If you run a travel-related business, you will be assigned a specific merchant category code known as MCC 4722. This code represents the specific risks and challenges associated with the travel industry. From how customers receive credit card rewards to the payment processing fees you pay, this code can affect all aspects of your payment […]

No matter what type of business you operate, payment failures are bound to happen. By being strategic about how you approach these failures, you can recuperate lost revenue. Failed transactions can lead to a higher churn rate, so companies need the right retry strategy to process these payments. With cascading payments, transactions can be distributed […]

With a standard payment processor, you can expect 99.9% uptime. This works out to 43 minutes of downtime or less each month. However, top-tier payment processors experience just five minutes of downtime each year. Even with the best processors, downtime can still happen. When a payment processor outage does occur, the costs can quickly add […]

Whenever a payment fails, a decline reason code is created that explains the exact failure reason. These codes can vary between payment processors, although many processors use the same ISO 8583 codes used by Visa and Mastercard.  As a merchant, understanding these codes is essential for authorization optimization. Once you understand why transactions are declined, […]

As a merchant, your cash flow can quickly take a hit if you are only accepting a handful of payment methods. Today’s shoppers use buy now, pay later (BNPL), digital wallets, cash, cryptocurrency, and cards to pay for their transactions. If you don’t have the capacity to accept multiple payment methods, it’s going to quickly […]

Accepting payments isn’t as straightforward as just handing over cash. With credit cards, debit cards, and mobile payments, an entire web of interactions takes place in the background each time a card is swiped. Besides the basic transaction processing, this network of activity also works to inspect for fraud, authenticate the payment information, verify that […]

When someone swipes their card, an entire web of activity starts to occur behind the scenes. Payment gateways, issuers, and acquirers work together to authenticate and approve the transaction so that it can be processed. While many transactions begin when a customer swipes a card or pushes a button, this isn’t true in every case. […]

From changing regulations to cross-border fees, there are many payment processing challenges that can impact your acceptance rates, overall costs, and network reliability. Smart payment routing is essential for facing these obstacles.  Intelligent payment routing allows you to optimize your payment routing so that transactions go to the best possible provider. The routing considers important […]

When someone swipes a card, an intricate sequence of steps is instantly carried out. For the payment to go through, it must be authorized, captured, and settled.  Payment authorization is a critical step in the transaction process. It is essentially where the issuer says that the transaction can go through. If there are insufficient funds, […]

According to one study, around 11% of e-commerce transactions fail each year. Meanwhile, chargebacks annually cost merchants around $117.47 billion.  While your payment processing tools might be out of sight and out of mind, they can have a real impact on your company’s bottom line. High decline rates, chargebacks, customer abandonment, and fraud can add […]