Stripe closed my account – no notice – my LLC was registered using Stripe Atlas
15 comments
This is a textbook example of concentration risk — your entity formation, payment processing, and customer relationship all running through a single provider. When Stripe Atlas handles your LLC and your payments, a compliance flag in one system can cascade across your entire business.
Two structural things worth separating going forward: (1) your legal entity from your payment processor — so a payment shutdown doesn't threaten your corporate standing, and (2) your payment stack itself — having a warm backup processor (not just "integrated" but actively processing some volume) means you can switch in hours, not days.
The eSIM space isn't uniquely risky, but any business where Stripe's fraud model doesn't have great training data for your vertical is exposed to this.
Two structural things worth separating going forward: (1) your legal entity from your payment processor — so a payment shutdown doesn't threaten your corporate standing, and (2) your payment stack itself — having a warm backup processor (not just "integrated" but actively processing some volume) means you can switch in hours, not days.
The eSIM space isn't uniquely risky, but any business where Stripe's fraud model doesn't have great training data for your vertical is exposed to this.
Thanks for sharing. Interesting take on separating Company registration from payment processor. At the beginning of this business, I thought it is a good thing.
Always have a secondary payment provider integration ready -especially when you use stripe.
But don’t worry, you are on the HN frontpage:
Count the seconds until your god level stripe support in the form of "hi this is Patrick from Stripe…" arrives!
But don’t worry, you are on the HN frontpage:
Count the seconds until your god level stripe support in the form of "hi this is Patrick from Stripe…" arrives!
I really hope so..
I was already working on integrating PayPal advanced checkout for this specific scenario but not technically done yet. I even registered my LLC using Stripe Atlas thinking that would add a value..
I’ll never understand why companies don’t invest in having real humans support situations like this? Hire a few people with a level head on their shoulders and just let them do good work supporting your customers, or at least escalations, or situations like this.
If you’re a multi-billion dollar company then it means you can afford to support your customers.
If you’re a multi-billion dollar company then it means you can afford to support your customers.
Especially this part: "we are unable to provide further details regarding the reason for your account's closure.". At least they should exactly tell me what is the reason behind the "Unauthorized payments" and if I am the cause of that. If unauthorized is the reason, why not give a warning and force 3DS on every payment?
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I think that sometimes they decide certain businesses have too much fraud, and they just get out of them. It's terrible for them to do that with no notice, though.
Many big eSIM players uses Stripe so it is weird. Also, if a fraudulent users stole some cards and started card testing then why put all responsibility on me? noting that last dispute was 7 months ago. So everything was looking good.
I'm curious what the reason is when you find out.
That's what they mentioned in the initial email: "We recently identified payments on your Stripe account for Travely eSIM that don't appear to have been authorised by the customer, meaning that the owner of the card or bank account didn't consent to these payments.". I do have 3DS enabled + Strict Radar rules + custom backend to auto block fraud users + manual review and refund for suspicious payments. It is weired after investing in integration with Stripe and doing everything possible to have a good account that you get blocked without a notice.
This sounds like a market where there is a lot of normal fraud. Like these are real people using their own credit cards / banks to pay, but after they receive the product they claim they didn't purchase it and charge it back. I'm not sure how any of Stripe safeguards would protect you from that.
Do you receive many chargebacks?
Do you receive many chargebacks?
I received 10 fraud disputes during the first month, but that was eight months ago. After applying strict Stripe Radar rules and backend logic, I haven't received a single chargeback in the past seven months. It would've made more sense if they closed the account 8 months ago not today.
Bad actors are relentless and never ending.
What surprised me is that the disputes were limited to the first month where stripe support agent recommended not to refund them because they might be legitimate.. The past 7 months have been clean after I fully optimized Radar rules.
All payments by my current customers are being rejected. You can imagine how hard it was to attract customers in the current hot eSIM market.
My LLC was registered using Stripe Atlas so they already have all my info in addition to the document I sent today during the appeal.
Waiting 2-3 days to get a response whether they will reactivate or not is very long.
That's supper unprofessional. Can you help push this post bcz they only seem to take serious action after a social media post..!!