Fontdue. No Paypal?

My impression is that PayPal is really important. Stripe doesn't work in many countries, and many digital nomads (or nomads by the force of circumstances) can't easily open bank accounts, get cards, etc.  Also, there is still some skepticism about paying with cards directly.

Some people gave up on the type business because PayPal doesn't work in their countries. I didn't explore that argument further.

I would say that what is described here as the Fontdue options is the western default point of view. (which is a legitimate business strategy, if it is a strategy and not a misconception).

Ahem . . . https://typedrawers.com/discussion/5527/need-a-foundry-website-font-bros-has-you-covered

Supherb said:

As Igor mentioned, there’s still some hesitation around paying directly with cards. On top of that, most customers aren’t willing to create a new Stripe account just to purchase fonts.

Stripe’s documentation indicates that there is a way to integrate PayPal payments into a commerce site using Stripe Connect. I’ve not tried this, and I don’t know how Fontdue is set up in this regard, but it doesn’t look intrinsically impossible to accept PayPal via Stripe.

https://docs.stripe.com/payments/paypal

https://docs.fontdue.com/payments-with-stripe -> there is also a sentence about Paypal

Igor Petrovic said:

Stripe doesn't work in many countries, and many digital nomads (or nomads by the force of circumstances) can't easily open bank accounts, get cards, etc.  Also, there is still some skepticism about paying with cards directly.

Igor Petrovic said:

In Serbia, PayPal works, and Stripe does not. One can simply search mismatch countries.
   

The (short-ish) list of countries on Stripe’s website is for sellers, but not for customers. Regarding customers, it says “you'll be able to sell to customers anywhere in the world”. In Serbia, customers can pay with regular payment cards. GPT says visa and mastercard are commonly used. Stripe also has a bunch of local cards, including Serbian DinaCard, listed for testing successful payments, so they must work as well.

Igor Petrovic said:

My comment was mainly from the foundry perspective, assuming that the type foundry can't withdraw money to their PayPal. If so, that could be a real problem.   

Well, the topic starter has access to Fontdue, so it probably not the concern. But for sure, if the foundry itself is based in a country not supported by Stripe, that’s tough. They still need an alternative to accept card payments, which are all likely worse.

Igor Petrovic said:

For business, local vs abroad payments are two different categories, depending on the legislation. Separate cards are issued, with different currencies... In many countries income from abroad requires specific workarounds, etc.   

Well, that’s the same regardless of payment methods, isn’t it

Igor Petrovic said:

Again, it is legitimate whatever one decide it is the best business strategy, just saying that aside from the Western business zone, things can get pretty far from default. 

For customers, they can use their cards, but if they don't want or can't for whatever reason, PayPal is the most universal service. This is a pretty dynamic world in terms of migrations, to take that just as an example.   

This is my main point here—for customers, Stripe isn’t less accessible or more Western-centric than PayPal because its support is at least the same, but maybe better since customer don’t need to register an account with stripe. Immigrants also use regular cards, it’s hard to get away with cash only nowadays.

I’m not arguing against personal preferences or tough realities for foundries based in “non-included” countries though.

Did you try https://cuzdan.az

So you are seeking a foreign payment processor who supports payments to Azerbaijan companies..?

TBH it might be easier to set up a company in a jurisdiction that can easily hold a USD bank account and that is supported by PayPal/Stripe/Gumroad/etc - the USA and UK might work better for you than for a resident, per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Islands  https://stripe.com/atlas etc

You should talk with a local tax accountant who is familiar with legislation in your country regarding offshore businesses, what you would be required to disclose, and how you would be taxed on foreign income.

It is going to depend on the law in your country. In many jurisdictions, it is illegal to knowingly fail to disclose income, even if that income is not locally taxable. If you incorporate a company in another jurisdiction, e.g. via Stripe’s Atlas service, then technically it is that corporation that holds the income, but there will be ownership disclosure requirements in that country, and may be ownership of foreign asset requirements in your country. It used to be the case that ownership of corporations was not necessarily disclosed, but due to efforts to crack down on money laundering and criminal/terrorist financing, a lot of countries now require banks to collect beneficial ownership information, i.e. the names of individuals who own more than a certain percentage of shares in a corporation. So if you incorporate a business in the US, your ownership of that business will be registered there, and may also need to be registered in your own country under local legisation. This is why you need to talk with an accountant or lawyer in your country to find out what disclosure is required.

Another thing I would check in your situation is whether any sanctions are in place between your country and the country in which you plan to incorporate a business or set up a bank account or payment service. Even if no such sanctions exist, you may be required to affirm that none of your income will be directed to countries that are under sanctions. That can be triggered by perceived geopolitical alignment of your country.

Ahem 2!… https://theforge.ashler.design/

I completely agree with what John said; you absolutely need tax advice from a locally licensed professional if you do international business, and you absolutely should be paying all the taxes you are required to and disclosing your beneficial ownership as needed.

Obviously owning a company offshore from where you live is strongly associated with money laundering and tax evasion, but it really does have very legitimate reasons for existing – like your situation – and given you are not seeking to do bad things, and work to avoid inadvertently doing bad things (by fully reporting/disclosing what you are doing, following professional licensed advice), I think its worth exploring this option. 

What I mean by "your situation", my point with all this, isn't to suggest avoiding taxes or disclosures, it is to access services internationally that you can't locally, and accessing them may cost you more than if you did business just locally without access to them. 

To your question, as John mentioned, generally yes, I think there is now a strict need for this kind of disclosure, because since that book was published in 2011, and especially after the Panama Papers put a spotlight on it, there has been a globally coordinated AML effort. Not enough, imo, but that is the trend and if your country is lax today, I would expect that it will eventually become not lax, and you don't want to end up on the wrong side of history with this...