Payment Gateway Questions (FAQ)
Do you want to know more about what is a payment gateway? Despite the extensive resources available on our website and our comprehensive payment processing blog at Paylosophy.com, there may still be questions. We do want to explain the difficulties of payment technology and make it simple for businesses of all sizes.
That’s why we’ve created this dedicated page to address the most frequently asked questions. Here, we tackle everything from the basics of payment processing to the advanced functionalities of our UniPay platform, breaking down complex terminologies into easily understandable explanations.
For better understanding of the UniPay benefits, please request demo.
What is a Payment Gateway?
Payment gateway is typically a server-side middleware that enables communication between a merchant and credit card associations like Visa or MasterCard. The software tool makes it possible to process a payment transaction when a card is used online or at a point-of-sale. In modern times, ‘payment gateway’ often refers to advanced technology that wraps around traditional systems, providing additional features and reducing the complexity of integrating older processing platforms. UniPay gateway, for instance, possesses these traditional capabilities and more. Its unique design is processor-agnostic, meaning that merchants can interact with different end-points in a unified, straightforward manner.
Find out more about what is a payment gateway. Reach out to us today.
Is There any Difference Between a Payment Gateway and a Payment Service?
Payment service is essentially a union of a payment gateway and merchant services. To process a transaction or charge a card, a merchant requires a merchant account and a payment gateway. Payment service providers often offer both a merchant account and a hosted payment gateway for processing transactions. While UniPay is not strictly a payment service provider, numerous companies utilize UniPay technology and provide merchant services and hosted access to the UniPay gateway.
Curious how UniPay could revolutionize your business? Request demo to learn more.
What is Payment Management?
Payment management is an umbrella term that covers all processes associated with the lifecycle of a recurring payment – from the initial setup of a subscription until the agreement expires or the account is reported to a credit bureau. This lifecycle involves several phases:
- Initial setup
- Recurring payment processing
- Payment recycling
- Automated payment recovery
- Internal and third-party collections
- Credit bureau reporting
UniPay is a comprehensive payment management solution designed to handle each phase of the recurring payment lifecycle, packed with robust recurring billing functionality, paperless agreement management features, and specialized functionality for automated and manual collections processes.
Ready to streamline your payment solutions with the UniPay gateway? Get in touch with us to get started.
Can my Company Become a PSP?
Yes, it’s possible but a complex and challenging endeavor. Your journey begins with a payment software solution like UniPay, and the choice of a PCI environment to host it. Becoming an independent payment service provider could involve setting up your own server or opting for PCI-compliant hosting, which comes with a higher price tag. You’d require a PCI auditor, establish procedures for credit card storage, and choose banks and processors for transaction handling. Dealing with the gateway and banks is typically straightforward, but engaging with credit card companies can be intricate, requiring certification under your company’s name. Despite the potentially high costs, it’s achievable with diligent adherence to necessary procedures.
Opting for UniPay is your first step in this direction. Contact our experts for more detailed guidance.
How Does Direct Acquirer Integration Work as a Payment Processing Solution?
Direct acquirer integration implies that the integration code is incorporated into a merchant’s application, feeding directly into the payment processing system. It eliminates intermediaries, reduces potential points of failure, omits costs associated with middleware, and delivers excellent performance.
Can you explain integration through connectors?
Connectors, which can be software or middleware, are designed to simplify direct acquirer integrations. They minimize development efforts and eradicate the need for maintenance of integration code. As vendors provide these connectors, the vendors are responsible for support and updates as required.
How does using the UniPay payment processing solution through a gateway work?
A gateway functions similarly to a connector, includes additional features, and can support multiple processors simultaneously. As a payment processing solution, a gateway simplifies many aspects – integrations, and certifications become easier, support and additional features are readily available, and PCI-compliance concerns are mitigated. However, when opting for a hosted gateway as your payment processing solution, there may be substantial upfront costs and potentially reduced control.
Experience the advanced features of UniPay gateway firsthand. Request demo today.
How Does UniPay Gateway Fit in the Definitions of Payment Gateway?
