The Shopify model

[michielbdejong]

Had a call yesterday with @ianconsolata and among other things, the same topic came up that we discussed with @joepio and @travis (see also SolidOS/money-pane#29)

We already know that Solid app onboarding is hard. To start using your Solid app, new users will need to:

• have decided they want to use your app and be ready to click through the necessary screens to start doing so
• choose a pod provider (understand why / how to choose),
• sign up at one
• remember their webid

But onboarding a Solid app that support web monetization, the user will additionally need to:

• get an account at Coil
• get an account at Uphold or GateHub
• go through KYC (upload a photo of your passport etc)
• install the Coil browser extension

That's really a lot, probably too much.

One way Understory are mitigating the first list of hurdles is by becoming a pod provider.

To mitigate the second list of hurdles, one option would be to do what Shopify does:

• a creator signs up at the platform (Shopify or Understory)
• signs up at Stripe
• puts their Stripe token into the platform

That way, the platform is not a money transfer agent or wallet custodian (the money travels from the consumer's credit card to Stripe to the creator), and you basically use Stripe instead of Coil, I guess.

Food for thought! :)

The link with federated bookkeeping / MoneyPane might be that if a creator has not (yet) configured their Stripe key, then the consumer could "agree to owe" the amount instead of paying it.