Allow payments from more countries

[lukateras]

Hi, I like the idea of your service, but I can't use it because my card is issued in Russia and apparently MangoPay blocks such cards. If this requires changing the payment gateway, please consider that option.

[lukateras]

Currently Mangopay blocks 70 countries out of ≈195 countries in the world:

https://mangopay.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2299163-which-are-the-black-listed-countries-where-you-can-t-process-pay-ins-

[Changaco]

Unfortunately there isn't much we can do about this.

Russia is blacklisted because of the sanctions that were adopted in response to the Ukraine crisis. Other countries are blacklisted for a variety of reasons including concerns around money laundering and terrorism financing.

Related issues: #729 and #374.

[lukateras]

Russia is blacklisted because of the sanctions that were adopted in response to the Ukraine crisis.

Notably, Ukraine is blacklisted as well.

Other countries are blacklisted for a variety of reasons including concerns around money laundering and terrorism financing.

That does not explain why wire transfers are still accepted. If anything, current blacklist only stops people from donating to creators: people who finance wars/terrorism would have a much easier time justifying $15 wire transfer fee (the minimum in Russia).

Either way, this is very easy to circumvent via an intermediate offshore bank by anyone who really has some malicious intent.

Unfortunately there isn't much we can do about this.

This is an inherently unjust and bureaucratic thing to do, people should not be associated with their respective governments. Borders are not natural.

I should note that this is the very first time I've encountered this. Clearly, there are plenty payment gateways that have less restrictive blacklists.

At the very least, make it clear for people with IP addresses from blocked countries, at registration, that they can't actually use Liberapay to donate.

Please find a different payment gateway.

[Changaco]

Mangopay's not a payment gateway, and right now they're still the best partner for us despite their shortcomings, because their competitors aren't really better.

I already told Mangopay that their policy makes no sense if it only applies to one payment method. I also asked them if they could make an exception and unblock Russia for Liberapay, they said no.

[lukateras]

In light of #1171 (https://medium.com/liberapay-blog/liberapay-is-in-trouble-b58b40714d82), I hope you choose a payment processor that accepts payments worldwide, without discrimination.

[strixaluco]

Notably, Ukraine is blacklisted as well.

Didn't have any issues with Ukrainian Mastercard account one year ago, but maybe situation was different in March this year. Can't perform any tests at this moment because of current situation with Mangopay.

[Changaco]

We've switched from Mangopay to Stripe and PayPal, hopefully that solves the problem.

[lukateras]

It does, thank you! :-)

[mia-0]

Unfortunately, neither Stripe nor PayPal will allow people in Ukraine to receive payments.