saas

7 articles · newest first

A brass service bell and a sealed blank envelope on a dark wooden counter at night, lit by a warm coral lamp against an indigo wall, a message delivered with nobody there to answer

Customer Paid but Your App Didn't Upgrade Them? Stripe Webhooks, Explained

The card went through, Stripe shows the money, and your app still says Free plan. The missing piece is almost always the webhook. Here are the six usual causes, how Stripe's retries and duplicates work, and how to test it before a real customer finds the gap.

Aliteq Team · 1d ago · 11 min

A founder seen from behind at a home office desk in the evening, head in hand, facing a laptop wrapped in a steel chain and locked with a padlock, next to a mug of coffee and a phone

Payments

Stripe is holding your funds: reserves, the 120-day question, and what gets them released

A reserve email, a payout that keeps moving, a balance you can see but can't touch. What Stripe's own pages say each kind of hold is, how long it normally lasts, what to send when they ask, and how much cash a rolling reserve really ties up.

Aliteq Team · Oct 10 · 11 min

Photograph of two blank grey-green cloth binders side by side on a dark wooden desk in warm late light, one with a small teal ribbon bookmark

Security

ISO 27001 vs SOC 2 (2026): Which Your Customers Will Ask For, What Each Costs, and Whether You Need Both

A US buyer sends a SOC 2 request. A German buyer sends an ISO 27001 one. Here is what each proof is, who asks for which on the auditors' own pages, what sellers publish for the cost, and when one control program can feed both.

Aliteq Team · Oct 3 · 12 min

Flat illustration of a person with a briefcase at a fork in the road, a toll booth with a barrier on the left road and a paperwork desk with a stack of papers and a rubber stamp on the right road

Payments

Merchant of record vs Stripe Tax (2026): the MRR where filing your own VAT pays off

A merchant of record costs a few hundred dollars a month at $10k MRR, and you only get that money back if filing yourself costs less. The break-even formula, a table for four filing costs, and the question that comes first: do you owe tax at all?

Aliteq Team · Oct 3 · 10 min

Hand-drawn illustration of a small parcel under a striped border barrier between two guard huts, with a large gold rubber stamp coming down on it

Payments

EU VAT for SaaS sellers in the US (2026): the One-Stop Shop, B2B reverse charge and the UK

A US SaaS or AI app owes EU VAT from the first consumer sale, and the €10,000 threshold you keep reading about isn't yours. How the non-Union One-Stop Shop works, when reverse charge saves you, and what a $29 plan keeps after German VAT.

Aliteq Team · Oct 3 · 11 min

Flat illustration of a small founder handing a parcel to a towering uniformed courier, who stamps it with a large gold rubber stamp

Payments

Stripe Managed Payments fees (2026): what the +3.5% buys, who can use it, and when Paddle is cheaper

Stripe's merchant of record looks like a flat 3.5% add-on. It isn't quite: the fee lands on the tax as well as the price, Billing charges its own 0.7% on subscriptions, and above about $9.52 a month Paddle keeps less. The full fee stack, the break-even formula, and the five checks you have to pass first.

Aliteq Team · Sep 27 · 11 min

Flat illustration of a founder holding a laptop watching a large gold coin roll through three toll gates, each clipping a slice off it

Payments

Stripe vs Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy for AI SaaS (2026): the fee at $9, $29 and $99, and who files your VAT

Lovable asks you to pick Stripe or Paddle, and every comparison quotes the same headline percentages. We worked the fees at the prices small apps actually charge, for US and EU sellers, and checked who ends up filing the tax, what Stripe's own merchant of record costs, and what's happening to Lemon Squeezy.

Aliteq Team · Sep 27 · 13 min