The term ‘payment gateway’ is broad, often accompanied by descriptors such as ‘online,’ ‘credit card,’ ‘e-commerce,’ and ‘internet’ to highlight certain features or aspects. Not all of these terms apply universally to all payment gateways, but UniPay gateway fits each one of these definitions. As a web-based solution, UniPay qualifies as an online or internet payment gateway, accessible usually via HTTPS protocol. It’s also a credit card payment gateway, capable of processing credit and debit card transactions and ACH/EFT transfers. As an e-commerce payment gateway, UniPay may not primarily focus on e-commerce. Still, it supports features vital for online merchants, such as card-not-present transactions, IP address filtering, and 3D Secure integration.
For a better understanding how payment gateway works please request demo. You can also take the quiz to find out if you are ready to have your own payment gateway.
What Pricing Options Does UniPay Have?
The Payments as a Service (PaaS) model that UniPay offers is an ideal choice for budding businesses seeking to explore the world of payment processing or those with a limited budget for setting up their own gateway. This model mainly benefits many businesses, such as SaaS providers, ISOs, ISVs, and marketplaces. These enterprises can smoothly integrate their systems with UniPay’s cloud-hosted instance, enabling a straightforward and seamless way to offer payment processing services to their customers, all without the need for expensive infrastructure investments.
UniPay caters to businesses intent on monetizing payments as part of their software offerings and those interested in processing payments under their own brand or providing payment services for their portfolio companies. The white-label gateway offering from UniPay allows these businesses to extend payment services under their own brand. They can integrate with new banks and processors effortlessly while setting underwriting and funding rules. It is an excellent opportunity for businesses to process payments under their brand with a custom solution while also enjoying savings on payment processing fees. Investment companies aiming to consolidate payment services for their portfolio companies will also find this model suitable.
For businesses with high transaction volumes and portfolio companies seeking to consolidate volumes and decrease operational costs, UniPay offers an On-Premises payment gateway model. This model not only enhances your company’s valuation in the eyes of investors through ownership of your own payment solution but also enables you to establish an entire payment ecosystem in-house within your own environment. Adopting this model allows you to cultivate a versatile workforce that can move throughout your company as required since all subsidiaries share a standard payment processing system. This fosters increased synergy and efficiency, further enhancing your business operations.
What Services Does UniPay Offer?
UniPay offers various outside payment gateway services, including flexible solutions tailored to your specific needs. UniPay offers an advanced payment platform that adapts to your business requirements, offering superior functionality and scalability.
Legacy System Replacement: This service is geared towards businesses operating on earlier generations of mainframes that depend on recurring billing and processing. Our specialists can guide you through the transition if you prefer to retain control over your payment infrastructure rather than relying on external third-party solutions. We can assist with migrating merchant data, account information, and more, providing support throughout the process to ensure a smooth transition.
Payment Processing Consolidation: This service involves unifying different departments and subsidiary companies onto a single payment platform. It is particularly beneficial for private equity funds, holding companies and large enterprises seeking to consolidate their processing to reduce costs and increase profitability. Our team can facilitate the integration of the software platforms of your portfolio companies with our payment processing platform, thereby enabling efficient consolidation and potentially negotiating better pricing with acquiring banks.
Payments Ecosystem: This service involves designing and implementing a new payment environment using UniPay’s payment gateway as the foundation. It is an excellent fit for companies aiming to establish their own payment ecosystem and become Payment Service Providers (PSPs), especially in emerging markets like Latin America, Asia, and GCC countries. We offer comprehensive support in setting up and maintaining a new payment ecosystem, including assistance with PCI auditing, vendor selection, and data migration. We can also provide expert advice on forming operational and underwriting teams.
PayFac Payment Service: This consulting service helps companies take control of their payment processing operations and become payment facilitators. Suppose you aim to expand your business and gain more control over the payment process. In that case, our team can offer the necessary infrastructure, tools, and support to help you establish and operate as a payment facilitator. It includes assistance in selecting the right acquiring bank, implementing robust underwriting procedures, developing secure payment infrastructure, and achieving PCI compliance.
EMV Payment Terminal Service: This software and hardware solution enables secure transactions with chip cards, adhering to the Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) standards. It is ideal for companies wanting to enhance the security and reliability of payment transactions, particularly those that handle in-person transactions and wish to implement chip card technology. Our services include helping you select terminal vendors and models, find appropriate fulfillment centers for terminal initialization and injection, obtain EMV certification, and offer assistance with remote encryption key injection.
Is UniPay Gateway a Credit Card Processing Software?
The answer isn’t a simple yes or no. While UniPay can certainly process credit cards, hence fitting the general definition of a ‘credit card processing software,’ the term often refers to a desktop application installed on your computer for credit card processing. UniPay doesn’t fit this description as it’s a wholly web-based solution. The term’ payment gateway software’ more accurately describes UniPay.
