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9 Things to Look For In a Payment Gateway

Category: Growth Hacks

9 Things to Look For In a Payment Gateway
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

9 Things to Look For In a Payment Gateway

If you are setting up an e-commerce store, one of the most important things you will be looking for is a payment partner who is going to help you enable the whole payments process.

With the right payment partner, your customers will be able to pay you easily and is more likely to come back to your website. There is just one small problem – how do you choose the right payment gateway?

With the market cluttered with several payment gateway options, it might be hard to choose the right one. In order to choose the right processor, you should do some homework and consider some points that are relevant to your business needs.

So in this article, we are going to explain 9 important things to be considered before you choose your payment partner.

  1. Look into location and incorporation details

Most of the times, the ideal payment gateway for you should be the gateway that is from the same location/country, your business is incorporated in. The corollary is also true.  For example, if you want a European payment gateway for your business, you need to incorporate in Europe itself.

  1. What’s the pricing and the providers’ fees?

It is extremely important to know the fee structure of your payment processor, if your business model is extremely price sensitive. Most of the fintech companies fall into this group and a slight variation in prices can alter their profits and may even turn it into loss.  Don’t get carried away by the advertisements that announce lowest fees or discounts, as it just might act as a catch to attract clients. Find a payment gateway provider that offers transparent fee structure without any surprises afterwards.

  1. What’s the technology

The bottom line is that you should choose a payment gateway that is supported by robust technology. This should not only offer simple, user-friendly solutions but also protect all financial transactions against fraud.  Also, your payment gateway should be secure enough to protect all your customer’s data and also have lower processing costs.

  1. How good is the support

Operating in a global market involves many unexpected and occasional incidents that can be bad for your business. That’s why support is considered to be a crucial factor to instantly fix the problems you face. Support should be simple and hassle free and ticketing system should be robust and fast.

  1. Does the operator offer international payments?

Check whether your payment gateway accepts international payments. If you are a growing business which is looking for selling to the global customer in the future, you might want to go with payment gateway which accept international currencies and offers alternative payment options. While local payment providers might be cheaper in certain cases, global payment gateways like PayTabs come with extremely attractive features like multi-currency payments, acceptance of a variety of cards, settlements and alternative payment arrangements. The latter is probably the better option if you are looking for revenue from around the world.

  1. What are the safety and security features

It is extremely important to ensure the safety and security of your customers, while they purchase online.  Maximum frauds happen while your customers try to make payments online.  There are different ways of protection that a processor can implement such as 3D secure payments, verified by Visa, and token system etc. Your gateway should always follow the guidelines of PCI to minimize the chances of frauds.

  1. Regular payments

If your business model requires short-term payments and settlements, it is ideal to go for a processor that doesn’t expect you to wait too long. Check the cost of the transfer and make sure that the fees are not too high. Always check what your payment gateway is charging for wire transfer. Some gateways charge a low fee and some might ask you to pay a higher fee.

Make sure that the rolling reserves are kept to a minimum. Rolling reserves is a kind of money that a payment processor or a bank can keep with themselves for a period of three to six months as security money against possible charge-backs.

  1. Does it allow invoicing

It might make sense to go with a payment gateway which offers built-in invoicing services. This not only makes it easier for you to raise instant invoices for the customer but also eliminates the need to move to another platform for invoicing.

  1. Reporting features

Another important thing to check is whether your payment partner is offering detailed reporting services. Once your business starts, you will want to review the transactions, review chargebacks in any, or do an analysis of any extra charges that you might have incurred while using the gateway. Try to go with a gateway that offers a better user experience.

There might not be a “perfect payment gateway” that fits the needs of every business. But its worth going the extra mile in order to find your right payment partner since a bad choice will not only cost you money but also your customers. The one thing to probably always keep in mind is the security aspect. The right partner will help you provide all the necessary tools for helping your business grow.

