u/New_Magician4336

i run a small saas (about 60 dollars a month recurring revenue, started 14 months ago alongside my day job). most of my customers are international.

today i finally pulled the raw payment data instead of just looking at dashboard summaries. holy hell.

90 customer payment attempts in the last 90 days. 30 succeeded. 60 failed.

the customers who DID pay tried multiple times. one guy tried 13 different cards. 4 customers tried multiple times and then gave up.

posting this because small business owners often optimize the wrong end of the funnel. i was rewriting landing pages and ad copy while my actual payment system was rejecting two thirds of attempted purchases.

if you run any kind of online business with a payment processor go look at your raw decline logs. not the success metrics. the failure logs. they tell a different story.

im writing recovery emails today to the 4 customers who gave up offering them an alternative manual payment option. thats where the immediate recoverable revenue is.

happy to compare notes if anyone else is dealing with this

not investment advice. operations question for indian businesses selling globally.

im a solo founder running a saas registered in india. 90 percent of customers are international. ive been on razorpay because i couldnt get stripe approved.

last 90 days of actual payment data:

90 attempts

60 failed

almost all failures on international cards at razorpays 3d secure / risk check step

customers had to retry 5 to 13 times before something worked

4 customers gave up entirely

razorpay seems heavily optimized for indian domestic compliance and is very aggressive with international card risk checks. for india domestic txns its fine. for cross border its leaking serious money.

questions for the community

1. anyone running a similar setup found a better gateway? cashfree? payu? something else entirely?

2. is moving to merchant of record (paddle, lemon squeezy) actually worth the take rate hit when youre under 100 dollar mrr?

3. anyone successfully incorporated a us delaware c corp specifically to access stripe while keeping india ops?

4. for those whove tried multiple gateways, what was your actual international success rate comparison?

just trying to find the right stack. happy to share more numbers in comments

been building qrforever (dynamic qr codes with analytics built in) on the side for 14 months. about 24 paying customers now, mostly europe and us.

today i pulled the raw payment data from razorpay (my gateway). 90 day window:

90 payment attempts

30 succeeded

60 failed

avg paying customer took 5 plus tries

one customer tried 13 cards

four customers gave up entirely

i genuinely could not believe i hadnt checked this before. spent months thinking i had a messaging or conversion problem.

sharing because if youre running a side project with paying customers go look at your actual gateway failure logs. not your success metrics. the failures are where the real story is.

happy to answer anything about the build or the data

right so im running qrforever (dynamic qr code saas) for 14 months on evenings and weekends alongside a full time job. about 5k inr mrr, 24 paying customers, around 620 total signups. 90 percent international.

today was a real wake up call. been frustrated with trial to paid conversion (3.9 percent last week). assumed it was messaging, audience targeting, the usual suspects. ran an experiment pausing all marketing channels at once. signups dropped, restarted everything, kinda recovered but not fully. felt stuck.

today i actually went into razorpay and pulled raw payment attempt data instead of just looking at dashboard summaries.

last 90 days. 90 attempts. 30 captured. 60 failed. one customer tried 13 different cards before one worked. four customers tried multiple times and gave up entirely.

the lesson, writing it down so i remember it:

when your funnel breaks walk it backwards from the wallet not forwards from the ad.

i was optimizing the top of the funnel while the bottom was leaking 67 percent of attempts. classic mistake honestly.

sending recovery emails today to the 4 lost customers offering a manual payment link (yearly only since manual = work). thats the band aid. real fix is finding a better gateway.

anyone else here selling internationally from a non us entity figured this out? open to suggestions

ok so solo founder, around 60 dollar mrr (5k inr), bootstrapped, full time job pays bills. running dynamic qr code saas for 14 months. 90 percent of paying customers international.

today i finally pulled the actual payment data from razorpay for the last 90 days. should have done this months ago honestly.

