Hello everybody,

I write this piece to help you all concerned.

I have worked in e-commerce industry in Europe and India for about 8 years.

You may call me a Consultant or your friend who would happily answer all your queries out of my experience whatever they are!

Lets start this first blog targeting Indian market.

There are tons of reviews on Indian payment Gateways; So what prompted me to write one more? Because I feel that many of the old reviews have become less relevant over a period of time and are just an overdose for the first timers. So I wanted to prepare a dummies guide after a personal experience with all major providers.

If you sell something on the internet, you need to have a payment gateway to collect money from your customers. Your payment gateway account enables you to accept payments by credit/debit cards, net-banking & cash cards. So what all options do we have here in India? Just a handful of them and sadly, none of them lives up to the expectations of a merchant.

Here is the list of parameters which are important for you to consider while selecting a payment gateway

The cost of a payment gateway

Most of the players require us to pay ‘Set-up fee’. (which ranges from 5000 to 50,000) And then they charge you a % on every transaction that happens over your e-commerce website (This is called TDR and ranges from 2.5% to 7%). TDR & set-up fee are inversely proportional to each other. They all offer multiple plans starting with low set-up fee+high TDR & others with high set-up fee+low TDR. In addition to TDR & set-up fee, they also charge you yearly Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC) which range from Rs. 1200/year to Rs. 3600/year.

The service & attitude

Opening a Payment gateway a/c is just like a bank a/c. From ensuring least hassle in opening the a/c to smooth operations later on; they should be accommodating and act reasonable with an understanding attitude. Well, I guess that would be too much to ask :)

User-interface of Payment Page

This is the only tangible element of a payment gateway provider service. And YOUR customers have to interact with this page to make the payment to you. So before you sign-up with anyone, make sure they have a good & simple-to-use payment page.

Other Basic things

There are other important basic things which even though are taken for granted, should be cross-checked with the provider that you are considering. For example - Multiple Payment Options, Stringent Fraud Check Processes, High Uptime, Reliable company / service provider, Sandbox environment, integration API,

Once you figure out the right payment gateway provider & plan for you, half the battle is won :) Then starts the real hassle to complete the loads of required paperwork. If performed at best possible speed, it shall take about 5-10 days to complete all formalities & get a payment gateway a/c. But its doesn’t end there yet! Initially, they allot you 2-3 options to collect payment & all other main options (like VISA & MASTERCARD) are activated later & may take up to a month.

So all of you planning to accept online payment on your ecommerce websites, you better start well in advance (at least 30-45 days before you actually want to start accepting it). I am not pointing-out at any provider or the lack of service. I strongly believe that everyone is doing their best they can in the given conditions & stipulations laid down by RBI.

I hope that helps

Your Mentor

Mike Pandey