Best Payment Gateways For Ecommerce

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲? Let’s dive in: Every time a consumer swipes a card to make a purchase, the merchant pays an interchange fee. Revenue from the fee gets divided among parties that facilitated the transaction: the banks that send and receive the payment, the card network, the payment processor, and—more recently—fintechs and businesses that embed payments. When you take the bird-eye view diagram below 👇 as an example: If a user swipes a card issued by a Neobank, $1.70 (interchange fee) goes to the issuing bank and the card network, $0.50 (acquiring fee) goes to the acquiring bank. Interchange fees are not always the same though. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲? ► Credit vs. Debit Interchange rates on credit cards are significantly higher than those on debit cards. ► Rewards programs These benefits are financed through higher interchange rates, and have proven to be very popular with consumers. ► Online vs. Offline Online purchases are less secure than in-person purchases. ► Consumer vs. Commercial Cards associated with business or corporate accounts carry higher interchange rates than consumer cards. ► Merchant Category Code (MCC) Every merchant is categorized by the major card networks according to a Merchant Category Code (MCC). This means that there are different interchange rates depending on whether someone uses a card in a supermarket, a retail store, a gas station, or with some other form of merchant. ► The Card Network Different card networks charge different rates. Visa and Mastercard are known for charging lower rates. Other networks like AMEX are known for charging higher rates. ► Network partner programs Visa and Mastercard’s partner programs like VPP (Visa Partner Program) and MPP (Mastercard Partner Program) often give specific retailers interchange rates that are much lower than the networks’ published interchange rates. ► Size of the issuing bank (in the US 🇺🇸) Larger banks are subject to a regulation called the Durbin Amendment that caps interchange rates on consumer debit transactions. Smaller banks are exempt. As a result, these smaller banks can earn more revenue from interchange rates—and that benefits the FinTechs and embedded finance businesses that partner with them. Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [ 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 ] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

As open banking #payments are gradually becoming an integral part of the payments mix across the globe, their comparison with credit cards is inevitable. Can they really replace or displace them? Let’s take a look. On the one hand side, we have the traditional 4-party model, dominated by Visa and Mastercard who manage the rails that connect banks with customers. A typical transaction flow would look like this: 1. A third-party (merchant) gateway identifies the right payment network 2. The (card) network confirms the customer authorization 3. The network routes the transaction to the customer’s bank (the issuer) for approval 4. The network does the same with the merchant’s bank (the acquirer) 5. After the approvals the gateway confirms the transaction 6. The merchant’s bank settles with the network, whereas payment is done by the customer’s bank For this middleman role, card networks define access fees (the costs for routing a card payment through their network) and interchange fees that merchants pay to the card issuers. The latter can range from 0.3% for credit cards in Europe (there is a cap) and all the way up to 3.5% in the US and Canada (the most expensive in the world). On the other hand, open #banking is a game changer because it connects merchants with consumers in a direct way, without intermediaries: payments are initiated directly from the consumer’s bank account. The process looks like this: 1. The customer chooses ‘Pay by bank’ at checkout and selects the bank 2. The transaction is redirected to the customer’s banking app 3. The transaction is approved, and the merchant is notified Three arguments speak in favour of open banking payments: —  Not only are PIS (payment initiation) transactions a fraction of the card costs, but also, they offer increased security, enhanced user experience and instant completion (as instant schemes around the globe proliferate). —  Due to higher competition and decreasing margins merchants have a stronger than ever incentive for cheaper ways of accepting payments and transferring funds. —  Whereas the vast majority of modern #fintech offerings are built on existing infrastructure – having benefited from the decoupling of the front-end from legacy systems – open banking is powering for the first time in a long period the build-up of a real, additional infrastructure layer that has the potential to influence the entire finance set-up in the years to come.   Does that mean that #openbanking will replace credit cards? So far it hasn’t happened, and it will most probably be a gradual adjustment where open banking will co-exist alongside with credit cards in a new and more complex multi-polar payments landscape.   Opinions: my own, Graphic source: Huntswood