90 payment attempts. 30 succeeded. 60 failed. 67 percent failure rate.

the customers who DID pay took an average of 3 to 7 tries each. one customer tried 13 different cards before something worked. four customers tried multiple times and gave up. those four are worth about 5400 rupees in immediate recovery if i can get them back.

most failures are 3d secure not enabled on the card. cards that work fine on stripe and paypal apparently get aggressively rejected by razorpays risk engine on cross border.

stripe rejected my application (india entity). paddle and lemon squeezy take a chunk that breaks the math on a 4 dollar plan.

im sending recovery emails today to the 4 lost customers offering a manual yearly payment link (we eat the extra fees, manual renewal next year, but at least they get to actually pay us). thats the band aid.

real question for the indie hackers here:

anyone built a working payment stack for india entity plus international customers without stripe? is paddle MOR actually viable if i bump prices to 7 to 9 dollars a month? or do i just bite the bullet and incorporate a delaware c corp?

curious what others have actually done not just blog post advice

ok background first. solo founder, india registered saas, dynamic qr code product. been running 14 months. small but real revenue. like 90% of my paying customers are international, mostly europe and us.

couldnt get stripe (rejected my application, india entity thing). so ive been on razorpay this whole time.

today i pulled the actual payment data instead of trusting the dashboard. last 90 days:

60 out of 90 payment attempts failed. sixty.

one customer tried 13 different cards before something worked. another tried 7. four customers tried multiple times and just walked away.

the main thing killing it is razorpays risk engine on international cards. "card_not_enrolled" which means 3d secure isnt on the card. these are us business cards from chase and bofa that work fine on stripe and paypal but razorpay just rejects them.

i get it for indian txns, rbi mandates and fraud, sure. but for cross border its just throwing revenue out the window.

what ive tried:

stripe rejected me

paddle take rate kills 4 dollar a month plan math

lemon squeezy same problem

genuine question for anyone whos figured this out. what are you using? is cashfree any better on international? payu? has anyone actually compared the international acceptance rates?

happy to share more numbers in comments

ok so context first. solo founder, india entity saas, dynamic qr code product. running 14 months. like 24 paying customers, 90% of them europe and us. small numbers but real revenue.

been frustrated for weeks thinking i had a conversion problem. trials werent turning into paid like i expected. paused some marketing, restarted it, the numbers kinda moved but not enough. spent way too long rewriting landing page copy.

today i just opened razorpay (my gateway) and exported the raw payment attempts for the last 90 days. should have done this on day 1 honestly.

90 attempts. 30 went through. 60 failed.

the failed ones arent random either. one guy tried 13 different cards before something worked. like thirteen. multistate electric tried 7 times. there were 4 people who tried multiple times and just gave up, no successful payment ever.

most of the rejections are razorpays risk engine flagging international cards. card_not_enrolled (3d secure not on the card), payment_risk_check_failed on cards that work fine on stripe and paypal elsewhere. some are real declines but most are razorpay being aggressive on cross border.

so the question for anyone whos solved this. im stuck on razorpay because stripe rejected my application (india entity issue). paddle and lemon squeezy fees absolutely murder the math on a 4 dollar a month plan. is there a fourth option im missing here

anyone running an india registered business selling globally with a working payment stack? cashfree any better? payu? something else entirely?

writing recovery emails today to the 4 lost customers offering them a manual payment link as a band aid but i need a real fix

happy to share more numbers if useful

I run a dynamic QR code platform and I'm watching my growth die in real-time. Need honest feedback.

THE NUMBERS:

- March: 58 signups/week

- Now (May): 16 signups/week

- That's a 72% drop in 7 weeks

- Currently: 600+ users, paying customers in double digits

WHAT I CHANGED (the mistake):

I stopped ALL marketing 2 months ago because I thought each channel "wasn't working":

- Stopped Google Ads (thought the ROI wasn't there)

- Stopped Reddit engagement (thought 2-3 signups/day wasn't enough)

- Stopped Twitter (only getting 1-2 signups/day)

- Stopped LinkedIn (minimal results)

- Stopped email campaigns (low open rates)

My logic was: "Let me see what's truly organic vs paid"

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

Turns out those "small" channels ADDED UP to 40+ signups/week. Now I'm down to pure organic (16/week) and it's declining.