Can UniPay Gateway Handle Recurring or Subscription Billing?
UniPay Gateway is a recurring billing software package offering a web-based solution for managing customer accounts, processing payments, and balancing accounts. It can automate your recurring billing process, support different weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual payment cycles, and execute pre-arranged payments. Furthermore, it’s equipped with debt recovery and collections tools, allowing for automated reattempts based on preset configurations.
While UniPay Gateway provides critical recurring billing features, it doesn’t solely qualify as an online billing solution. However, if you deploy UniPay Gateway in your existing hosting infrastructure, you can enable your company to provide online billing services, offering comprehensive subscription billing to your customers.
UniPay Gateway supports both major recurring billing paradigms: uncommitted billing and committed billing . It’s equipped with integrated features for manual collections and automated debt recovery.
Discover the endless possibilities of UniPay gateway by scheduling a demo.
Can UniPay Handle Payment Aggregation and Sub-Merchant Funding?
Yes, UniPay Gateway is well-equipped to handle payment aggregation and sub-merchant funding. Payment aggregation is a process where payments from unrelated merchants are processed under a single merchant account. While this method has been discouraged due to a lack of transparency, it evolved into sub-merchant funding. In sub-merchant funding, each participant of the aggregation process has its own merchant account, set up as sub-merchants under a larger payment facilitator. The facilitator takes on the legal and financial responsibility for all sub-accounts. UniPay Gateway, being a preferred choice of many enterprise-level payment facilitators, supports complex payment aggregation scenarios and boasts of key features like cost-plus and fixed-rate pricing, statement generation, automated ACH funds disbursements, support for reseller/channel commissions’ kickbacks, and more.
Unlock the full potential of your payment processing with UniPay gateway – reach out to us to get started.
What Are the Advantages of Licensing the UniPay Payment Gateway?
Licensing UniPay payment gateway allows the product to be installed in your PCI-compliant environment, providing you with complete control over the payment gateway solution. It eliminates per-transaction fees while offering extensive integration with numerous payment processors and banks right after installation. Moreover, you can customize every aspect of the gateway operation according to your preferences.
Why would we choose a hosted payment gateway solution?
The UniPay-hosted gateway solution is ideal for those looking to avoid upfront licensing costs and needing a PCI-compliant environment. It also saves you from incurring any maintenance or infrastructure expenses. However, you relinquish control over potential downtime and will have to pay for the hosting service.
How is pricing different between the licensed and hosted payment gateway solution?
The hosted solution comes with various fees, while the licensed version requires a one-time upfront investment. The hosted payment gateway solution might involve transaction fees, per-MID fees, or both. However, there are no fees during periods without transactions. Subscription options allow you access to several transactions and additional services. Don’t delay your journey toward advanced payment processing. Request a UniPay gateway demo today.
Can UniPay Gateway be used as an online payment portal?
Absolutely. Among its many features, UniPay Gateway does include an online payment portal with various self-service functions. These functions are often needed with recurring billing and subscription management services.
Do not hesitate to consult our experts for more information.
Which Bank or Processor Does UniPay Gateway Use to Process Electronic Payments?
UniPay Gateway is a processor-agnostic gateway. It means it is not tied to a specific bank or credit card processor to handle electronic payments. UniPay Gateway supports multiple backend connection points, providing a framework for adding integrations with new banks and processors without altering the existing infrastructure. It exposes unified API merchants, and software developers use for sending credit card transactions and ACH payments to the processors or banks of their choice entirely transparently.
To find out more about how payment gateway API works book the free consultation.
Which Features Differ UniPay From Other Payment Processing Solutions?
One of the most appreciated benefits of UniPay is its transparent pricing. There are no hidden fees or surprise costs to worry about. What you see is what you get. It ensures that businesses can accurately predict processing costs, facilitating better financial planning and budget management.
UniPay provides each client with a dedicated support team to assist with your inquiries and concerns. It ensures swift resolution of issues, minimizing potential disruptions to your business operations. Whether trying to decide on the best processing option or dealing with a complex transaction issue, our team of experts is there to assist you.
UniPay allows you to switch from one pricing model to another as your business needs change. You can start with one pricing plan and migrate to another as your transaction volume grows or your business model evolves.