Payment aggregator: pros, cons, and main features

In the modern world of blooming online payments, especially for high-risk businesses such as gambling, choosing a reliable and efficient payment solution is the key to success. Payment aggregators that combine multiple payment systems into a single interface are becoming an increasingly popular choice for entrepreneurs. However, it is worth saying that this solution has both advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take a closer look at them.

What payment aggregator means

Payment aggregator is a company that acts as an intermediary between merchant and payment systems. It ensures the receipt of payments from customers using various methods (cards, electronic wallets, cryptocurrency) and transfers them to the merchant account. The word "aggregator" comes from "aggregate", which means to combine or accumulate. Thus, an aggregator is literally a collection of various payment systems in one, but it is not a payment system itself. By acting as an intermediary, aggregators accumulate many payment streams for the merchant, making their life a bit easier. Because this way merchant does not need to integrate each payment system separately into own website. When working through an aggregator, it’s enough to make only one direct integration with it, and the rest is on the aggregator’s side.

When choosing a payment aggregator, the main factor to consider is the number of ready-made integrations and availability of necessary payment methods for a specific business. Often, aggregators specialize in certain regions and cover only them or mostly them, having rest of the world underserved. This should always be clarified before starting cooperation. Because a solid aggregator with 200+ integrations may not have a single one for you or just a few relevant. This case you don’t have any reason of working with it.

Pros and cons of working with an aggregator

The advantages of using a payment aggregator include:

• Aggregation itself: one aggregator can work with dozens and hundreds of payment systems, eliminating the need to conclude contracts and conduct integrations with each of them. You only need one integration and everything is set.
• Ease of integration: integrating an aggregator into a website or application usually happens quickly and without complex technical requirements.
• Security: aggregators guarantee payment security by using modern data protection methods. Good aggregators are always PCI DSS certified and have the latest fraud monitoring systems.
• Analytics: aggregators provide detailed payment statistics, helping businesses track metrics and make decisions. It is usually easier to sort analytics within one system than to collect it from a lot of sources.

However, worth remembering possible disadvantages of using a payment aggregator, which can quite become important factors. Among others, we highlight the main ones:

• Additional fees and charges: aggregators usually charge a fee for their services, which can a bit increase costs. Or not a bit.
• Technical dependence: business depends on the functionality of aggregator's system. If aggregator experiences system crash or DDOS attack, the entire payment processing can be stopped. Therefore, it is always better having a backup system for of such situations.
• Low level of adaptability: aggregators usually have one payment page and flow for all their merchants, that can limit further implementation of individual settings. In addition, unique technical capabilities required by a specific business may not be developed or take longer as such systems are often standard. Thus, what suits everyone may not suit you that well.
• Risk of blocking: in case of issues with payments or non-compliance with the rules of the aggregator, the merchant may be blocked. This can paralyze the entire system of receiving payments at once. Therefore, this imposes additional requirements on the merchant to follow the compliance rules of aggregator as well and check them out before signing the contract.

How to choose payment aggregator for high-risk business

The nature of high-risk business, which includes gambling, implies a number of features when choosing a payment aggregator. Among the factors to consider are aggregator's localization for target countries, presence and necessity of licenses or permits, quality of technical solution, level of customer support, as well as set of payment methods.

When choosing an aggregator for your business, you first need to determine your requirements: What payment methods do you need? Which countries do you plan to target? Are there any restraining factors from technical part — for example, software that the aggregator needs to be compatible with?

After that, you should study offers on the market and compare fees, functionality, reviews, and other parameters of different aggregators. Do not choose such an important partner in a hurry, and don’t rely on friend’s review or internet advertising. Be sure to order demo systems and try them in use together with your team members.

Technical professional of the company should participate in the process of choosing future aggregation partner. This will ensure that integration of aggregator with your website or application will be simple and fast. There are also many nuances in the process of operation. Therefore, before closing a deal, carefully study cooperation agreement and make sure that it does not contain discriminatory terms for you as a merchant. After evaluating all these factors, you can make a balanced decision and proceed to launch.

Payment aggregators are an effective tool for online business, especially for high-risk. But such cooperation should be seriously considered, evaluating all the pros and cons of working with an intermediary of this direction. 

When choosing an aggregator, take into account the nature of your business, its needs, and features. Never unquestioningly rely on the experience of competitors, because it is not always 100% relevant to your project, and it is better to evaluate aggregators on your own. If you are unsure which aggregator to choose and whether to work with any at all, order a consultation from Monoup. We will conduct a detailed analysis of your case, study all the possibilities, and offer the best options for saving budget and achieving the set goal.