After about 20 years with them, FastSpring have implemented what should have been a ‘simple to implement’ policy to verify the UBO (Ultimate Business Owner) of their clients.
Obviously, it’s me. Always has been, they know me, they know where I live, and all public records agree in the details.
But they have now partnered with another company (ShuftiPro) that uses an automated document ‘recogniser’ system which appears incapable of the most basic OCR,
and having spent hours uploading scans of documents which they failed to parse,
I am currently ‘unverified’ , with no responses from either company about what they plan to do about it.
Not happy being messed about.
So, if they decide to pull the rug ,
or they mess me about some more and I simply decide to walk:
Who else will handle international trade on a B2B basis, where the tax situation is removed for me?
Any recommendations?
(The VATMOSS fiasco of 2015 isn’t going anywhere… there is still a need to charge VAT on behalf of the country of the buyer, despite my business not having to register for VAT in the UK)
Sheee-it… Paddle did this to me and it didn’t end well. It got pretty ugly in fact as the verification company claimed they could take Taiwanese IDs, but obviously they couldn’t.
So if FastSpring is doing this now, that sucks. Have you checked on Gumroad?
I have not heard from FastSpring about this. As with Sam, this was the reason I left Paddle. FastSpring support has never let me down before, I’m surprised to hear that they’ve left you with no response.
I just looked at Gumroad.
Wow… feels like I wandered into a teenagers’ party.
The website is a bit… in your face…
The ‘Learn More’ link just wants me to create an account - theres no actual information on the page it takes you too. Good start.
Needs a strong cup of coffee and a bit of patience, I suspect.
Did Fastspring tell you why you have to do this? I wasn’t contacted either.
The problem is that Fastspring is expensive but they also do a lot. Gumroad and the other cheap solutions mean much more work. Especially, I don’t ever want to touch taxes from other countries.
A while ago I was contacted by a guy from https://asknet-solutions.com . As far as I remember their solution is similar to what Fastspring does.
Edit: what could possibly go wrong with “Unleash the power of AI-driven identity verification solutions” from the Shuftipro website?
I’ll let this cook for a few more days before I contact FastSpring. I’m hoping that maybe Jeff will hear something.
Luckily, my DRM is separated from the payment processor and all I would need to do is implement new webhooks. My customers would be completely unaffected. If anyone is interested in TPLM give me a shout, I’m happy to help with the transition (it can import existing keys).
Artificial Intelligence = pretending to be intelligent.
The process would take 30 seconds if a human looked at the documents.
Maybe its because they ask for a picture of a shiny driving licence or a shiny passport.
Yesterday , after I wrote a letter of complaint enclosing my passport and other documents , they came back to me to say that they do have the ability to override the process, and they have done so.
I had already set up 70% of the product line in a MyCommerce trial account just in case, but I am relieved to stay with fastSpring .
I’ve no idea how I would have coped with potentially losing access to more than a decade of customer history.
"Hello Jeff,
As the e-commerce landscape has evolved over the years, so have our verification policies and procedures. In order for us to remain compliant with our payment processing partners, we are asking all of our customers to complete our new mandatory verification steps that includes gathering the following information:
1. Company Name OR Sole Proprietor
2. Company Registration Number (if applicable)
3. Attached copy of registration documents (if applicable)
4. Company full address
5. VAT number (if applicable)
6. UBO - Ultimate Business Owner (25% or more ownership in the company)
7. UBO Country of Residence
FastSpring has partnered with ShuftiPro.com...
I guess ‘money laundering’ safeguards?
These safeguards only apply to people who don’t work in government ,or earn more than a million per week, of course.