🎯 Yes, I freakin' did it 👏
- on my own again!
Just wrapped up debugging another nightmare with
@stripe Express Checkout button integration in my Angular PHP stack.
The setup: Implementing both Link by Stripe and Google Pay buttons. Link worked flawlessly from day one. Google Pay? Not so much.
The error: "This merchant is having trouble accepting your payment right now. Try using a different payment method. [OR_BIBED_06]"
Zero actionable information.
My employer's response? "You chose
@angular - you deal with support and explain that integration to them." Fair enough, I own my tech stack choices.
Stripe support was... marginally helpful. At least they mentioned it was "shipping related." But when I sent them code samples? "Too much code, cannot tell just by looking at the code." Translation: you're on your own, lady.
After seeing that support wouldn't help, I tried telling my employer I could fix it on my own, relying on the official docs only - not on what support says.
His response? Insisting I stick with support anyway, and use LLMs to clarify what support said if I needed help understanding their guidance.
Being my obedient self, I did exactly that - even though at the back of my mind I already knew I should have just proceeded on my own.
But I did what I was told, which led me straight into the LLM rabbit hole.
Multiple AI assistants confidently sending me down completely wrong paths - modifying my regular Stripe card implementation when I have setup the Express Checkout to be completely separate. LLMs kept conflating the two, suggesting I change things that were working perfectly fine, potentially breaking my existing payment flow.
Hours wasted chasing ghost solutions.
Finally, I did what I should have done much much earlier:
✅ Shut off ALL the noise
✅ Ignored the "helpful" but wrong suggestions
✅ Went straight to the Stripe docs
✅ Read ONLY the specific section on shipping in Express Checkout Elements
Found it in under 2 minutes:
"shippingAddressRequired - boolean
If true, you must also supply a valid shippingRates option in either the create, click, or shippingaddresschange events."
One configuration parameter. That's all it took.
Lesson learned (again): When you're stuck, documentation beats support tickets and AI suggestions every single time. Often the fastest path forward is tuning out the noise and reading the docs yourself.
And now -> onto to the next challenge. 💪
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