CURRENT SITUATION:

- Product works (trial-to-paid conversion is healthy)

- Customer retention is solid

- But the top of funnel is dying

- I'm a solo technical founder, marketing isn't my strength

QUESTIONS FOR THIS COMMUNITY:

1. Is 16 signups/week "fine" and I should just focus on conversion? Or is this a real problem?

2. Should I restart all channels simultaneously or focus on one and do it well?

3. Google Ads: For B2B SaaS at our price point, what's a realistic trial-to-paid conversion rate? I was getting 60 signups/month but only 2-3 converted and thought that meant the ads were broken.

4. Reddit: I posted some content but stopped daily engagement. Should I go back to answering industry questions 30 min/day even if it feels slow?

5. The real question: At what point do you accept you're not a marketing person and need help? (But bootstrapped with limited runway)

WHAT I'M DOING NOW:

- Published SEO content (waiting for it to rank)

- Restarted Reddit engagement (this post)

- Trying to fix Google Ads targeting

- Considering cold outreach but unsure where to start

Honest feedback appreciated. Especially from founders who've been through similar drops.

Full transparency: I built this in 6 months while working full-time. I'm good at coding, terrible at marketing. Wondering if I should focus on the product and accept slow organic growth, or force myself to do marketing I'm not naturally good at.

I run a dynamic QR code platform and I'm watching my growth die in real-time. Need honest feedback.

THE NUMBERS:

- March: 58 signups/week

- Now (May): 16 signups/week

- That's a 72% drop in 7 weeks

- Currently: 600+ users, paying customers in double digits

WHAT I CHANGED (the mistake):

I stopped ALL marketing 2 months ago because I thought each channel "wasn't working":

- Stopped Google Ads (thought the ROI wasn't there)

- Stopped Reddit engagement (thought 2-3 signups/day wasn't enough)

- Stopped Twitter (only getting 1-2 signups/day)

- Stopped LinkedIn (minimal results)

- Stopped email campaigns (low open rates)

My logic was: "Let me see what's truly organic vs paid"

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

Turns out those "small" channels ADDED UP to 40+ signups/week. Now I'm down to pure organic (16/week) and it's declining.

CURRENT SITUATION:

- Product works (trial-to-paid conversion is healthy)

- Customer retention is solid

- But the top of funnel is dying

- I'm a solo technical founder, marketing isn't my strength

QUESTIONS FOR THIS COMMUNITY:

1. Is 16 signups/week "fine" and I should just focus on conversion? Or is this a real problem?

2. Should I restart all channels simultaneously or focus on one and do it well?

3. Google Ads: For B2B SaaS at our price point, what's a realistic trial-to-paid conversion rate? I was getting 60 signups/month but only 2-3 converted and thought that meant the ads were broken.

4. Reddit: I posted some content but stopped daily engagement. Should I go back to answering industry questions 30 min/day even if it feels slow?

5. The real question: At what point do you accept you're not a marketing person and need help? (But bootstrapped with limited runway)

WHAT I'M DOING NOW:

- Published SEO content (waiting for it to rank)

- Restarted Reddit engagement (this post)

- Trying to fix Google Ads targeting

- Considering cold outreach but unsure where to start

Honest feedback appreciated. Especially from founders who've been through similar drops.

Full transparency: I built this in 6 months while working full-time. I'm good at coding, terrible at marketing. Wondering if I should focus on the product and accept slow organic growth, or force myself to do marketing I'm not naturally good at.

I run a dynamic QR code platform and I'm watching my growth die in real-time. Need honest feedback.

THE NUMBERS:

- March: 58 signups/week

- Now (May): 16 signups/week

- That's a 72% drop in 7 weeks

- Currently: 600+ users, paying customers in double digits

WHAT I CHANGED (the mistake):

I stopped ALL marketing 2 months ago because I thought each channel "wasn't working":

- Stopped Google Ads (thought the ROI wasn't there)

- Stopped Reddit engagement (thought 2-3 signups/day wasn't enough)

- Stopped Twitter (only getting 1-2 signups/day)

- Stopped LinkedIn (minimal results)

- Stopped email campaigns (low open rates)

My logic was: "Let me see what's truly organic vs paid"

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

Turns out those "small" channels ADDED UP to 40+ signups/week. Now I'm down to pure organic (16/week) and it's declining.

