Dwolla Blog
dwolla.com · Company blog · on HN since 2010
Dwolla, a payments company, posts about pricing, funding, ACH payments, and product changes.
What HN saysHN links it for product announcements and recommends Dwolla in threads on payments, though commenters give no opinion on the blog itself.
93HN people shared it
55linked it in comments
73stories submitted
1.6Kstory points
4 years agolast shared
2010people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Dwolla's SSL certificate has been revoked30 people · 12 points · first shared 2010 · 5 comments on HN
- 2Pricing4 people · first shared 2015
- 3Dwolla realtime payments3 people · 23 points · first shared 2013 · 4 comments on HN
- 4Dwolla: A new focus3 people · 7 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 5Dwolla is going to eliminate ACH2 people · 219 points · first shared 2012 · 116 comments on HN
- 6No more 25¢. No more transaction fees2 people · 41 points · first shared 2015 · 7 comments on HN
- 7Dwolla Raises $5M Series B Lead by Union Square Ventures2 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 8White label2 people · first shared 2016
- 9Dwolla: transactions under $10 are free1 people · 333 points · first shared 2011 · 90 comments on HN
- 10It’s Instant1 people · 151 points · first shared 2011 · 83 comments on HN
- 11Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz1 people · 121 points · first shared 2013 · 50 comments on HN
- 12Bank account verification and transfers in just a few lines of code1 people · 86 points · first shared 2015 · 39 comments on HN
- 13Dwolla launches MassPay - Free Bulk Payments1 people · 73 points · first shared 2012 · 23 comments on HN
- 14P2P banks, 1 line of code1 people · 62 points · first shared 2013 · 31 comments on HN
- 15The Old MacDonald Hackathon1 people · 51 points · first shared 2012 · 41 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
gakos · 2018-01-03
But Plaid doesn't offer banking services, just balance and transaction data from traditional banks (as well as some other services like authentication). Used their API for a side project and recommend it.
Dwolla is another player in this space. https://www.dwolla.com/
hop · 2012-02-07
Payment processing has been ripe for disruption for a long time - so glad they are getting around the barriers to entry.
Interesting Marc Echo is an investor - http://blog.dwolla.com/
I first met Marc at Big Omaha during his amazing talk on disruption and innovation. Marc’s advice has ranged from telling me to be more confident to telling me that our logo sucks. It’s always been incredibly unfiltered and at times… harsh. But that’s actually what we really need, and when we need the truth I know I can always look to Marc for a totally good opinion on all things in life.
I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone like Marc, and his partners at Artists & Instigators just get it.
ian0 · 2019-03-13
It really depends on who you are sending money to. Assuming your sending to people with bank accounts a remittance service would work, like transfer-to (recently renamed Thunes) [1] and EMQ (sea only) [4]. There are several services like this, and its how mobile wallets and remittance agents (electronic ones) send cash. You may need several to provide maximum coverage if operating globally.
Each country also has their own remittance providers [2] so if you are serving a specific country it would be worth digging to find out who has the best APIs. Mastercard has a service [3] that supports 80 countries but your recipients require a card. Note if your recipient is a business with an EDC machine there is a nifty way to send them cash using MC VCNs (what some global hotel booking sites use).
Most remittance providers now send to wallets in addition to bank accounts, which can be used to send cash to non-banked users. Though in practice this could be a pain for them and coverage is limited and the mobile wallets vary in quality and KYC restrictions.
1. https://www.thunes.com/
2. Only use licensed ones! Spotted this one operating in us: https://www.dwolla.com/
3. https://developer.mastercard.com/product/mastercard-send
4. https://www.emq.com/
redtexture · 2014-01-19
• The absolutely best way: have your payees have an account with your bank and have internal-to-your-own-bank transfers. Some USA banks make this very easy.
• Second best, bank to bank transfers of money to your trusted payee. International transfers are in a state of flux, and may after 2013 be able to avoid high fees. Not yet though.
Otherwise:
• Trusted payee who is sophisticated and smart: Bitcoin.
• Trusted USA to USA party: Dwolla. See: http://Dwolla.com Dwolla only for trusted parties or individuals! Dwolla has surprisingly small cost, because they do NOT deal with credit cards. Best for others who have DWOLLA accounts, or USA to USA bank transactions or people willing and able to submit to USA law and bank regime.
• The credit card interbank system typically has fees in the vicinity of 2% to 3% of the gross transaction. Avoid.
• Avoid PayPal. The PayPal terms of service agreement indicates that whatever PayPal decides in a dispute, PayPal's decision is final without appeal. This in known as a contract of adhesion in the USA, where one party has all of the power. Because of this, do not use PayPal. Look up "contract of adhesion" for details.
• Most other online services rely on the credit card interbank system with its high fees of 2% to 3% for transfers. Avoid.
