Build an e-commerce mobile app on Parse and Stripe (opens in new tab)

Sorry, but stripe is not suitable for e-commerce at this time due to it lacking pre-authorization support. https://support.stripe.com/questions/can-i-reserve-an-amount... I've emailed them personally to confirm they lack pre-authorization and they've confirmed they are working on it but no ETA.

With e-commerce the charging process is that you pre-authorize the card for the order amount at checkout, then capture the funds when the order ships.

To do otherwise is inviting disaster.

You could either just verify the card is valid and then attempt to charge when the order ships, but then you run into failed charges because they are over thier limit or something else fails. You've done all the work to pull and pack the item and now you have to go put it back on the self.

Or you can attempt to charge the card fully at order checkout, but then you run into problems with maybe your inventory accounting is inaccurate and you don't have the item like you'd thought you did. Oops, you've already charged the customer for it. VISA and friends really don't like you doing that. I believe you may actually be opening yourself up to fraud charges in certain jurisdictions by doing so.

I have no idea why Parse is featuring this use of it with the products they've selected. I can see it working if it's a so called 'face-to-face' sale where the customer is picking up the product, but it doesn't appear to be presented that way.

Parse is building an incredible product, and so is Stripe. Great collaboration to see happening. Parse is the reason I was able to launch my first app in under a month's worth of development time. Can't wait to incorporate this into my app.