CURRENT SITUATION:

- Product works (trial-to-paid conversion is healthy)

- Customer retention is solid

- But the top of funnel is dying

- I'm a solo technical founder, marketing isn't my strength

QUESTIONS FOR THIS COMMUNITY:

1. Is 16 signups/week "fine" and I should just focus on conversion? Or is this a real problem?

2. Should I restart all channels simultaneously or focus on one and do it well?

3. Google Ads: For B2B SaaS at our price point, what's a realistic trial-to-paid conversion rate? I was getting 60 signups/month but only 2-3 converted and thought that meant the ads were broken.

4. Reddit: I posted some content but stopped daily engagement. Should I go back to answering industry questions 30 min/day even if it feels slow?

5. The real question: At what point do you accept you're not a marketing person and need help? (But bootstrapped with limited runway)

WHAT I'M DOING NOW:

- Published SEO content (waiting for it to rank)

- Restarted Reddit engagement (this post)

- Trying to fix Google Ads targeting

- Considering cold outreach but unsure where to start

Honest feedback appreciated. Especially from founders who've been through similar drops.

Full transparency: I built this in 6 months while working full-time. I'm good at coding, terrible at marketing. Wondering if I should focus on the product and accept slow organic growth, or force myself to do marketing I'm not naturally good at.

I run a dynamic QR code platform and I'm watching my growth die in real-time. Need honest feedback.

THE NUMBERS:

- March: 58 signups/week

- Now (May): 16 signups/week

- That's a 72% drop in 7 weeks

- Currently: 600+ users, paying customers in double digits

WHAT I CHANGED (the mistake):

I stopped ALL marketing 2 months ago because I thought each channel "wasn't working":

- Stopped Google Ads (thought the ROI wasn't there)

- Stopped Reddit engagement (thought 2-3 signups/day wasn't enough)

- Stopped Twitter (only getting 1-2 signups/day)

- Stopped LinkedIn (minimal results)

- Stopped email campaigns (low open rates)

My logic was: "Let me see what's truly organic vs paid"

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

Turns out those "small" channels ADDED UP to 40+ signups/week. Now I'm down to pure organic (16/week) and it's declining.

CURRENT SITUATION:

- Product works (trial-to-paid conversion is healthy)

- Customer retention is solid

- But the top of funnel is dying

- I'm a solo technical founder, marketing isn't my strength

QUESTIONS FOR THIS COMMUNITY:

1. Is 16 signups/week "fine" and I should just focus on conversion? Or is this a real problem?

2. Should I restart all channels simultaneously or focus on one and do it well?

3. Google Ads: For B2B SaaS at our price point, what's a realistic trial-to-paid conversion rate? I was getting 60 signups/month but only 2-3 converted and thought that meant the ads were broken.

4. Reddit: I posted some content but stopped daily engagement. Should I go back to answering industry questions 30 min/day even if it feels slow?

5. The real question: At what point do you accept you're not a marketing person and need help? (But bootstrapped with limited runway)

WHAT I'M DOING NOW:

- Published SEO content (waiting for it to rank)

- Restarted Reddit engagement (this post)

- Trying to fix Google Ads targeting

- Considering cold outreach but unsure where to start

Honest feedback appreciated. Especially from founders who've been through similar drops.

Full transparency: I built this in 6 months while working full-time. I'm good at coding, terrible at marketing. Wondering if I should focus on the product and accept slow organic growth, or force myself to do marketing I'm not naturally good at.

I run a dynamic QR code platform and I'm watching my growth die in real-time. Need honest feedback.