Before I let a CFO in Dubai sign an ERP contract, I ask 7 questions about multi-currency and FX rules. (Most vendors can’t answer even 3.) And that’s exactly why 90% of ERP finance teams end up with workarounds, Excel patches, or fire drills every month-end. Here’s what I ask every single time: (1) How does the system handle revaluation gains/losses across ledgers in real-time? (Or are you manually booking journals at month-end?) (2) Can FX rates be pulled live from central banks or is it still a static upload via CSV? (3) What happens to historical FX rates when you reopen a prior-period transaction? (4) Can you tag currency exposure by project, vendor, or contract in reporting? (5) Does multi-entity consolidation auto-adjust for intercompany FX differences? (Or do you have to “explain” the ₹6.2M gap to auditors every year?) (6) How does the ERP treat rounding off in multi-currency AP/AR aging reports? (7) Does the ERP allow dual base currencies? (say, for reporting in USD and AED natively?) If your vendor can’t answer these, walk away. Because the moment your business hits scale or enters new geographies… Your ERP won’t just fail. It’ll cost you millions in lost visibility and manual firefighting. Want the full 23-question FX audit checklist I use before every ERP project? Just comment “FX Checklist” below and I’ll send it across. ♻️ 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 so others can learn.

If we want real-time cross-border transactions between different currencies, two conditions must be met. First, domestic payment systems must be instant. They must allow money to be sent and received immediately. This is increasingly the case: Pix in Brazil, SEPA Instant in Europe, UPI in India. These systems are the first mile and the last mile in the chain. Next, these domestic systems must be able to communicate with each other in real time. SWIFT was not designed for instant settlement, and this is where stablecoins and blockchain come in. By enabling real-time value transfer, they act as a bridge between instant domestic systems that otherwise remain siloed. Here’s a simple example of a money transfer from Europe to India: 1/ Instant conversion of EUR to USDC via an on-ramp using SEPA Instant. 2/ Instant transfer of USDC from one wallet to another via blockchain. 3/ Instant conversion of USDC to INR via an off-ramp using IMPS. And with Triple-A, it’s even simpler. You don’t even need to convert to USDC—we handle the entire infrastructure for you to enable real-time payments between different currencies.

Bro, just integrate Stripe. It’s one API call.” Famous last words before you end up debugging webhooks, idempotency, and double charges at 2 AM. And that’s how I lost 2 weeks of my life debugging what looked like a 10-line API call. Let me explain what really happens when you implement payments 👇 Step 1: The Illusion - “Frontend Integration” You add a Checkout button, call Razorpay/Stripe API, user pays, frontend says “Success.” Money deducted. Job done? Nope. Because that “success” is just the browser’s response. If the user closes the tab before redirection — the payment still happens, but your app never knows. Lesson: Frontend != Source of Truth Step 2: The Payment Object You can’t just depend on the gateway. Every payment needs to exist in your own database first. When the user starts checkout, create a Payment object in your DB: Payment {   id: uuid,   order_id: xyz,   status: "INITIATED",   amount: 499,   gateway_payment_id: null,   user_id: abc } This lets you track the full lifecycle - even if webhooks arrive late or twice. Step 3: Webhooks - The Real Source of Truth When the gateway sends a webhook (e.g. payment_success), that’s when you verify, update your DB, and unlock what the user paid for. But gateways retry webhooks (sometimes multiple times). So you need idempotency — so the same event doesn’t trigger multiple unlocks. A simple rule: Use the gateway_payment_id as a unique key. if not exists(gateway_payment_id):     mark_payment_success()     unlock_user_access() else:     ignore_duplicate_event() Now your backend behaves deterministically - even under retries or duplicates. Step 4: Ensuring User Access After Payment This part hurts the most. Users expect instant access after paying. But your webhook might arrive a few seconds later. So here’s how to handle it right 👇 On frontend, optimistically show “Payment successful, verifying…” Backend gives access only when webhook confirms it. If webhook is delayed, show a loader or poll for status every few seconds. That 5-second delay saves you from massive refund chaos later. Step 5: Reconciliation & The Real-World Mess At month-end your finance team will ask: “We got ₹98,120 in the bank, but system shows ₹97,950. Why?” Now you’ll compare your DB -> gateway reports -> settlement bank entries (T+2 delays). Only then will you realize… Payment integration isn’t a feature - it’s an event-driven distributed system that happens to move money. 💡 The Moral "Just integrate payments" sounds simple - until you realize it’s about: - Async systems - Idempotency - Race conditions - Data consistency And human impatience 😅 It’s the perfect real-world test of whether your system design actually holds up. Next time someone says “It’s just an API call”… send them this post.

