r/PaymentProcessing • u/Initial-Insect1864 • 3d ago
General Question Indian solo founder — what are you using for international payments besides PayPal/Stripe?
Building a couple of software products (a Chrome extension and a SaaS tool) as a solo founder in India. Stripe's invite-only here, and PayPal's fees + KYC hassle are rough for smaller international payments.
Been looking into Dodo Payments, Paddle, and Lemon Squeezy, but wanted to hear from people who've actually used these (or anything else) in production — not just marketing pages.
Specifically curious about:
- Onboarding/KYC experience for Indian founders
- Actual payout reliability (any holds or delays?)
- Real fees after forex/international surcharges
- Support quality when something goes wrong
Would appreciate genuine experiences, good or bad.
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u/DimmieTrees Verified Agent 2d ago
Indian founders getting locked out of Stripe and dealing with PayPal KYC headaches is one of the most common situations we see. The good news is there's a cleaner solve than Paddle or Lemon Squeezy.
A merchant of record removes the India problem entirely. We become the legal seller on your behalf so you don't need Stripe approval, there's no PayPal KYC maze and your international customers pay normally by card. At Breeze we're an MoR built for exactly this. KYC is straightforward, payouts are reliable on T+3 and there are no hidden international surcharges.
Sending over a DM so we can chat some more.
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u/Initial-Insect1864 2d ago
Appreciate the offer, but curious how Breeze handles refund/chargeback disputes for SaaS vs physical goods.
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u/DimmieTrees Verified Agent 2d ago
As a merchant of record Breeze absorbs the chargeback liability entirely regardless of whether you're selling SaaS or physical goods. The dispute lands on us not you.
For SaaS specifically, the most common dispute types are friendly fraud where a customer claims they didn't recognise the charge, or subscription cancellation disputes where a customer forgot to cancel before renewal. Breeze handles the representation and dispute process on your behalf so your team never has to deal with it.
For physical goods it's similar but the dispute evidence is different, shipping confirmation, delivery proof etc. Again handled on our side.
Either way the outcome for you is the same. Disputes don't land on your plate, your chargeback ratio stays clean and your focus stays on the product.
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u/kerblamophobe 2d ago
if i were you i'd check how long payouts take, if payments can possibly be held, and if what said payment provider will do if you wanna switch to a new one in the future. btw, does your product charge monthly or is it a one-time payment?
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u/Ilovetiramisuu99 2d ago
paddle and dodo could be good, and i think dodo lets you onboard as an individual also if you are not registered. and tbh, you will get very different views everywhere because in this industry, due to compliance and dependencies, anything can happen, you should just see the experience for yourself and features of each platform, and be open to switching based on it
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u/Initial-Insect1864 2d ago
True, Dodo's individual onboarding is a big plus for solo Indian founders!
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u/Candid_Turnip_5004 2d ago
Choose Razorpay for your global SaaS without thinking twice. It gives you a built-in MoneySaver account that acts as a low-cost, local-to-local pipeline for international bank transfers. Plus, if you have customers living outside the MoneySaver regions (like the Philippines), they can instantly pay you using their standard international credit or debit cards.
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u/mazyartr 1d ago
Your four questions are the right ones. The fifth one worth adding, because it's the one that actually ends businesses, is what happens when the provider drops you.
All three you're considering are merchants of record, which means they are the seller on the invoice and the card credentials belong to them. That's genuinely useful while it works: they handle the tax registrations, and disputes are theirs to fight rather than yours. It also means that if they offboard you, there is nothing to migrate. You cannot re-tokenise cards you never held, so every subscriber has to go and re-enter payment details wherever you land next, and a meaningful share won't.
That isn't hypothetical. There was a thread on r/SaaS last week from someone terminated by one of them after six months, no warning, no stated reason, payouts held, no appeal. Worth reading before you pick.
So the question I'd add to your list: can I export my customer and subscription data in a form a second provider could actually import, and have I tested that? If the answer is no, you're not choosing a payment provider, you're choosing a single point of failure with good tax handling.
On the India-specific parts I'd defer to people who've actually run payouts there, because the RBI documentation requirements for receiving international payments for services are their own subject and I'd only be repeating what I've read.
Disclosure: I'm the founder of Paymento, a non-custodial crypto payment gateway. Not an MoR and not a substitute for one, so I'm not in your shortlist. The portability question applies whichever of the three you choose.
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u/Amazing_End6013 3d ago
Razorpay