Off Topic:
• Non-trusted parties? Don't deal with them without a letter of credit. Look up "letter of credit" for details.
m_km · 2020-05-24
Your best choice would be Dwolla - https://www.dwolla.com/pricing/
You probably might want to start with the 0.5% Pay as You Go plan and as you go bigger, you can switch to a fixed-fee model. Once you switch to the other plans, you will be paying a flat ~$1 per transfer (both sending and receiving).
Handling fraud and chargebacks for ACH is more complicated compared to processing payments via cards. You probably should look into this before going live.
Source - Have built payment flows with ACH and cards for multiple marketplaces. Not associated with Dwolla at all. Just a happy customer.
EDIT:
Alternatives (that I have not tried) are Synapse - https://synapsefi.com/ach and Finix https://www.finixpayments.com/
jslampe · 2017-02-01
Dwolla | Cloud Systems Engineer | Des Moines, IA | Full Time | Onsite | https://www.Dwolla.com/
We care about mastering the ideal way to move money. At Dwolla, we empower our engineers to select the right languages, tools, and libraries for the job and deliver products based on those choices. If you want to become of a master of your craft while building something that matters, Dwolla may be right for you.
We've been growing quickly and we're looking to hire a
Cloud Systems Engineer!
If you're interested, check out our job posting to apply or ask more questions (https://careers.jobscore.com/careers/dwolla/jobs/cloud-systems-enginee…
endswapper · 2016-10-21
I have no connection to Dwolla, but their API is easy to use and I have not had any problems. It took a few days to get an active account.
It's ACH-based so the pricing is different than credit card payments.
https://www.dwolla.com/
hackertoolbox · 2014-12-29
https://www.dwolla.com/ seems interesting.
Tracking the "money transfer" tools at http://www.hackertoolbox.com/tags/money%20transfer
jetti · 2014-12-04
Depending on where you're located and where your audience is located, you could use Dwolla[1]. They have no fees for under $10, which would mean more money in your pocket and claim only a 25 cent transaction fee for any other transaction.
[1]https://www.dwolla.com/
chrisBob · 2014-05-04
I like https://www.dwolla.com
There is a big barrier to getting people to sign up, but a $1 transaction has NO FEE.
I used it for paying a contractor instead of paypal or a check and for that it cost $.25 for a payment of $5k.
timrosenblatt · 2014-04-16
rush-tea: have you seen https://www.dwolla.com ?
If you've seen it before, why did you choose to not use it?
mjolk · 2013-11-15
Paypal is a terrible company.
I wish I could recommend a competitor, but all the fee structures are the same generally 3% + .30:
wepay https://www.wepay.com/fees
google https://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html
stripe https://stripe.com/us/pricing
I'm not sure how Dwolla does it for $.10: https://www.dwolla.com/fees
jmorton · 2013-03-29
I'm not sure how micro you mean, but Dwolla comes to mind.
https://www.dwolla.com/
ChrisNorstrom · 2012-12-03
What we need is a competitor that disrupts credit cards altogether
http://www.dwolla.com
spo81rty · 2012-11-20
Check out Dwolla. You can use their service to send money for free under $10 for free or $0.25 for more than $10. They have been around for 3 years now and have quite a bit of traction with what they are doing.
https://www.dwolla.com/
StephenFalken · 2012-06-06
In recent years, it's been interesting to watch the rise of Dwolla (https://www.dwolla.com/) as an alternative payment network. It charges nothing for under $10 transactions, and only $0.25 for any transaction over $10, no matter how large it is. The only drawback is that, for now, it only works in the US.
wiggum · 2012-02-09
5% cut? No way. Dwolla https://www.dwolla.com/ takes $0.25 per transaction and NOTHING for amounts less than $10.00
abrudtkuhl · 2012-01-21
We're using Stripe - it's out already.
Also check out Dwolla - http://dwolla.com
rafamvc · 2012-01-20
How complicated is it to use https://www.dwolla.com/ for recursive payments?
It seems to be cheaper than all the other options.
.25 cents per transaction, no matter the volume.
edlea · 2012-01-13
Looks more like a UK alternative to Dwolla (https://www.dwolla.com/)
sgornick · 2011-05-15
Dwolla looks shady? Seriously? http://www.dwolla.com
Incidentally, they are FDIC and NCUA insured:
http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-deposits-are-protected-by-the-fdic-a…
ncash · 2011-05-11
https://www.dwolla.com/
I know the guys who put Dwolla together. It shows a lot of promise, and is a huge boon to merchants because of the extremely low transaction fees (flat $0.25 per transaction vs Paypal's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction).
However, as pg said, it is hard to encourage adoption when buyers only use it if merchants support it and vice versa.
viggity · 2011-03-28
I couldn't find their fees anywhere on their website, so I can only assume they're going to charge the traditional 2+% + $.30 for each transaction.