The Global Payments Report 2024 Consumers have more payment options than ever before and it is the choices they make that drive the payment landscape. Explore this new choice era in the 9th edition of Worldpay's Global Payments Report, your expert guide to payments across 40 markets. Understand how consumer choices become trends and understand what these trends mean for the future of your business. 1 ) A2A Payment - Despite increasing dominance in markets like Brazil and India, A2A remains challenged in card-heavy markets such as the UK and USA. A2A’s lower cost of payment acceptance makes it popular with merchants. 2) Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Companies faced well-documented headwinds in 2023 including rising interest rates, looming regulation and souring investor sentiment. Consumers countered those headwinds by choosing BNPL more than ever. 3) Global E-Com Global e-commerce surpassed $6.1 trillion in 2023 and is growing at more than twice the rate of global POS value. E-com growth is projected for 9% CAGR (versus 4% for POS) through 2027. 4) Cash vs Digital Although cash fell -8% globally in 2023 and is expected to decline at -6% CAGR through to 2027, it remains relevant amid economic uncertainty. It is still a vital payments tool for billions of consumers. In 2023, cash accounted for 16% ($6 trillion) of global transaction value, including double-digit share in 30 of 40 markets in this report. 5) Prepaid Card Prepaid cards will exceed $1 trillion in global transaction value. Versatility drives prepaid cards’ success: as gift cards, reloadable stored value cards, for payroll, business-to-consumer payments and as government benefits. 6) PostPay Although it remains popular in cash-heavy LATAM and Japan, where it accounted for 5% of e-commerce transaction value in 2023, an upturn in financial inclusion and overall shift away from cash is signalling post-pay’s sunset. 7) Digital Wallets - Digital wallets are the most popular and the fastest-growing payment method globally, however consumers shop. In 2023, they accounted for 50% of global e-com spend (> $3.1T) and 30% of global POS spend (> $10.8T). 8) Card Vs Digital Payment Consumers turning to digital wallets isn’t a turn away from cards. In card-dominated markets, card spend is simply shifting to “pass-through” and “staged” digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal. Taken as a whole, card transaction values are at an all-time high and continue to rise. Feon Ang 洪雍华 | Sopnendu Mohanty | Navin Suri   | Oliver Turn | Tony Moroney | Theodora Lau Chris Gledhill   | Linas Beliūnas  | Bradley Leimer  | Huy NGUYEN TRIEU | Arjun Vir Singh   | Umar Farooq | Paolo Sironi | Chia Hock Lai 谢福来, CFtP | Tony Craddock | Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld | | Panagiotis Kriaris |Spiros Margaris | Dr Ritesh Jain   | Tamara McCleary  |Francesco Burelli | Ram Rastogi 🇮🇳 | Abhishant Pant  |Victor Yaromin | Sam Boboev | Nicolas Pinto 

The Bank for International Settlements – BIS has published a new study proposing a machine learning framework for real-time transaction monitoring in high-value payment systems (HVPS). HVPS are crucial components of a nation's financial infrastructure, but detecting anomalies within them is challenging due to the high volume of daily transactions and the rarity of actual suspicious activity. The BIS framework addresses this by using a layered machine learning approach: Supervised Machine Learning: This initial stage employs a supervised machine learning algorithm to identify and separate "typical" transactions from those considered "unusual." Unsupervised Anomaly Detection: Only the "unusual" transactions are then fed into an unsupervised machine learning algorithm specifically designed to detect anomalies. This two-step process offers a potential solution for improving real-time transaction monitoring in HVPS, contributing to a more secure and efficient financial system. Research paper: https://lnkd.in/e47TrW3X #payments #machinelearning #ai #banking #financialservices

#UPI Autopay is one of the most underrated India-centric innovations of the last 5 years. UPI autopay lets businesses collect recurring payments automatically will lesser hassle(think OTT subscription, Mutual fund SIPs) The impact it has had on subscription-based #startups has been incredible: - UPI Autopay now powers 53% of all recurring payments, compared to just 31% for cards (declining fast) - 4.5 million active subscribers on Kuku FM pay via UPI Autopay (majority in teir 2, tier 3 cities) UPI Autopay is a great example of a #product built for India, solving a very real Indian problem, the lack of credit card penetration. Only about 10 crore Indians have credit cards, while over 50 crore users are registered on UPI. And even among those with credit cards, most are concentrated in the top 10 cities, making it tough for businesses to collect recurring payments from Tier 2 and Tier 3 India. To make matters worse, margins in SaaS or non-subscription #business are already very low in India. A 2%+ MDR on credit cards makes it even harder to stay profitable. This is where NPCI’s UPI E-Mandates come in. They solve a massive challenge; seamless and low-cost recurring #payments at scale. Think of companies like Zerodha or Groww, who collect monthly SIPs, or Policybazaar.com, which collects insurance premiums every month. Without UPI Autopay, these #brands would lose revenue and need to hire teams just to remind users to make payments. All that friction and cost is saved with UPI Autopay. That’s also why many startups can now offer affordable monthly subscription plans instead of locking users into larger annual commitments. #kneeledge

