What to assess.
WHAT TO COMPARE
Methods supported Pricing, including all components Settlement timing Reliability and status history Integration quality Support responsiveness Dispute handling
WHY SETTLEMENT TIMING MATTERS MORE THAN RATE
Cash flow affects a small business more than a fraction of a per cent.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH ABOUT RELIABILITY
Historical availability, published or observed What happens during an outage Whether a fallback exists
WHAT TO ASK ABOUT DISPUTES
Who bears chargeback losses What evidence is required What the process and timelines are
WHAT TO TEST BEFORE COMMITTING
The full integration, in a test environment The failure paths, not only success Support responsiveness, by asking something
WHAT TO READ CAREFULLY
Terms covering account suspension and fund holds.
WHY
Suspended settlement with funds held is an existential risk for a small business.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
Under what circumstances that happens, and what recourse exists.
WHAT TO PLAN
A second provider, integrated or integrable.
WHY
Provider outages happen, and a single provider is a single point of failure for revenue.
