For any Ruby on Rails developers in the UK who may now be jumping into Stripe for the first time because of this, Pete Keen has just released (or is releasing today) a new book called Mastering Modern Payments (http://www.petekeen.net/mastering-modern-payments) which focus on Stripe and Rails.
Honestly, the API docs and Gem are so good you don't need a book.
From sitting down can looking over the docs to charging my debit card for a monthly subscription took about an hour (and I'm not even that good with ruby, if you're a pro you could do it in half an hour I reckon).
I totally agree that Stripe is easy to get started with and I believe their documentation is the best in the industry. But, as someone who processes payments in the six figures annually with Stripe, I feel there is definitely still room for a book like Pete's, in the same way that there was a place for a book about design patterns even among talented and experienced developers. His book builds on the platform, rather than replacing the documentation.
I manage a drop-in Rails engine for adding Stripe subscriptions to an app (http://github.com/andrewculver/koudoku) and the number one piece of feedback I get is that people wish they had heard of it before they integrated Stripe subscriptions in their app. This tells me that there is room for gems like mine and books like Pete's in the little ecosystem Stripe has created.
I'm happy to say that I will not be a member of this "before" group. Thanks for pointing it out today. I look forward to using your gem and buying Pete's book.
It's payment systems that are supported. Not debit or credit cards.
My debit card is from Visa, and Visa is a supported payment system.
I think that's why he makes a point of saying American Express in the blog post too, it's one of the more obscure payment systems in the UK.
On a side note, I remember my mother, who runs a corner shop, giving anyone who pays on AmEx the evil eye because they have a higher merchant fee in the UK and it takes a few extra days to clear.
I wonder if Stripe UK have the same fees for AmEx...
It used to be a few extra weeks! Quite a few years ago I was buying an expensive (for me) watch in the UK. I asked if they took Amex, they said "yes". "What's it worth to use my bank card" I asked. I think they may have got a little flustered but the difference was £150 on an amount near £1000. It was the only real benefit I got out of having that card for about 15 years.
I recall when I worked for a big UK company we took our teams industrial placement students out to dinner at the end of their time with us (around 15 people)
The restaurant refused the company amex card of the team manager and one of the better off senior members of the team had to put it on his debit card and claim it back.
If a company genuinely operates out of Ireland, sure.
The issue that's caused a lot of grief is that a lot of companies set up what pretty much accounts to shell companies in Ireland, with the bare minimal operations they can get away with, and route massive amounts of revenue through it in creative ways that have nothing to do with where the actual operations and revenues of the company are.
I know you havent mentioned anyone specifically. But companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft employ hundreds if not thousands of people here.
Maestro is fast becoming redundant, so we decided not to push for support: "This effectively means that practically no UK banks will be issuing Maestro cards, except in Northern Ireland." —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maestro_(debit_card)
This is a little off topic I admit, but ... how do people make those little book images - is there a service online to give you back a paperback book with your title on it?
I made the image in Gimp and then uploaded it to http://www.myecovermaker.com and generated that image. It's $5 if you want to remove the watermark but it's well worth it, since there's no way I would be able to make that myself.