I'd much rather use Dwolla (http://www.dwolla.com). They charge $.25 flat. That's it. And they have iPhone and Android clients. They don't have a limit on how much you can transfer, either (serve limits to $1000/day and $2500/month).
markdog12 · 2019-04-05
My company uses https://www.dwolla.com/ for same-day
ltrcola · 2019-01-02
Dwolla | Front End Engineer | Des Moines, IA | ONSITE
Looking for a smart and compassionate person to work with me on a Marketing Engineering team. We're doing our best to cultivate an inclusive culture (don't be an asshole) and to build a useful SaaS product (API) that we can be proud of. Des Moines may be flyover country, but it's sort of a hidden gem. I don't care at all if you have a degree, only that you've got some experience and are good at learning.
Here's the start of the actual posting:
We care about mastering the ideal platform to move money. At Dwolla, we empower our engineers to select the right languages, tools, and libraries for the job and deliver products based on those choices. If you want to become of a master of your craft while building something that matters, Dwolla may be right for you.
Our Front End Engineers design and build usable, performant, and beautiful user interfaces that help our users accomplish their goals. As a member of the Marketing Engineering team, you will work closely with marketing stakeholders to build web experiences that communicate the value of the Dwolla platform to potential customers, as well as maintain a strong and cohesive brand across all of our properties.
https://hire.withgoogle.com/public/jobs/dwollacom/view/P_AAAAAACAADjJH…
or check out all our postings here:
https://www.dwolla.com/careers/
phonon · 2016-03-03
Well, I still see it as an accepted method of payment by the Treasury Department.
https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/4624405
The Order is interesting.
http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201603_cfpb_consent-order-dwolla-in…
(As well as being one of, if not the, smallest monetary orders the CFPB has ever made.)
It is not based on Dwolla being breached in any way, or particularly insecure security practices (IMHO). Nor is it based on any particular legal requirement Dwolla has to follow. It's based on Dwolla advertising how secure they are, and the CFPB decided that, in their opinion, they were not that impressive. Hence they felt Dwolla misrepresented itself.
Specifically (on their main complaint), encrypting data at rest (as opposed to encrypting data in transit, as well as tokenizing data, which they do, and is very important) is the least important part of securing data...because the only way that stored data is used is by decrypting it...any anyone who has gets far enough to access that encrypted data at rest, would also be able to access the private security key that is decrypting it at the same time. Encryption for at rest data is more important for backups.
It's also interesting that it appears (maybe) Dwolla got on the CFPB's radar by writing them a letter two years ago, in part discussing how secure they are...
http://blog.dwolla.com/net-neutrality/
And from the "Isn't that Ironic" section...
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/666000.pdf
The CFPB failed its…
crb002 · 2014-04-20
The solution in Iowa is Dwolla. http://www.dwolla.com
espeed · 2013-02-17
Here's a few more to add to your list (not all SaaS)...
--ANALYTICS
Snowplow (https://github.com/snowplow/snowplow)
Segment.io (http://segment.io)
--CRM
Close.io (http://close.io),
Streak (http://www.streak.com/)
Base (http://getbase.com)
--SALES
ElasticSales (https://elasticsales.com/)
--CUSTOMER SERVICE
Metaverse Mod Squad (http://metaversemodsquad.com/)
--DATA
Factual (http://www.factual.com/)
--DATABASE
Titan (http://thinkaurelius.com/)
Tinkerpop (http://www.tinkerpop.com/)
Bulbs (http://bulbflow.com)
Datomic (http://datomic.com)
--LOG MONITORING
Logstash (http://logstash.net)
Lumberjack (https://github.com/jordansissel/lumberjack)
Fluentd (http://fluentd.org),
Flume (https://github.com/cloudera/flume)
Kafka (http://sna-projects.com/kafka/)
Scribe (https://github.com/facebook/scribe/)
--ACCOUNTING/INVOICING
Harvest (http://www.getharvest.com/)
Ballpark (http://www.getballpark.com/)
PaySimple (http://paysimple.com/)
AcceptPay (http://acceptpay.com)
FreshBooks (http://www.freshbooks.com/)
FreeAgent (http://www.freeagent.com/)
Blinksale (http://www.blinksale.com/)
--PAYMENTS
Balanced Payements (https://www.balancedpayments.com/)
Dwolla (https://www.dwolla.com/)
-- BANKING
Simple (http://simple.com)
--PHONE/PBX/SMS
Plivo (http://plivo.com/)
Tropo (https://www.tropo.com/)
Twillo (http://www.twilio.com/)
PhoneBooth (http://www.phonebooth.com/)
-- PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Orchestra (http://www.orchestra.com/)
-- RECOMMENDATION…
konaaceo · 2012-01-21
its actually called Dwolla https://www.dwolla.com/
_rknLA · 2012-01-04
uhm, http://dwolla.com/ ?