21 Apr

5 Tips Memilih Mitra Pembayaran Online Yang Tepat

by Hestiana Larasati
Partner Engagement Manager in Midtrans

7839Views

The ever-growing opportunity to conduct a business in Indonesia has put pressure on business owners to acknowledge the importance of operating digitally. In addition to the high level of competition between businesses, owners are also expected to fulfill the increasing number of customer needs which are  correlated with the advancement of technology. 

In this digital era, business owners are faced with tough decisions in choosing the right payment gateway in which everyone wants to choose the safest option of payment gateway and avoid any kind of fraud. It is important to avoid fraud since it wouldn't just affect the business owners but also the customers. 

In order to avoid the aforementioned things, there are 5 tips which could be used as a reference in choosing the right partner for  payment gateway.

1. Ensure that the partner has the appropriate license.
As a provider for the payment gateway, they need to follow the regulations from Bank Indonesia as the regulator. One of them is by ensuring that the procedure of activating the merchant's payment gateway has followed all the requirements such as completing all the legal documents, ensuring the flow of transactions in e-commerce merchants is clear and how it would handle any transaction dispute. 

Those are important steps to understand how business works and finally ensuring the payment gateway is running smoothly by following the regulations from Bank Indonesia. Licensed payment gateway companies which are applying those procedures from Bank Indonesia will need a process to ensure that the activation of payment gateway in e-commerce is safe. 

Thus, it will significantly reduce the possibility of fraudulent transactions in the business owner platform and also to avoid any termination of payment method activation which is caused by the incomplete review process.

2. Not only the option of payment methods which comes in variation, ensure the market share too!
Nowadays, there are a lot of digital payment methods in Indonesia which have a lot of advantages for both the customers and business owners. With that being said, payment gateway companies are fighting to give integrated access with various payment methods. Business owners are then faced with the difficulties in choosing a partner for digital payment because almost every company has a different method. 

However, I do believe that business owners don’t need to create a big fuse in choosing the right partner. Although there are various methods, if the payment methods that they have used have reached a high amount of active users then it has reached the desired customers. 

From the marketshare perspective, business owners can also see whether a partner for the payment has provided the right method of payment which is aligned with the business. As an example, when you sell phone credits. Because the business is oftenly related to “instant” and most of the payment is at relatively cheap prices then it requires an instant payment method such as through e-money rather than paying in the minimarket. However, if the business is selling products with expensive and big prices then it requires method payment which could conduct layaway such as through credit card or virtual account which would suit the merchant.

3. Competitive price: Cheap is not always competitive, business owner need to think smartly
Since digital payment methods are rising, competition is also increasing thus it is increasing the possibility of turningover the prices in the beginning of the integration. Business owners need to think and prioritize cost and benefit which make affordable prices as one of the partnership requirements. 

However, business owners need to think about what are the aspects that they gain from the cost,  how the cost could be negotiated in the future and whether there will be any extra cost. 

Try to consider these 3 aspects when calculating the cost of operation with the chosen partner:

a. Cost per transaction
Whether the cost will be paid only when the transaction is successful or it covers when it fails. Does it include taxes? It also needs to be ensure that whether the cost already cover payment method such as bank, e-money or cashless credit.

b. Extra costs
Ensure that there are no hidden costs that need to be paid in the future. Also make sure about set-up fee, maintenance fee and others which could be an extra cost. If all the cost is an all-in cost then it would be advantageous to the business owner in which they don't need to think about any extra cost which might cost more if it is calculated.

c. Adjustment cost which might happen during the partnership
Talk with your partner on the possibility of adjusting cost during the ongoing partnership. The longer the partnership happens then adjusting cost could also happen.

4. Reliability
As a technology company that helps the process of digital payment, reliability is one of the most important factors.

Ensure that these points are covered by your trusted payment gateway partner. 

Uptime, how long does the payment gateway have a potential for downtime? Uptime is calculating the duration of how long a platform can be used. If a payment gateway is experiencing downtime frequently then it would affect the process of business.

TPS or Transaction Per Second, how much transaction can be processed in the span of one second. Why should we pay attention to TPS? Imagine when you have a promo and there are a lot of transactions, it would affect the customers’ trust toward the company when conducting the transaction.

License when processing sensitive transactions, There are a few licenses that payment gateway partners need to acknowledge. The first one is PCI-DSS which the payment system has fulfilled high safety requirements. The second is ISO which is an international standard that decides the requirements for building, operating, keeping, and developing the security system of the payment gateway. And the third is AES (Advanced Encryption StMerchantrd) which is a license that ensures that an organization will protect sensitive datas from fraud and access which couldn't be authorized.

5. Offered added value
This may sound trivial, but if your payment gateway partner has another advantage other than the primary flagship, I’m sure it will be their added value. Sometimes, added value outside the product and initial service have an important role in increasing transactions on the payment platforms or giving exposure to the relevant market. These are the examples of added value that you could ask to potential partner:

a. Support in conducting promos
If you want to conduct a promo with your partner then you can ask to them about the possibility of cooperating with promo partner such as bank or e-money provider.

b. Exposure through social media
If your partner could give support through exposure for the business such as through social media then it will attract more customers moreover if they already have a lot of followers.

c. Supporting educational and networking events with other business owners
Another added value that your partner can offer is the possibility of Learning through events which could collaborate with others or be made by yourself. In this event, business owners could learn how to increase sales or just networking in order to build the potential of doing cooperation in the future.

d. The availability of funds-out/disbursement as a complementary of the business owner needs
Not all payment gateway companies have funds-out facilities which is a method that allows business owners transferring to a lot of accounts with minimum effort. If your partner has this facility then it would make the process of end-to-end payment more efficient because the business owner wouldn't need to work with other vendors in regards to in and out payment. 

These are the basic tips in choosing the right partner for payment gateway. Have you experienced the aforementioned advantages? It is not too late to conduct a reassessment and choose the right partner for your business.