How to Set Up Your Own Payment Gateway 101

White-labeling concept has become very popular among electronic payment processing industry players. We can witness the emergence and development of white label payment processing services, white label payment facilitator, and white label payment gateway reseller models. Indeed, these business models have already proven their efficiency at the market.

In this article we are going to focus on white label payment gateway model. A white label payment gateway reseller or provider is a company that offers a third-party payment gateway service or product. However, in contrast to a traditional payment gateway provider, it allows you to brand it with your own logo. As a result, in the eyes of your customers (both cardholders and merchants) you are the payment gateway provider. This arrangement allows you to boost your company’s image.

White label payment gateway model works particularly well for ecommerce merchant services providers, gaming platforms, and casinos.

The main conceptual advantage of a white label gateway is that it allows you to save resources otherwise spent on development of a full-fledged gateway solution. As a result, you can dedicate more effort to your core products/ services. Development of your own payment gateway solution from scratch is a costly, time-consuming, and labor-intensive process. It requires large investments and many days spent on development, integrations, and certifications. If you go with a white label payment gateway solution, the only thing you need to do is configure it properly.

Strong and weak points of white label payment gateway solutions

The main advantages of a white label gateway solution are as follows.

You can put your company’s logo and brand name on the gateway product
You can boost your image and reputation in the eyes of your customers and competitors
The gateway provider handles payment security issues for you. These include PCI compliance, fraud protection, payment data encryption etc.
The gateway product is already integrated with and certified by all the necessary channel partners
As a result of the above-mentioned advantages, you can create added value, improve customer experience, and expand your customer base

The disadvantages of a white label gateway solution are as follows.

You do not control much of the process. The only thing you can really customize is the interface
If the gateway solution is shared by multiple users, its work may slow down due to overloads

White label payment gateway solution flavors

You can, actually, overcome the listed limitations, partly or completely, depending on the flavor of a white label gateway solution you are using. So, what are the flavors?

A traditional brandable third-party gateway. This is the most common flavor, characterized by the limitations listed in the previous section.
A dedicated instance of a white label payment gateway product. No slowdowns, because you are the only user of the gateway instance. Still, not much control over the process, though.
A virtual payment gateway, located on an external service or in the cloud. It requires just a little of your local resources and is fully maintained and supported by the gateway provider.
A licensed gateway product with open source code. This solution has almost unlimited customizability potential and allows you to fully control the process.

Depending on your processing volumes and needs, you can choose the flavor that is most suitable for your business model. However, keep in mind: more control over the process means greater responsibility. Every new feature you add to your licensed gateway product has to be separately certified.

Which white label payment gateway solution flavor should you choose?

Flexibility and robustness, the key principles that Paymentech companies try to follow, surely, apply to payment gateways. The best white label payment gateway solution is the one that can grow and develop with your business. The one which can adapt and adjust to the newly emerging needs and challenges.

Some companies offer truly robust payment technologies to their customers. UniPay Gateway solution, offered by United Thinkers is an example of such a technology. It is a white-label processor-agnostic solution, which is available two versions: hosted (cloud) and licensed.

To summarize

If you are a startup company, with a small number of sub-merchants, whose processing needs are more or less common, hosted solution is the best option for you. However, as your business grows, you can take your white label payment gateway solution “in-house” as an open-source-code product, and customize it according to all your new needs and requirements.

Feel free to contact our specialists at unipaygateway.com and learn, which white label payment gateway solution is an optimal one for your business.