I'm no expert on this aspect but I've a hypothesis: providing free tier can also reduce (friendly) chargebacks.
Chargebacks by scummy customers can easily destroy a business as some providers charge up to 20$ fee alone for the chargeback in addition to the original charge. Is there a payment method that doesn't accept chargebacks on the customer side (final transaction) but is still fast like a Credit Card?
This is great writing, thanks for sharing.
The only thing I was left wondering though is what kind of success rate one should expect on Stripe appeals. I know back in the 2000s it was well-known that PayPal appeals/arbitration were a bit of a kangaroo court, and that outcomes varied wildly depending on the arbitrator or day of the week.
If I'm diligent in gathering evidence and can reasonably show that the customer did indeed in good faith sign up for my service and that it was delivered as advertised, can I expect Stripe to side with me?
I expect the answer is some variation of "it depends" but I'd love to hear your thoughts either way :)