Payment solutions are ubiquitous and no entrepreneur can imagine doing business without them. Unsurprisingly, the owners and operators of such solutions make huge profits. The payment solutions market is expected to exceed $192 billion by 2030. In such conditions, the question of how to launch a PSP becomes a very lucrative option.
At the same time, many people are afraid of failing to cope with this task due to the fact that it is a complicated process that requires a lot of time and money. But what if we told you there is a way of launching a PSP business in minimum time and with a moderate budget?
For example, a significant amount of money can be saved at the stage of choosing a technical infrastructure organization model. You can build it from scratch, which is long and expensive, or you can choose a white-label solution. The latter will be set and ready to go, and all you have to do is add your brand and customize it if necessary.
Next, you can reduce the initial costs even more by choosing a SaaS payment gateway deployment model instead of on-premise. If speed and budget are your priority, the SaaS option will help you get up and running as soon as possible. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each model and find out how to choose the right vendor.
How to Start a White Label PSP: On-premise vs. SaaS solution
To understand how to launch a PSP let’s look at the differences of the most common models of white-label solutions deployment, namely on-premise and SaaS.
On-premise
- One-time payment. You pay for the product once without having to constantly budget for license renewal. At the same time, the initial costs will be much higher than in the SaaS model.
- Using the client’s infrastructure. All data is stored on your own servers, which raises the infrastructure cost considerably but may be advisable in terms of security.
- Slow onboarding. Purchasing and setting up infrastructure can take a significant amount of time and will be a few months at best. This will increase time-to-market and may be unacceptable if you are on a tight deadline and need to start generating revenue as soon as possible.
- System administration and technical support. You need to hire a whole team of experts to keep your system up and running smoothly. Finding and hiring these experts can take a significant time and become a major expense.
SaaS
- Low initial cost. You only need to pay for a license and then you get access to the full set of features. You can immediately start working with the software and recoup its cost.
- Lower infrastructure and security costs. Most of these issues remain on the vendor’s side. They deploy the system on their infrastructure compliant with PCI DSS Level 1. You only have to pay a transaction fee and an infrastructure rental fee.
- Deployment, branding, and configuration of payment gateway. The vendor is interested in getting you up and running as soon as possible. That’s why they will do everything possible to help you with branding, launching your own PSP, and mastering the solution.
- Payment providers integration. The vendor will take care of integration with payment providers and help with merchant onboarding to ensure the fastest possible launch.
- Increased transaction approval. SaaS platforms have a number of useful features, such as smart routing and cascading, that increase the number of successful transactions.
Key Stages Of Starting a PSP Business
So, having determined the software distribution model for launching your own PSP business, you should start implementing your plan. Here are the key steps to deploying a SaaS white-label payment gateway.
Choose SaaS white-label solution
Wondering how to start a white label PSP, first and foremost, you need to decide on a vendor. Read reviews, ask what companies in your niche are already using, and do some research. There are quite a few solutions on the market that may work for you. In general, your choice will most likely fall on one of these companies.
- Akurateco – a powerful payment orchestrator with strong security and customization options.
- Ikajo – a payment gateway that supports over 100 payment methods and different payment verification scenarios.
- PayPipes – a payment gateway with extensive functionality including data analytics modules, payments API, virtual terminal, tokenization, and the ability to pay by link.
- Magnius – nice solution with separate environments for testing and production. It supports integration with third-party PSPs and acquirers.
- Corefy – another payment orchestrator with quite rich functionality and add-ons. However, the initial fee is quite high.
- Decta – an end-to-end solution from the acquirer of the same name. As such, the solution does not offer integration with other acquirers.
- eComCharge – this solution offers only on-premise model. At the same time, the solution itself is quite flexible and offers a choice of 50+ banks and alternative payment systems.
- Boxopay – one of the best ones in the market. Boxopay offers rich customization options, multi-currency, back office, high security, and compliance with all regulatory standards. Fees are charged in the form of a small amount for each successful transaction.
Software installation and configuration
Once you have selected a vendor, you should contact them and arrange to get started. The vendor will do everything necessary to make the software work and explain how to start a payment processing company quickly and efficiently. The SaaS solution must be deployed using an isolated cloud infrastructure compliant with all regulatory requirements including PCI DSS Level 1 certification. Ultimately, your branding is added to the platform and then the software is ready to go and has the same features as your on-premises system.
Integration Setup and Launch
To get fully operational, you will also need to integrate with payment providers. If you have chosen a good solution, the vendor will accomplish this point on their own and guide you on your way to starting a PSP business through the merchant onboarding process.
Ongoing software support
When everything is ready to go live, all that’s left to do is to ensure that the software runs smoothly and update it as needed. Good vendors have their own support team always ready to help and do several releases a month with updates and fixes.
How to Launch a PSP: What to Consider When Choosing a Vendor
So, the fastest and most effective way how to launch a PSP business is the white-label solution. But if there are many offers on the market, how to choose the best one? There are a number of key factors that are definite green flags on your way.
- The ability to transition to an on-premise model over time. Of course, the SaaS model allows you to get up and running quickly with minimal cost. However, a really good vendor will give you the option to move to an on-premise model over time. This may be appropriate when your business is fully operational and it becomes important for you to have full control over it. In this case, the vendor’s team should provide a turnkey transition.
- Favorable cost. When starting your own payment processing company focus on the vendor that offers you the most favorable terms. This includes free software deployment and customization. Also, to have a truly effective revenue-to-cost ratio look for a SaaS vendor that requires a monthly fee that includes payment only for successfully processed transactions.
- Free software support and upgrades. For the most efficient use of your money, it’s best to choose a vendor that includes support and upgrades in the monthly fee. That way, you can focus on more important things and better understand what the solution fees are made up of.
- Ability to develop custom integrations (connectors). While most solutions have a number of pre-built integrations, they may not be sufficient for your specific needs. Look for vendors that can provide the missing integrations, even if you don’t have a need for them yet.
- Ability to develop custom features. A really good vendor gives clients the ability to customize the solution to meet their needs. Customization is an extremely important factor that will allow you to realize your business vision and operate in a highly competitive environment.
- Ability to develop a business model not only for the PSP but also for the orchestrator. Payment orchestrators are more comprehensive solutions that allow you to redirect transactions if something goes wrong. When you start your own payment processing company it’s best to look for a vendor that offers services for both payment gateways and orchestrators if you want to evolve your business in the future.
- Advanced features. You are interested in a vendor that offers a solution with the most advanced technology solutions to maximize audience reach. This could include multi-currency, VTS, Apple Pay, Google Pay, high-risk payments, OCT payments, AFT payments, dynamic descriptor, recurring payments, and more.
