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Alice Nkosi

Strategic advice on e-commerce infrastructure, payment systems, and scaling globally — especially for creators and businesses in restricted regions.

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The Inevitable Failure of PayPal for International Open Source Plugin Sales

The Inevitable Failure of PayPal for International Open Source Plugin Sales

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2 min read
Selling Stock Photos Without a Stripe Account Is a Non-Starter for Most Open Source Maintainers in Russia

Selling Stock Photos Without a Stripe Account Is a Non-Starter for Most Open Source Maintainers in Russia

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2 min read
Selling Digital Products in a Country Google Won't Do Business With is a Technical Problem

Selling Digital Products in a Country Google Won't Do Business With is a Technical Problem

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3 min read
Choosing a Decentralized Payment Gateway Over Crypto for a Full Stack Crypto Storefront is a Misstep

Choosing a Decentralized Payment Gateway Over Crypto for a Full Stack Crypto Storefront is a Misstep

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2 min read
The Fatal Flaw of Western Payment Gateways

The Fatal Flaw of Western Payment Gateways

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2 min read
Building a Crypto Store for My Side Project Was a Desperate Attempt to Keep It Alive

Building a Crypto Store for My Side Project Was a Desperate Attempt to Keep It Alive

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2 min read
Navigating Uncharted Waters: How We Built an Alternative Payment System for Restricted Territories

Navigating Uncharted Waters: How We Built an Alternative Payment System for Restricted Territories

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2 min read
Avoiding the KYC Trap in Web3: A Personal Story of Fighting for Financial Sovereignty

Avoiding the KYC Trap in Web3: A Personal Story of Fighting for Financial Sovereignty

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2 min read
Solving for Country Lockouts When Selling Software Online

Solving for Country Lockouts When Selling Software Online

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2 min read
Crypto Platforms Won't Save You, But Maybe Shopify's Clone Will

Crypto Platforms Won't Save You, But Maybe Shopify's Clone Will

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2 min read
Dismantling Payment Gatekeepers: My 2-Year Fight to Sell Digital Products Without Borders

Dismantling Payment Gatekeepers: My 2-Year Fight to Sell Digital Products Without Borders

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3 min read
Why You Should Ditch PayPal for Cryptocurrency When Selling Digital Products in Restrictive Markets

Why You Should Ditch PayPal for Cryptocurrency When Selling Digital Products in Restrictive Markets

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2 min read
Selling Online Courses in Iran: How I Found a PayPal-Free Ecosystem

Selling Online Courses in Iran: How I Found a PayPal-Free Ecosystem

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2 min read
Our System's Sins in Ghana: Why We Had to Rethink Digital Product Sales

Our System's Sins in Ghana: Why We Had to Rethink Digital Product Sales

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2 min read
PayPal's Existence is a Curse for Some, Crypto is Just a Fad for Me

PayPal's Existence is a Curse for Some, Crypto is Just a Fad for Me

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2 min read
Creating Financial Freedom Without Borders

Creating Financial Freedom Without Borders

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2 min read
Breaking the Payment Walls: My Fight to Sell Digital Products in a Restricted Country

Breaking the Payment Walls: My Fight to Sell Digital Products in a Restricted Country

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2 min read
Selling Digital Downloads Globally Without Payment Restrictions: What Actually Works When You Are in a Restricted Country is Totally Overrated

Selling Digital Downloads Globally Without Payment Restrictions: What Actually Works When You Are in a Restricted Country is Totally Overrated

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2 min read
Platform Monopolies Are Holding Us Back, But This E-commerce Hack Saved Our Open Source Project

Platform Monopolies Are Holding Us Back, But This E-commerce Hack Saved Our Open Source Project

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2 min read
The Folly of Forcing Global Payment Systems on the African Creator Economy

The Folly of Forcing Global Payment Systems on the African Creator Economy

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3 min read
The Misery of Digital Payments in Emerging Markets: Why I Chose Crypto Over Traditional Gateways for My Open Source Project

The Misery of Digital Payments in Emerging Markets: Why I Chose Crypto Over Traditional Gateways for My Open Source Project

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3 min read
Digital Art Sales Without Borders

Digital Art Sales Without Borders

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2 min read
Selling Online Courses Without Platform Lockout: The Crypto Fix That Ultimately Fails

Selling Online Courses Without Platform Lockout: The Crypto Fix That Ultimately Fails

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2 min read
The Myth of Global Platform Availability as a Non-Negotiable Truth

The Myth of Global Platform Availability as a Non-Negotiable Truth

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2 min read
The Only Way to Provide Global Access to Digital Products is Through a Self-Sustaining Ecosystem

The Only Way to Provide Global Access to Digital Products is Through a Self-Sustaining Ecosystem

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2 min read
Unreliant Economies and Stripe: Why Traditional Payment Platforms Fail in Nigeria

Unreliant Economies and Stripe: Why Traditional Payment Platforms Fail in Nigeria

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2 min read
Crypto Payments for Digital Creators in Developing Countries Require a Multi-Chain Approach

Crypto Payments for Digital Creators in Developing Countries Require a Multi-Chain Approach

