The right payment gateway can raise conversion, cut fees and save hours of reconciliation. Use this checklist to compare providers with confidence.
Look beyond the headline rate. Compare flat-rate and interchange-plus options, and ask about monthly fees, chargeback fees, refund fees, PCI fees and early termination fees. Model your total cost on a realistic month of transactions. See how Durango Merchant Services prices.
Make sure the gateway supports all major card brands and the wallets your customers use, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. If you sell on subscription, recurring support is essential.
Check for plugins for your platform, a hosted checkout for quick setup and a well-documented API for custom builds. Good sandbox tools save weeks. Integrations.
Tokenization and hosted fields reduce how much card data touches your systems — and your compliance burden. Payment security.
Look for risk scoring, custom rules, 3-D Secure, AVS/CVV and protection against card testing. Fraud protection.
Ask how the provider helps reduce false declines — network tokens, account updater and clear decline codes all help.
Cash flow matters. Compare standard payout timing and whether faster funding is available. Payouts.
You should be able to trace every payout to individual transactions, fees and refunds, and export data for your accounting software.
If you sell online and in person, one provider for both simplifies reporting and customer service. POS payments.
Find out how to reach support, how quickly they respond, and whether you're locked into a long contract.
| Question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What's my all-in effective rate? | Reveals hidden fees |
| How do I handle chargebacks? | Disputes cost time and money |
| Can I leave without a penalty? | Avoids lock-in |
| Who do I call when payments fail? | Downtime is lost revenue |
It depends on your business, but total cost, integration fit, security and approval rates usually matter most.
Flat rate is simpler for low volume; interchange-plus is usually cheaper as volume grows.
Tell us about your business — we'll prepare a quote and a setup plan.