Modern payment gateway solutions serve two major purposes. First, they harmonize cardholder data formats as it is sent from merchants’ POS systems to payment processors. Second, they ensure security of payment data (provide an additional payment security layer). More and more present-day companies face the tough choice between buying ready-made gateway products and building their own gateway solutions from scratch. So, in the payment gateway services world Hamlet’s famous question can be re-formulated as: “To build or to buy?” And there is no uniform answer. Everything depends on specific company’s business case. The rule of thumb is as follows. Building your own payment gateway solution makes sense only if resulting savings offset gateway development and maintenance costs.
Let us re-iterate the advantages and disadvantages of developing your own gateway solution.
Advantages of Building Your Own Payment Gateway
- Unlimited customizability potential. You are the boss of your gateway solution. You control the whole process and are free to add any features you or your customers need.
- No gateway fees to pay. Probably, this is the key reason why companies are considering the prospect of developing their own gateway solutions. And the major savings aspect (besides indirect and opportunity costs).
- White-labeling option. Many companies prefer to offer white label payment gateway services. So, if you offer your custom gateway product to other businesses as a white label payment solution, it becomes an additional revenue source. <