7 years ago
Forging the Future of Payments – The Emerging Trends
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Forging the Future of Payments – The Emerging Trends

With the rapid pace at which the payment industry is gathering momentum, the global payment environment will go through a sea change in near future. There are many factors responsible for an ongoing shift in the payment industry.

We are going to discuss these trends in the light of the 5 major factors that are as follows:

  1. Increasing regulations and compliance post global recession of 2009
  2. Entry of new players in the market and increasing competition
  3. Economic growth in emerging markets and a resultant boom in payment flow across new regions
  4. Innovation and unprecedented growth in technology

Technological innovation is paving the way for increased accessibility, efficiency, velocity and reach, as far as payment transfers are concerned. It is responsible for a complete shift as to where, when and how payments are initiated and transferred.

Banks need to be cautious and monitor the situation carefully as to how developments are taking place in the payment industry and what opportunities and threats it is posing for the banks. In order to thrive, they need to be alert and ready to capitalize on the emerging possibilities.

  1. The impact of regulation

Increasing regulations is the biggest factor that is going to impact this industry in future. With an unprecedented growth in the volumes of cross-border payment transactions, the volume of these transfers has doubled from US$10 billion in 2012 to US$18billion in 2018.  Such a huge volume of international transactions warrants strict monitoring and control.

Banks need to keep an eye on the complexities involved with local and international regulatory framework. The other influencing factors are current practices, currencies and payment formats.

Changes in regulatory compliance can lead to enormous innovation, where it becomes necessary to reevaluate both internal and pan-industry practices.  It will open a whole new world of opportunities for banks and corporate sector.

To simplify and harmonize payment practices across Europe, EU has introduced the Single European Payments Area (SEPA). Fixing regulatory and compliance issues, SEPA has harmonized and standardized the payment market and eased local transfers. Such integration activities are likely to take place in other regions as well.

  1. Entry of new players

Many new players are likely to enter the payment industry and those can be online payments providers, virtual marketplaces and large technology and social media companies such as Google, WhatsApp, Amazon, and Apple, etc.  A thriving fin-tech ecosystem will boost the market.

The factors that are responsible for attracting new players in this market are the current secure payment propositions. The industry as a whole is gravitating towards new payment methods that are not constrained by banking regulations and offer convenient and innovative methods to the customers.

  1. Economic growth in emerging markets

Shifting economic landscape and changing global demographics across the planet will also shape how future payment flows will take place.

A soaring middle-class population and changing economic landscape is creating global opportunities in this industry. In the year 2000, the US and Western Europe together controlled 70% of global financial assets, but by 2020, it is estimated to fall to 45%. China, on the other hand, is flexing its economic muscles and it has seen a 600% growth in global financial assets since then.

  1. Rapid growth in technology

With the rapid pace of change in financial technology, many regions such as Latin America have experienced unprecedented growth in smartphone penetration. Nearly half of the adult population in this region doesn’t have a bank account. So, there is huge potential for payment processors and mobile banking.  Technology allows you to not only transfer the funds instantly but also to track it in real time.

Payment processors like PayTabs have a real advantage here because they have future-proof strategies in place that include customer-centric approach, convenience, flexibility and multi-currency support.

7 years ago
5 Tips to Protect Your Business When Dealing With Payments
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

5 Tips to Protect Your Business When Dealing With Payments

Most of the credit card frauds that took place earlier were related to “card-present” cases. These days with adequate security procedures like EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) chips to make transactions secure, something sinister is happening.

A new type of card fraud is emerging with “card-not-present” type of transactions. In such type of card payments, you are not physically swiping the card, but are using it on online platforms to perform E-Commerce transactions.

In order to deal with such type of card or identity theft, users are requested to get back to their credit card provider or the issuing bank for the reversal of the fraudulent charges. In the normal E-Commerce environment, where a buyer and a seller are involved, merchant is held liable for any fraudulent charges and they are supposed to reverse these charges.

