How to Become a Payment Facilitator vs Payment Processor

Saturday, May 13 2023

Are you looking for some practical guidance on how to become a payment facilitator? Well, we’d tell you this first – it requires commitment, skills, and the ability to take a good amount of financial risk. If you’re someone willing to take the leap of faith, then this guide is just for you.

Remember, those that successfully navigate through the challenges, primarily financial, when on route to becoming payment facilitators enjoy great rewards.

In this detailed post, we will give you a bird’s-eye view of what you need to be a successful payment facilitator. Also, we will tell you some differences between payment facilitator vs payment processor. That said, let’s dive right in:

Payment Facilitator vs Payment Processor:

Before we dive into the ‘who and what’ of the payment facilitation, let’s talk about payment facilitator vs payment processor. This will ensure everybody reading this is on the same page. So, the main difference between both of these is how the merchant accounts are structured and organized.

With the payment facilitator or PayFac model, every user gets a sub-merchant ID. Each ID is directly registered under the master merchant account of the payment facilitator. This allows faster onboarding and greater control over your user’s experience. While this is a great way to eliminate the middlemen (ISOs), you will be responsible for directly dealing with an army of sub-merchants.
With the payment processor model, you need to rely on the Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs). They sell your payment solutions to the merchants. So instead of directly boarding the merchants via the PayFac model, you will have to add a layer of ISOs working under you, which means a few extra steps to take, ranging from hiring the ISOs to getting merchants onboard via them.

Now you know the basics of payment facilitator vs payment processor, we can move towards the topics you are the most interested in:

Who Can Become a Payment Facilitator?

Professional payment facilitators can remove most of the hurdles that arise when setting up customers for payment acceptance while also offering a closely integrated experience to users.

So if you’re a Point-of-sale systems provider, a merchant acquirer, or ISO, having a product/service you want to combine with the payment facilitation model, you are well-equipped to be a facilitator.

This is especially beneficial for ISOs working in a low-risk niche where they get recurring billing like property management. They can easily take the financial risk of becoming a payment facilitator.

How to Become a Payment Facilitator – Do You Have What it Takes?

Now that you know who can become a payment facilitator let’s talk about what it takes to be one. Remember, it’s not just an expensive area to step into; it also requires a wealth of knowledge and special skills to go through the process and build your payment facilitation business.

Therefore, unless you are an ISO, as mentioned above, you will be trying to learn the ropes of a very complex business model without the advantage of prior knowledge.

To help you understand things further, we have given a bird’s-eye view of things involved in the process:

You’ll have to register with four major card brands and make an annual fee payment
You will have to find and negotiate a processing agreement with a payment processor that’ll sponsor you in becoming a payment facilitator
You will have to develop policies for risk management and find capable people for managing it
You will have to set up a platform that’ll be used to run your business and manage all areas of payment processing, such as finding reports, transaction monitoring, etc. OR, you can connect with a company having a payment facilitation platform already
You will have to bring sub-merchants on board and start processing

Furthermore, it’s not a finite process that you need to go through once to become a payment facilitator. You will have to keep investing your time and money on an ongoing basis.

Keep in mind, when you’re operating as a payment facilitator, all the payments your sub-merchants process are your responsibility.

As for the cost, your initial investment would likely be in the six figures, and in the long run, you’ll have to spend even more than that.

Seems Challenging? Here’s a Simple Solution - Partner Up With a Payment Facilitator:

If you’re still reading this post, then it means you are looking for something that doesn’t come with so many roadblocks and requirements. Something that’s flexible and can help you become a payment facilitator without shelling out big bucks. Well, the great news is that there is a solution – partner up with a payment facilitator like Shaw Merchant Group.

With us as your reliable partner, you won’t have to go through the scary and overwhelming process mentioned above. You will not have to be responsible and accountable for hundreds of sub merchants. Also, you will get most of the benefits of a payment facilitator without having to be one from scratch.

Just partner with Shaw Merchant Group and use our registered payment facilitation platform. You can use it to establish your own unique offering in the market— no need to break your bank and set up everything from the scratch. We’ll help you set everything up at minimal costs while ensuring you enjoy most of the benefits of being a payment facilitator.

The gist is, with us on your side, you’ll be able to focus on your main business while also reaping the juicy benefits of operating as a payment facilitator.

