How to Accept Payments Online for Your SaaS

You need a reliable payment processing system in place to accept payments online for your SaaS platform. Think of monetizing your software, subscription billing, expanding your base globally, compliance, and other aspects. Whether you are an indie developer, a seasoned founder or just starting out – lets walk through your needs to provide a good experience for your shoppers. Continue reading for insights on managing subscriptions, accepting global payments, and strategies that may contribute to business growth.

When making your selection, consider the following:

1. Company Stage:  Are you just starting out as an Indie developer or do you already have a registered business? Consider that PSPs require a registered business, while PayPro Global does not. MoRs cater to enterprise SaaS with diverse customers, and individuals without a merchant account or registered business. To get started, you need a functional website with refund and privacy policy and terms of service in place. This way, you can reach international markets without an established local entity.
2. Developer Support: Is the level of technical support for assistance and troubleshooting adequate?
3. Compatibility: The processor should integrate with your website or app platform. (e.g. shopify, WooCommerce, Custom-Built)
4. APIs and SDKs: Are comprehensive APIs and SDKs to facilitate a smooth integration process offered?
5. Dunning Management: How will you handle failed payments and retries? A powerful dunning management system is needed to minimize involuntary churn. Does the processor offer personalized dunning emails and retry schedules?
6. Customer Billing Support: Is it provided 24/7 through various channels?
7. Customer Portal: Are you planning to provide a customer portal to self manage subscriptions, payment info updates and allow shoppers to view their billing history to decrease the burden on your support operations?
8. Data Protection: Choose a processor with the strictest security standards, especially PCI DSS compliance to safely hold customer financial details.
9. Fraud Prevention Tools: Check out the processor’s fraud detection and prevention features to be sure they offer address verification, CVV and velocity checks. 
10. Checkout customization:  Prioritize the solution with customization options and strong API’s, whether its a PSP or an MoR.
11. Supported payment methods: Consider customer preferences and ensure solution supports PayPal, major credit cards, and any region specific methods necessary for your market such as Alipay or Boleto. MoRs offer more payment methods than PSPs, with typical results of higher conversion rates and lower fees.
12. Fees: Assess all the fees associated with each processor, including transaction, payout, currency and any potential hidden fees. PSPs seem cost efficient, but consider the expenses of managing taxes, chargebacks, and compliance. Because MoRs handle these, they seem higher but save you money over the long run.
13. Business goals and scale: Plan on expanding internationally? A Merchant of Record will handle taxes, compliance, and cross border payments so you can work on scaling your business.

After you’ve decided on your processor, the next step is to create an account. You’ll likely need to provide your business info such as company name, website and contact details. Also possible is documentation like business registration, or tax ID.

Consider:

• Integration Options: Consider your integration options when creating your account. Processors may offer varying levels of integration options, such as pre-built integrations for popular e-commerce platforms (like Shopify or WooCommerce) or APIs and SDKs for custom development.
• Underwriting Process: Processors have underwriting protocols to assess the risk of your business. This involves reviewing your website, products and policies and can take days to weeks.
• Merchant Account: If you decide on a PSP, to receive the funds from the transactions, you’ll probably need a separate merchant account to take credit card payments. However, some PSPs may offer integrated merchant accounts for simplifying the setup process.

Depending on the payment solution you choose, the integration process will vary, though mainly this is the technical implementation. Look for developer support guides, documentation and code samples to utilize during this stage.

It’s possible you might need a developer to ensure a smooth transition. Some MoRs such as PayPro Global offer no-code integration as an alternative. 

This overview explains the steps involved:

Choose Integration Method: 

• Pre-built Integrations: To simplify the process use any available plugins or modules for 3rd parties such as WooCommerce or Shopify.

• API/SDK Integration: For custom-built platforms, utilize the payment processor’s API or SDK. This requires more technical expertise but offers greater flexibility.
• No-Code Integration: Some processors offer no-code solutions for easier setup.

Implement Checkout Flow: Create a user-friendly checkout page and Include fields for selecting payment methods, entering details, and confirming the purchase. Consider A/B testing different layouts for optimal conversion.

Transmit Payment Data: By using the API or SDK from the processor you can securely transmit payment data from your platform to the gateway. Be sure to encrypt this sensitive info to protect it from unauthorized access.

Handle Payment Responses: After the transaction is complete, the gateway sends a response to you. Add logic to direct successful and failed payments as well as any other responses needed.

Subscription Management: For your subscription-based services, ensure the integration supports recurring billing and automated renewals.

It’s possible you might need a developer to ensure a smooth transition. Some MoRs such as PayPro Global offer no-code integration as an alternative. 

After you are integrated with your payment gateway, configure your payment pricing and plans.

Defining Pricing Tiers: Set your pricing tiers, including the different feature sets, billion periods and usage limits.

Creating Subscription Plans: Arrange the subscription plans in your dashboard so that each corresponds to a precise tier. Include billing amount and frequency, trial periods and any other applicable feature.

Managing Discounts and Promotions: If offering promotions and discounts, format them in your settings. Remember offers such as coupons, percentage-based discounts and various trial periods.

Handling Upgrades and Downgrades: To manage your upgrades and downgrades within your SaaS, apply logic so customers can change their subscription plans.

Implementing Cross-Sells and Upsells: Showcase additional products that align with your main services. This could be add-ons, integrations, or related tools that enhance the user experience.

Methodically test your payment system to find and fix and issues before going live by creating a test plan that includes various scenarios, such as:

• Currencies: Test transactions in each currency option you have in your checkout.
• Payment Methods: Test each of the payment methods and credit cards you intend to offer. 
• Subscription Plans: Test all subscription tiers and renewal cycles.
• Edge Cases: Test for failed payments, refunds and chargebacks

Employ your solution once you are confident in the systems ability to reliably process your online payments.