These days, a new type of e-Commerce environment is emerging, where different buyers and merchants come together on a single platform. In this case, the platform-merchant relationship decides as to who is to be held responsible for frauds.

Recently, a trend is emerging where a swindler masks as a merchant and then they manipulate the platform to commit fraud before disappearing from it. In such cases also, the platform is held responsible for the fraud.

Now we’ll discuss what a platform owner can do to protect itself and its buyers against such frauds. Here are 5 tips to prevent such incidents and minimize the losses due to fraudulent cases.

Educate yourself on credit card fraud
There is no fixed modus operandi for credit card and other types of payment frauds because they are constantly evolving. Criminals in cyberspace use innovative techniques and latest technology to commit such acts. So what is recommended today may not be relevant in the future.

Constantly update yourself and keep on exploring newest fraud tactics. Employ latest technology and find the best ways to deal with the current threats efficiently. There are different types of frauds prevalent in the online marketplace today and these include buyer identity fraud, merchant identity fraud and merchant credit risk. Scammers can mask themselves as legitimate buyers and sometimes merchants as well.

Implement simple protection
To start with, employ the proven tools and techniques to avert fraud. For example, user data should be validated first with database companies like Equifax, Lexis-Nexis and Experian. You can also perform a history and credit check about the user, so as to make sure that he is a legitimate buyer or seller.

Do some social data mining
Entering into advanced fraud protection measures, social data verification can supplement our efforts to protect customers from fraud. We can perform data-mining from platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. We can pull these social insights to validate user identity through them. Scammers can create fake social media IDs, but it doesn’t take much to find if it is their regular ID or if it is designed in a hurry in order to commit a fraud.

Use your instincts
If something sounds too good to be true, stay away from it. If someone offers a deal that they are going to pay for the project in advance and it sounds too good to be true, there is high probability that it can be fraudulent.

Don’t do dilly dallying
Frauds are inconsistent and unpredictable in nature. Sometimes, frauds do not take place for a long time and suddenly you observe a surge in fraudulent activities. So, regularly monitor these activities with the help of latest tools even if no fraudulent activity is detected on your platform. Always stay alert as fraudulent activities can come as surprise and hamper normal business activities. They can also affect your profits and employee morale negatively.

7 years ago
How Shoppers Browse and Buy Products Online & Offline
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

How Shoppers Browse and Buy Products Online & Offline

Whether you are an online business or an offline one, understanding how your customer browses and shops can help you bring in more traffic and boost sales. Making the shopping experience enjoyable and easy is the first step to building your brand reputation and getting loyal shoppers who keep coming back to you. So, here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to crafting strategies based on shopper behavior.

Power of location

An offline shopper will usually go for a store that is near her home or on the way back from her workplace. Stores present in a shopping mall are also attractive. So, while picking a location for your physical store, make sure that it is close to your target audience and easy to find. But when it comes to an online shopper, location matters in a different way. This is because the shopper can buy products from anywhere in the world but they do prefer e-stores that have clearly mentioned shipping details. Those online stores that mention the location of the site, shipping rates, and where they ship, reel in more customers.

Shoppers want easy shopping

You need to make shopping easy for your customers, whether you are online or offline. Shoppers usually expect online stores to have a sensible layout, easy product categorization, simple checkout option, multiple payment modes and a safe payment gateway like PayTabs. The option of EMIs, the ability to shop round the clock and not having to carry purchased items home are other attractions of online shopping. In a physical store however, you need to have clearly defined aisles with properly grouped products for shoppers to like the experience. Express lanes and having more cashiers during rush hours can help too.

Everyone likes to have knowledge  

Buying any product without sufficient knowledge is something no one wants. Hence, in a physical store, the sales staff must be well-versed about all kinds of products. This is especially true in case of appliances, phones, laptops, baby furniture and so on. For an online store, shoppers find it easy if the products are well-described so that they can make an informed choice. Offering videos, blogs or guides are also great ideas to warm up to shoppers with information.

