Today was rough because of some specifics regarding Stripe, chargebacks, and such. In short, I received a chargeback for $0.50 (yes, 50 cents) that ended up costing me over $15. Trying to do the right thing ended up costing me. Yet, thanks to some of the positive comments from people signed up to "Join the Waitlist," I’m starting to dig myself out of the mental hole that opened up before me today.

The Right Thing

Last week, I flipped the proverbial Stripe switch to "on" since I thought I had reached that point. Someone once said, "Move fast and break things," right? (Maybe reading that article first would have helped—but probably not.) So here I was. Yet, I wasn’t expecting the first users of DaD to be from the other side of the planet (India, while I’m US-based). When a request came in requiring a call to India, it was a problem because no Messengers from India had signed up yet!

I faced a minor dilemma and asked myself:

1. Do I refund the customer requiring a call in India, where no DaD Messengers are available yet, risk looking amateurish, losing customer faith, and miss the opportunity to end-to-end test the platform? Or,
2. Do I work like hell to implement a solution I had already started—a stopgap to bridge the gap until I onboard enough Messengers to handle incoming volume—and ultimately deliver the product (placing the call) per the sender’s request?

I chose the second option. Today, while continuing to move closer to that solution, I saw a chargeback notification pop up on Stripe’s dashboard.

To be fair to the sender, it had been a few days. I immediately refunded the $0.52 charge without delay. Only afterward did I start questioning why I was seeing a $15 charge. Surely this was a mistake!

I read up on it and realized the charge was related to "disputes." Initially, this made me feel slightly better because, after all, there was no dispute from me over 50 cents! My main concern was whether the sender was upset and venting online. This wasn’t a case of fraud or shady business practices. I hadn’t received any support emails or heard from the sender in any way, but my resolve to do right by them was driving my current course of development!

After more reading, I realized this "chargeback" wasn’t something I could get reversed, even though the dispute paperwork was factually incorrect.

This bummed me out so much this morning that I started questioning whether Stripe was the right platform for powering payments for this project. I began thinking about blockchain, alternative payment providers, or something better suited for the needs of DaD.

Ironically, I was also dealing with another Stripe quirk: from that aforementioned $0.50 charge, only $0.18 was left to split between DaD and the Messenger. Stripe pocketed $0.32—nearly double the net and more than triple what either DaD or the Messenger earned. Once again, I found myself frustrated by Big Tech’s dominance and its insatiable appetite for profits.

A Positive Turn

Here are some of the comments I received from people who joined the waiting list:

That journalists like me can read and magnify the voice of whistleblowers easily and safely.

I love the prospect of earning income by helping people use "their" voices - only safely and anonymously, so they don't have to worry about retaliation. This is really cool and I want to be a part of it.

The anonymity, giving personal messages to complete strangers is very exciting.

These comments genuinely mean a lot to me. They remind me to focus on the positive aspects of what I’m building and reinforce that DaD is something that will ultimately bring value to people.

To those who have taken the time to leave such kind comments and share your thoughts: THANK YOU!!!

A Note to the Sender in India

To the sender in India: my sincerest apologies for any frustration or inconvenience you may have experienced during this process. I hope you give DaD another try in the future. Rest assured, I am working tirelessly to perfect the platform and turn it into the well-oiled tool I know it can be.