GREAT NEWS! Stripe "Reinstates" The Last American Vagabond's Account: UPDATE
An Update to Stripe's TERMS OF SERVICE apparently let them review and reinstate The Last American Vagabond's account - the day before their account was to be terminated
Fantastic news! We found out yesterday morning (the day before the account was to be terminated) that Stripe has reversed their decision to terminate
’s account and they will be allowed to continue in good standing - as they should…Thank you to everyone who shared and made noise about the prior article published here about what happened to TLAV, and about the danger of Stripe’s monopoly over Substack and other content creation sites.
Watch the above 10 1/2 minute video, clipped from the beginning of the Sunday, June 9, 2024 “Daily Wrap Up” on The Last American Vagabond Substack livestream.
Ryan from TLAV points out that Stripe actually made another change to their terms of service, effective early June, that would exempt his channel and others - but opens further questions about crowdfunding sites that Stripe has no affiliation with, as well as other loopholes that would allow Stripe to STILL terminate a content creators’ account.
They added a lot of language defining what they determine to be a content creator. Did this language appear because of what we were doing here?
What Happened Again?
Watch the above 3-minute video clip, where I explain the situation with The Last American Vagabond - from “Boats Smashing Into Other Boats” on INN, June 3, 2024
Stripe was set to
as of June 10, 2024. (see the above video) On the morning of May 27, Ryan Cristian, an honoree, published to Twitter (I hate calling it X!) that Stripe was terminating their account after paying out all money due. They will not be allowed to monetize on Substack moving forward after June 10. This had been going on since the end of May.
Alternatives: Global Payments
Most bosses can’t stand it when people complain without at least proposing a solution. The most obvious answer to me that protects Substack’s business long-term while supporting creators and readers, is to find at least one alternate payment processing solution, or a handful of approved partners. This competition can also be healthy, as it could keep Stripe from messing with creators and from raising rates on Substack in the future.
I acknowledge that adding more providers adds a layer of complexity to finance and IT, to ensure that all the API fields align between processors, and that there is definitely a cost associated with it, where ROI is difficult to measure. It’s critical that all creators have a consistent experience and tracking across processors isn’t a nightmare for Substack IT and Finance.
It’s also critical that readers and subscribers have a consistent experience, irrespective of payment processor. This shouldn’t be that hard!
Global Payments appears to be a potential suitor that could handle processing worldwide. They appear to accept major credit cards in most countries, which would empower Substack to expand its monetization footprint. This could add to the company’s bottom line, which I know the executives want. They also offer the opportunity to receive tips/subscriptions in crypto, which many creators have also asked for and opens up an entire new world of possibilities.
Read our original article below, which Ryan from
thinks may have influenced Stripe to reevaluate his account’s termination and still highlights a major vulnerability for Substack.EXCLUSIVE: A BIG Vulnerability for Substack and Creators: Stripe Payments
**NOTE** If you are reading this via email, the post is too long and is cut midway through. Click to open it in a browser or use the Substack App to read the full article. As a platform that advertises free speech and a censorship-free environment (as long as you adhere to their minimal Ts & Cs), Substack is hiding a dirty little secret. The company is s…
Have you experienced issues with Stripe? What do you think of all this? Sound off in the comments below and share with someone who would get mad and want to do something about it.
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GREAT NEWS! Stripe "Reinstates" The Last American Vagabond's Account: UPDATE © 2024 by Indie Left is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Nothing will be perfect but competition should help that
I agree and put in the article that I think they really need to seriously consider Global Payments as an option