Looks matter!

Yes, it does, and for both offline and online stores. While offline shoppers like a store that is neat organized and has a stylish ambiance, online shoppers choose retail websites that have a smart layout and looks professional. If you have a physical store, introducing a particular theme that resonates with your products or using the right lights and right layout can help. For instance, a store selling beach wear can feature a storefront image that reminds you of a sunny beach vacation. Or a store selling kids’ items can be painted in bright and peppy colors to attract little ones. If you are an e-store, make sure your website uses elegant colors, a crisp font, a simple design and neat graphics. The customer should in no way be confused. Stay away from loud hues, different kinds of fonts, and too much information crammed onto one webpage.

Prices are vital too  

Make sure that your pricing strategy complements the kind and quality of products you sell as well as your marketing plan. Also, the prices you quote must justify the convenience of your store, its location, the kind of product knowledge it offers and how it looks. And this holds true for both online and offline stores.

Finally, though most businesses are going online these days to reach out to a wider audience, there are many brands that boast of physical as well as virtual stores. And by keeping the above points in mind, you can attract shoppers to all your stores!

7 years ago
5 Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions about Payment Gateways
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

5 Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions about Payment Gateways

If you are a business with an online presence, you surely know how payment gateways can make it easy for you to receive payments from customers based anywhere in the world. This is a merchant service that acts as a virtual equivalent of a Point of Sale in a physical store. In simple words, without a payment gateway, your business wouldn’t run at all as this service allows the payment processing of debit and credit cards in the online world!

Luckily, with a payment gateway like PayTabs which is easy to integrate with your website or mobile app, you can expect fast and secure payments without any glitch. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have questions about payment gateways. So, here are 5 most asked questions with their answers:

1) How does a payment gateway function?

When your customer purchases a product online, a payment gateway like PayTabs contacts your store’s acquiring bank. This bank is the one that will receive payments. The acquiring bank in turn contacts the bank which has issued the customer’s credit card or debit card. If there is enough money on the customer’s card to pay for the purchased item, the issuing bank will allow the transaction. The payment gateway will then be able to gather the money from the issuing bank of the customer, and all of this will happen in seconds!

2) How much does a payment gateway charge?

The kind of fees you have to pay will vary from one payment gateway to another. This will usually cover your setup fees, monthly fees and qualified rate that is charged per transaction. Support and reporting fees might also be included. So, go with a reliable and affordable gateway like PayTabs and avoid hidden charges.

3) What is a merchant account and why do I need it?

If you wish to receive payments from customer’s debit or credit card for every purchase made, you definitely need a merchant account. It is a specialized bank account that carries the fund you receive from customers for a specific time period, before sending it to your traditional account. You need it because without a merchant account, you cannot process payments. A merchant account will work with the payment gateway to facilitate easy transactions, so that the gateway deposits all payments into this account.

4) How to choose a payment gateway?

Though there are many payment gateways available these days, not all can be trusted equally. But with PayTabs, you will get all that your business needs with ease. This gateway is highly secure, and lets you accept payments in 168 currencies. Plus, merchants can use it even if they don’t have websites. PayTabs also provide regular financial reports and lets you maintain all customers and transactions from a single dashboard. This can help immensely when it comes to keeping a tab on the progress of your business.

5) Is the payment gateway secure enough?

A payment gateway must be very secure since it stores and transfers a lot of customer details and online frauds and identity thefts are very common these days. So, choosing a gateway that complies with PCI DSS requirements is ideal. It should feature advanced tools like intrusion detection, firewalls, and secure credit card data storage to avoid the risk of frauds. PCI DSS is also known as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, and it ensures that all businesses store, process and accept card information in a very secure manner. So, choose a gateway like PayTabs, and rest assured that you have minimized the risk of frauds almost completely.

Now that you know what a payment gateway is essentially all about, choose the right one and make your business a huge success!

7 years ago