Is it time to become a payment facilitator and make more money on payment processing? This is a question which many companies are asking themselves every day. Is your company one of them? Maybe, you have already considered the prospect of becoming a PayFac, and answered the question affirmatively.
The biggest challenge about becoming a PayFac is, perhaps, finding the proper technology. We can bet, many of you did experience difficulties while making the choice or are still searching for the best technological solution. And how many of us have tried to implement new payment solutions only to end up being discouraged by a knot of hidden catches which are not visible at first glance? If you are experiencing the challenges, related to becoming a PayFac, keep reading.
Just like any other company that handles electronic payments, a payment facilitator needs to register with an acquiring bank and find a payment gateway partner.
The primary function of a payment gateway is to perform smooth payment data exchange between merchants and payment processors. If you are a payment facilitator, your payment gateway provider has to meet some additional, PayFac-specific requirements.
Here are 4 simple tips to follow if you are a PayFac looking for a gateway:
- Support for MCC codes. Your payment gateway has to support all types of businesses (also called merchant category codes) your merchants belong to. Examples of business types (and respective MCC codes) include restaurants, fitness centers, tech support companies, and even medical cannabis vendors.
- Support for target currencies and geographies. If you are targeting multiple countries and geographies, your payment gateway should support them all. For example, if your merchants come from both US and Canada, the gateway should support transactions in both US and Canadian dollars.
- Integrations with several major processors. Every merchant wants to pay less for transaction processing. So it wants to partner with a processor that offers better terms. That is why, it is good for you to go with a payment gateway platform which is already connected to (i.e. integrated with) several major processors. Thus, more of your merchants will be satisfied by their processing terms.
- Support for target payment types. As a payment facilitator, you will focus on some particular payment types, which are most common for your merchants. Examples of such common payment types can include credit versus debit cards, card-present versus card-not-present transactions, contact versus contact-less, ACH payments, particular card brands (Visa, MC, Amex) etc. So, an optimal payment platform should support your target payment types.
As you can guess, there is no payment gateway that would perfectly suit each and every payment facilitator. Depending on your particular business model, you will settle on some specific payment platform that meets your requirements and ensures top-quality customer experience.
PayVida, for example, is a blockchain-centric company, which has recently launched its platform for payment facilitators. ProPay, in its turn, has developed its Payment Network, specifically targeted at SaaS platform providers. PayRix claims to be the only full-service payment facilitator platform targeted at marketplaces, SaaS platforms, and PayFacs themselves.
Another major market player, United Thinkers, provides a robust licensable UniPay Gateway solution for both merchants and payment facilitators. It includes an onboarding gateway for merchants with different MCC, as well as advanced payment distribution logic. Besides that, UniPay Gateway platform is integrated with many major payment processors. Finally, it offers a white-label payment facilitator program through its partnership with Ziftpay. It is a “try-it-before-buy-it” solution for prospective payment facilitators, who do not want to assume the load of PayFac-specific responsibilities all at once.