THE NUMBERS:

- March: 58 signups/week

- Now (May): 16 signups/week

- That's a 72% drop in 7 weeks

- Currently: 600+ users, paying customers in double digits

WHAT I CHANGED (the mistake):

I stopped ALL marketing 2 months ago because I thought each channel "wasn't working":

- Stopped Google Ads (thought the ROI wasn't there)

- Stopped Reddit engagement (thought 2-3 signups/day wasn't enough)

- Stopped Twitter (only getting 1-2 signups/day)

- Stopped LinkedIn (minimal results)

- Stopped email campaigns (low open rates)

My logic was: "Let me see what's truly organic vs paid"

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

Turns out those "small" channels ADDED UP to 40+ signups/week. Now I'm down to pure organic (16/week) and it's declining.

CURRENT SITUATION:

- Product works (trial-to-paid conversion is healthy)

- Customer retention is solid

- But the top of funnel is dying

- I'm a solo technical founder, marketing isn't my strength

QUESTIONS FOR THIS COMMUNITY:

1. Is 16 signups/week "fine" and I should just focus on conversion? Or is this a real problem?

2. Should I restart all channels simultaneously or focus on one and do it well?

3. Google Ads: For B2B SaaS at our price point, what's a realistic trial-to-paid conversion rate? I was getting 60 signups/month but only 2-3 converted and thought that meant the ads were broken.

4. Reddit: I posted some content but stopped daily engagement. Should I go back to answering industry questions 30 min/day even if it feels slow?

5. The real question: At what point do you accept you're not a marketing person and need help? (But bootstrapped with limited runway)

WHAT I'M DOING NOW:

- Published SEO content (waiting for it to rank)

- Restarted Reddit engagement (this post)

- Trying to fix Google Ads targeting

- Considering cold outreach but unsure where to start

Honest feedback appreciated. Especially from founders who've been through similar drops.

Full transparency: I built this in 6 months while working full-time. I'm good at coding, terrible at marketing. Wondering if I should focus on the product and accept slow organic growth, or force myself to do marketing I'm not naturally good at.

I run a dynamic QR code platform and I'm watching my growth die in real-time. Need honest feedback.

THE NUMBERS:

- March: 58 signups/week

- Now (May): 16 signups/week

- That's a 72% drop in 7 weeks

- Currently: 600+ users, paying customers in double digits

WHAT I CHANGED (the mistake):

I stopped ALL marketing 2 months ago because I thought each channel "wasn't working":

- Stopped Google Ads (thought the ROI wasn't there)

- Stopped Reddit engagement (thought 2-3 signups/day wasn't enough)

- Stopped Twitter (only getting 1-2 signups/day)

- Stopped LinkedIn (minimal results)

- Stopped email campaigns (low open rates)

My logic was: "Let me see what's truly organic vs paid"

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

Turns out those "small" channels ADDED UP to 40+ signups/week. Now I'm down to pure organic (16/week) and it's declining.

CURRENT SITUATION:

- Product works (trial-to-paid conversion is healthy)

- Customer retention is solid

- But the top of funnel is dying

- I'm a solo technical founder, marketing isn't my strength

QUESTIONS FOR THIS COMMUNITY:

1. Is 16 signups/week "fine" and I should just focus on conversion? Or is this a real problem?

2. Should I restart all channels simultaneously or focus on one and do it well?

3. Google Ads: For B2B SaaS at our price point, what's a realistic trial-to-paid conversion rate? I was getting 60 signups/month but only 2-3 converted and thought that meant the ads were broken.

4. Reddit: I posted some content but stopped daily engagement. Should I go back to answering industry questions 30 min/day even if it feels slow?

5. The real question: At what point do you accept you're not a marketing person and need help? (But bootstrapped with limited runway)

WHAT I'M DOING NOW:

- Published SEO content (waiting for it to rank)

- Restarted Reddit engagement (this post)

- Trying to fix Google Ads targeting

- Considering cold outreach but unsure where to start

Honest feedback appreciated. Especially from founders who've been through similar drops.

Full transparency: I built this in 6 months while working full-time. I'm good at coding, terrible at marketing. Wondering if I should focus on the product and accept slow organic growth, or force myself to do marketing I'm not naturally good at.