A fuller response was provided below…in post 28
aww, is this time for a group hug?
[BTW, Ezra - some people owe me - I need goons backup. Any help?]
5 Likes
Thanks @iaboyeji for being diplomatic about the matter. Your explanation is very gracious.
I didn’t realise radar was a paystack circle jerk. The amount of hostility directed towards me for stating plain facts is staggering, but that’s alright, I probably deserve some of it for the choice of words I used in my initial statement (By which I still stand).
This is an article from Techcabal that basically corroborates my statement - http://techcabal.com/2016/08/15/flutterwave-iyin-compete-paystack/
For one, all these companies (especially Paystack and Pay With Capture) have been operating for a while. Has Flutterwave been servicing these clients since? If so, who was running the firm before Iyin’s announcement? Delaware public records do not show the owners of the company, and Flutterwave hasn’t answered our question concerning this directly.
But more importantly, how long before Flutterwave starts to offer startups the same services as Paystack? While both teams are coy about this, it seems illogical to assume that Flutterwave would continue to allow a middle man sit between them and the companies that ultimately use their services. Once the infrastructure is built, what stops them from allowing anyone stick a payment interface in their web or mobile app? Finally, how do comapnies like Paystack distinguish themselves from other payment providers when anyone can connect to Flutterwave’s API and launch their own payment service? Is there room for more than one payment processor in this market?
I noticed that there is a lot of “tip toeing” around the issue, I wonder why that is. People don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings?
Whenever there is a lot obfuscation, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
Anyone with a discerning brain, or inside knowledge of the matter knows I am correct.
@kananga one simple question for you - do you work in payments at all?
@kananga You are a stubborn soul. You are particularly acting like the [quote=“kananga, post:24, topic:9589”]
jerk
[/quote]
It is good to hold on to your conviction but for what price? @iaboyeji has taken time out of his busy schedule to clear the air but you still can’t let go of your ‘taunting’. Disrespectful to everyone concerned.
3 Likes
Paystack is essentially a “reseller” of FlutterWave’s excellent payment tech. The main product they “resell” is the FlutterWave Pay Button. FlutterWave’s API allows you to do some wonderful things, that’s why some of the best services use them - e.g. Uber, KongaPay, PayWithCapture, etc. Think of it this way. FlutterWave is manufacturer of the product, Paystack is the retailer, and there are other retailers, you can become a retailer too if you are interested in fintech.
@kananga if this is the point you are standing by, it is very far from the truth, very very far. There have been a few inaccuracies in the responses so far especially from @xolubi and @Dapo but they are minutiae and I don’t like typing.
I am probably the only one who has firsthand technical knowledge of KongaPay, Paywithcapture and Flutterwave and based off that knowledge I can tell you that your point is very far from the truth, very very far.
5 Likes
Remember we’re now in a ‘post-facts’ world. To @kananga none of this matters. Why listen to the experts when he believes what he knows, abi? That’s why I’ve asked him - do you even know how any of this works? Quoting @seyitaylor’s article like it’s some bible of how payments work is not enough.
Who is Iyin? I’m sorry I do not know who that is.
And the only ones doing the worshipping here are people like you who have decided to worship paystack, in spite of the evidence. No amount of evidence will disabuse the faithful. None are so blind as those who will not see.
The FlutterWave guy gave a diplomatic answer, which is absolutely fine by me. I wouldn’t expect anything else from him.
On FlutterWave’s website, it lists PayStack as a customer and dependant on their tech. - Fact
In the techcabal article, Paystack is described as a middle man that sits between Flutterwave and the customer - Fact
Someone from Paystack has accepted that they use Flutterwave tech - Fact
The guy from FlutterWave has confirmed that they have a relationship with PayStack, as they do with SimplePay and Revova - Fact
Which of these facts are in dispute?
Everyone acts as if it is an abomination for PayStack to be a flutterwave dependant (or an interswitch dependant, or both for fail safe mechanisms). What is the big deal in that? This African big man ego trip is weird. Did PayStack invent payment? Payment is a business, and they are doing a great job in their own place in the supply chain.
My statement remains valid and correct. I don’t know why people are getting unnecessarily emotional about this. Is it a cult or a religion? Hmmm
3 Likes
Troll Alert 
2 Likes
I’ve got over 12 years experience building tech for financial institutions in Nigeria, and a few years ago, built a bond and Tbill settlement platform that processed approximately N100bln in transactions per day.
One thing I’ve learned in the industry is that there are a lot of interconnected relationships between platforms, some permanent, others ephemeral. Most are automated, some require a human to click “OK” before the transaction proceeds to another stage. I don’t doubt that PayStack may talk to FW for some class of transaction, or as a contingency. It’s moot now that they’ve stated that they no longer do so.
Where I suspect it got excessive and potentially libellous is the controversial statement “the main product they sell is Flutterwave’s payment button”.
Do you think you may have oversold your argument there?
11 Likes
Were this what you stated originally I wouldn’t have bothered to reply, it’s still not factually correct but reductive enough for someone not in payments to understand.
This is where the aggro came from, the above is maliciously libelous. Look at the difference in the two quotes and maybe you will see why nobody is taking your side, maybe.
For which I did apologise, especially for my choice of words. I don’t mean to belittle anyone’s effort, I said what I said and I can rephrase it if it makes anyone feel better, but my point remains and I stand by it. The argument has dragged on because it seems a lot of people have gotten unnecessarily emotional about a factual matter.
You know what, you’re correct.
Allowing the narrative that paystack depends on Flutterwave for some of their transactions first before stating other-things-that-are-supposed-to-make-Paystack-appear-independent is gross perception error that should have been nipped by paystack as early as possible.
For those concerned like myself, I am glad for the clarifications, but for folks like @kananga who have no business going beyond the narrative where it says Paystack uses flutterwave as one of the few services to terminate certain kinds of transactions, not for dependency but for improved alternatives, because he wants to be correct. I can’t hold a grudge.
5 Likes
Can you pls stop with this 'fact’ thing? If you don’t understand how this works, it’s fine to say so. I guess, pseudonyms to maintain anonymity are nice, but if you’re a great growth hacker or social media manager or , it doesn’t mean you understand how payments work.
1 Like
Am I hurting your feelings? Do you need a safe space?
Seriously, when you are confronted with an argument, it reflects better on you if you make (or at least try to make) a superior argument. Especially because other people are reading this and all they see from you is “you don’t understand”, “you are wrong”, “you don’t know how it works”, and every other ad hominem trick in the book.
If you don’t have a superior argument, at least try. If you can’t try, why bother responding? You might as well go and cry out loud in a corner, it is no different to what you are doing right now.
I have stated the facts. Dispute them if you can.
ok, thanks - I’m going to find a nice corner to cry. Carry on trolling.
1 Like
I’ll regret that “middleman” line for a long time.
If the cofounder and CTO of Paystack says they aren’t a “reseller” of FW tech. And the founder of FW says they aren’t, please why are you arguing with them?
7 Likes
all your fault, seyi.
You’re welcome bro.
12 Likes
The tech scene in Nigeria is fast becoming a representation of our society at large. There are people working day and night to build good products and there are also people doing nothing other than analyzing what they nothing about.
Being ignorant with a side dish of stubbornness is the new cool.
7 Likes