The Future of Payments Is Here—And It’s Moving Fast Among the many topics I’ve been passionate about, one that’s fascinated me for a long time is how quickly payments are evolving. Even with all my experience, partnering with the latest numbers from the Worldpay Global Payments Report 2025 made me reflect on how much has changed—and wonder where the future of payments is heading. Here are just a few of the emerging trends as outlined by the report that stood out to me: ➡️ Mobile is taking over. In 2024, 57% of global e-commerce value was through mobile. By 2030, that’s set to rise to 64%. This isn’t just a trend—it’s a total shift in behavior, and it’s happening fast. ➡️ Digital wallets are winning. Convenience is king. In India, 76% of online transaction value is via digital wallets. From ease of use to security, it’s clear why this payment method is becoming the go-to worldwide. ➡️ Subscriptions are reshaping spending. 76% of U.S. consumers now use subscription services. From entertainment to software, this model is redefining how we think about access and ownership. ➡️ Crypto adoption? Still TBD. 51% of consumers say they’d consider using crypto for digital content payments. The question is: Will 2025 be the year we see broader adoption? ➡️ AI and contactless payments are making it effortless. In some places, a phone—or even a biometric scan—is all you need to make a transaction. It’s frictionless and future-ready. ➡️ Seamless travel payments are on the rise. Imagine booking, and paying—all in one smooth, uninterrupted flow. Airlines are bringing this vision closer to reality. ➡️ Account-to-account (A2A) payments are gaining momentum. A2A e-com payment value in Brazil jumped from $1 billion in 2014 to $35 billion in 2024 ➡️ Retailers are redefining the checkout experience. From augmented reality to instant refunds to checkout-free stores, the way we shop is becoming faster and more immersive than ever. The bottom line? This isn’t just about what we pay with—it’s about how payment experiences are evolving across industries and geographies. Discover more insights in the full report—find the link in the comments below! #GPR2025 #WorldpayInsights #FinTech #worldpay #digitalpayments #ad

Microsoft is changing the way subscriptions are priced for annual subscriptions with monthly invoicing. This will take effect on April 1 this year. This isn't really sudden or new in any way. This has been announced back in November last year and the interim period is about to end, so it's now become more important to review existing subscriptions. As most of you using Microsoft licenses, such as M365 or the Power Platform subscriptions, most likely know, there are essentially 3 ways in which these can be purchased: 📌 Monthly commitment with monthly invoicing 📌 Annual commitment with monthly invoicing 📌 Annual commitment with annual invoicing The first one is the most flexible, but has also been the most expensive. All the public pricing pages actually list annual commitment prices, so you may not even be aware of this, but monthly commitment is actually ~20% more expensive (e.g. 16.8 EUR/user/mo. vs. 14 EUR/user/mo. for Power Automate Premium). The other two offer less flexibility (the number of licenses cannot be reduced for a year) but are cheaper, and they have both been priced the same. So, with that, for most organizations, monthly invoicing would mean better cash flow management, and they'd opt for that. Annual invoicing would then usually make sense only to organizations that want less admin work related to processing invoices and payments. In most scenarios cash flow management would win over that. But this better control of cash flow will from now on come at a premium of additional 5% in license cost, making the annual invoicing more attractive, as it becomes the cheaper option. If you are looking to buy any new licenses at the moment and want the best prices available, your options are basically to either: 📌 Buy them with annual invoicing (pay once in advance for 12 months) 📌 Buy them with monthly invoicing before April 1 to lock the prices in for 1 year* * You would still either have to face a 5% price hike or switch to annual invoicing after the 1 year, but you'll at least have the cushion available to you. This is probably most important to SMBs looking at starting up their Power Platform initiatives.