up with many of the projects.
Either way I wish you success.
So from what I read in the link provided it said you need to report any income that was 600$ or more in a single transaction. I could see this being a problem with clones and for seed banks but for the average person this bill shouldn’t effect them much.
It’s $600 for the year for each processor. There are no transaction limits, it can be one or a million. Once it goes past $600 you’ll get a tax form.
Thanks man, I must have missed it or read it wrong.
Hi everyone,
For clarity, the transaction workflow has been updated this week, based on your feedback.
Key takeaways:
buyers are able to submit order requests without having to pay any fee, just like before > no friction
buyers can use any payment method they like, just like before > flexibility
both buyers and sellers are able to leave reviews to each other, when the transaction actually happened > security
sellers are eligible to a fee refund upon request, in case the transaction does not materialize
no one is required to use BTC, except for sellers only when they pay our service fee.
Refer to this article if needed: How to Purchase on Strainly? - Strainly blog
Do not hesitate if you have any questions.
As a long time user of strainly. I would recommend not to make any big changes right now. There are always going to be issues with cannabis and banking until the industry gets established. It just looks like a money grab to us. Probably best not to fix something that isn’t broken. Just my opinion
With all due respect, you guys are now charging a 7% transaction fee. How is that any different from the predatory processing fees your speaking out against?
I have been a US-based buyer of seeds on Strainly for a couple years, and was planning on being a seller on Strainly in the Fall.
95% of my seed purchases i used US cash.
5% i used Paypal.
So i hope you find a way to collect seller fees w/out requiring Bitcoin.
Because i will not be using Strainly iif i must use Bitcoin to pay fees. It’s gotta be cash, money order, paypal or debit card for me.
Thanks for listening!
Hi there,
We do provide you with a valuable platform where sellers make quite some revenue. 7% is a fair share. It is actually 6% until the end of the month.
Strainly cannot be sustainable as a charity.
Airbnb takes 20% and ask you to clean the room, Uber 20%, Apple app store 30%…
I think when you start screening DMs it breaks the trust. So what if people make a little money somewhere else. They’ll probably just spend the extra cash buying more seeds on the site anyway.
Hi there,
Thanks for your message.
We can only accept BTC for our fees.
Strainly is not US-based. There is no practical way you guys send us cash in mail we then have to convert with fees.
This article should be helpful.
Well that wouldn’t be so bad in my opinion if you didn’t also have to pay a monthly subscription. I just don’t see how you can sit here and speak down on the high fees from processors willing to work with canna related products when you guys are doing the same exact thing
I see, i didn’t realize you weren’t in the US. Thank you for your answer and the BTC info link.
Can you elaborate on these “buyer protections” and what they are exactly?
You DO NOT HAVE to pay a monthly subscription. They are optional (with the exception of the Pro level requirement to list clones, which acts as a filter). The optional plans give you more exposure.
You pay the subscription to funnel more eyeballs to your profile and listings.
You pay a small fee when you make a sale.
There is a difference between Strainly, a PLATFORM that allows you to securely and privately buy and sell genetics… and high risk payment processors who merely process payments for 3-4 times the fees a regular payment processor takes.
The fees are how Strainly remains sustainable. There is no successful philantropist in this space who will finance Strainly’s operations, which is probably a good thing. Users pay for the service. If they don’t find value, they don’t pay. Strainly shuts down.
You can’t run a sustainable business by making guesses that people may or may not come and spend money on your site.
As a seller, you make revenue using a service like Strainly, it does seem fair to take a small fee on that revenue to keep the service in operation (?).
Scam site, to bad it doesn’t shut down
Well that’s my point. Your making 7% plus monthly fees to sell a clone ? At those margins you guys are trying to make a fortune.
On top of that, you guys do zero vetting. So what value is it to pay for a pro plan and get taxed 7%,only to vend clones next to scammers that are selling fake diseased plants.