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2 min read
Traditional Platforms vs Unchained Commerce for Running a Digital Product Business in the Philippines Without Stripe

Traditional Platforms vs Unchained Commerce for Running a Digital Product Business in the Philippines Without Stripe

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2 min read
The Convoluted Truth About International Transactions and Why You Should Give Up On Platform Stores

The Convoluted Truth About International Transactions and Why You Should Give Up On Platform Stores

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2 min read
PayPal's Achilles' Heel: Why We Replaced Our Payment Store's Default Payment Gateway

PayPal's Achilles' Heel: Why We Replaced Our Payment Store's Default Payment Gateway

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2 min read
Building a Global Open Source Business Without Getting Blocked by PayPal

Building a Global Open Source Business Without Getting Blocked by PayPal

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2 min read
Chasing Cash Flows in a Cashless System

Chasing Cash Flows in a Cashless System

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3 min read
The Perils of Platform Restrictions in Digital Commerce

The Perils of Platform Restrictions in Digital Commerce

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3 min read
The False Choice Between Traditional Gatekeepers and Unstable Workarounds

The False Choice Between Traditional Gatekeepers and Unstable Workarounds

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2 min read
The Open Source Solution No One Saw Coming for Bangladesh's Digital Creators

The Open Source Solution No One Saw Coming for Bangladesh's Digital Creators

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2 min read
Selling Digital Products Online in a Geo-Restricted World Requires a Custom Solution

Selling Digital Products Online in a Geo-Restricted World Requires a Custom Solution

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3 min read
The Inevitable Failures of Western Payment Processing

The Inevitable Failures of Western Payment Processing

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3 min read
How We Picked Between PayPal and Crypto for a $500K/Year Digital Product Launch

How We Picked Between PayPal and Crypto for a $500K/Year Digital Product Launch

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3 min read
The Unacceptable Cost of Doing Business Abroad

The Unacceptable Cost of Doing Business Abroad

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3 min read
Digital Exclusion Is a Technical Problem

Digital Exclusion Is a Technical Problem

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2 min read
Paying Creators in a World Without Borders: The Dark Reality of Payment Processors

Paying Creators in a World Without Borders: The Dark Reality of Payment Processors

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2 min read
Collecting Payment for Freelance Work in Nigeria Without Relying on Stripe

Collecting Payment for Freelance Work in Nigeria Without Relying on Stripe

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2 min read
Limitless Global Commerce

Limitless Global Commerce

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2 min read
Solving Ecommerce for the Rest of Us

Solving Ecommerce for the Rest of Us

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2 min read
Open-Source Fundraising Platforms Can't Be Saved by a Single "Alternative" Solution

Open-Source Fundraising Platforms Can't Be Saved by a Single "Alternative" Solution

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2 min read
Operationalizing Digital Goods Sales in Restricted Regimes: The Uncomfortable Truth

Operationalizing Digital Goods Sales in Restricted Regimes: The Uncomfortable Truth

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2 min read
The Egregious Inefficiency of Stripe and PayPal for Gumroad Alternatives in Restricted Countries

The Egregious Inefficiency of Stripe and PayPal for Gumroad Alternatives in Restricted Countries

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2 min read
The Myth of Western Payment Platforms as the Only Option for Digital Creators

The Myth of Western Payment Platforms as the Only Option for Digital Creators

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2 min read
Running a Digital Goods Store in a Restricted Country Without Getting Blocked by PayPal

Running a Digital Goods Store in a Restricted Country Without Getting Blocked by PayPal

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2 min read
The Hard Truth About International E-Commerce: Why Crypto Payment Gateways are Not a Panacea

The Hard Truth About International E-Commerce: Why Crypto Payment Gateways are Not a Panacea

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2 min read
Digital Products Are Not for the Faint of Heart

Digital Products Are Not for the Faint of Heart

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2 min read
Avoiding Global Access Holes in Your Next API

Avoiding Global Access Holes in Your Next API

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2 min read
Selling Digital Products Online From Countries Blocked by Payment Platforms Requires More Than Just Workarounds

Selling Digital Products Online From Countries Blocked by Payment Platforms Requires More Than Just Workarounds

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2 min read
Building a Global Digital Store in a Country that Hates Cryptocurrency

Building a Global Digital Store in a Country that Hates Cryptocurrency

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2 min read
Global Payment Solutions For Open Source Developers Won't Save You

Global Payment Solutions For Open Source Developers Won't Save You

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2 min read
Cross-Border Selling without a Bank Account is Not a Problem, Nor is it a Solution

Cross-Border Selling without a Bank Account is Not a Problem, Nor is it a Solution

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2 min read
Solving Global Platform Restrictions with a SaaS MVP

Solving Global Platform Restrictions with a SaaS MVP

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2 min read
The Dark Side of Being A Global Open Source Maintainer

The Dark Side of Being A Global Open Source Maintainer

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2 min read
Operating Across Borders with Unreliable Payment Providers

Operating Across Borders with Unreliable Payment Providers

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2 min read
Forcing Yourself to Think Outside the (Payment) Box

Forcing Yourself to Think Outside the (Payment) Box

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2 min read
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