Parting Words:

You can learn more about how to become a payment facilitator using Shaw Mrchant Groups's platform and save a lot of money and enjoy a range of benefits. Feel free to get in touch with us today – let’s make you a payment facilitator so you can enjoy more freedom and greater profits

Posted by: Scott Shaw AT 11:53 am | Permalink | Email

ISO Agent Partnership

Become a payment service provider today and take your business to the next level. If you are a sales-oriented individual with vast experience in the world of payment processing or you are a driven and motivated professional looking for a new challenge, the SMG ISO agent program might be a great fit for you. With the highest paying commission structure in the industry, superior products, and sales support, our program will see to it that you are rewarded for your efforts.

For anyone with a sales background or a passion for the payments industry, SMG is the ideal partnership. There are dozens of reasons to become a sales partner with Shaw Merchant Group, but don’t just take our word for it. Here are some of the top reasons that we were given when we asked our ISO agent participants why they chose us and why they continue to work with our highly lucrative program.

Sales Partner Portal

With our industry leading partner portal, you’ll have access to online enrollment, training sessions, marketing materials, and you’ll always be ahead of the game with the latest news and promotions.

Alerts

Stay up-to-date on merchant issues and their resolutions via automated emails and text messages that include a detailed ticket number describing what the merchant’s concern was and how it was resolved.

Registered DBA (White Label)

With our program, you’ll be able to market under your own brand, without paying costly fees! Your brand will be seen on the partner portal, marketing communications, merchant statements, and more.

Free Equipment for Your Merchants

Selling businesses on a new processing plan is much easier when you are able to effortlessly jump over the hurdle of the cost of the equipment. With this program, you can offer your clients free equipment that they will need for their processing provider change. This lowers the barrier to switching and creates a higher conversion rate for you.

Lifetime Passive Income

You will recieve 50–70% of residual income based on the pay structure you select. You will share income on every available revenue stream. With SMG, you get a True Interchange Revenue Split. Unlike other ISO agent programs, there is no basis points off the top for BIN sponsorship or for what they call hidden losses. Our sales partners earn more residual income with our 50/50 partner program than you would with our competition who claim to offer a higher percentage because thier interchange cost (buy rate) is higher.

$20K Performance Bonus

We offer a performance-based fast start bonus that is payable for anyone that onboards more than the standard threshold of clients in the first 4 months. This program is designed to reward those experienced sales members that join our team and quickly learn how to sell this product. The bonus can reach up to $20,000, making it one of the most lucrative and competitive in the industry.

Profitability Based Bonuses

We will look at how much profit is generated on the account after they have been processing for one month and you earn 14 times of the total profit. Example: If we retain $100 in residuals in that month, the bonus would be 14 x $100 or $1,400. You would have already been paid $600, so we would pay you an additional $800 on that account. This bonus is capped at a max of $10,000 per merchant per location. With our dual pricing program it is easier than ever to earn huge bonuses with a 14x profitability bonus. This dual pricing model enables you to maximize your bonus at $10,000 on almost every merchant processing over $90k.

Dual Pricing Program

When you are selling merchant services, one of the best assets of any partner program is more rewards and incentive programs that save your client money. The Edge dual pricing program is one of the hottest new commodities in credit card processing, as it is designed to save the client thousands of dollars in credit card processing cost, instead passing on the fee to the consumer in a way that isn’t damaging to their own conversion rate and revenue. We offer this program to our clients and make it easy to understand and present for our sales partners.

Medical Benefits

With some sales jobs, you don’t even have the option for medical coverage. With the SMG ISO agent program, you’ll have the resources that you need to provide healthcare coverage to you and your family at an affordable rate. We take care of our own, and when you are in our program you will have access to these benefits.

White Label ISO Program

Grow Your Merchant Services ISO with White-Label Payment Solutions

As an independent sales organization (ISO), you can upgrade your business by providing merchant processing services under your own brand. You may dismiss the idea at first, probably thinking that you don’t have the infrastructure or expertise to become a payment processing company. However, with white label payment processing, all you really need is a good ISO partner.

How a White Label ISO Program Works

To offer payment processing services under your own brand, your ISO partner will provide you with an online application page that doesn’t identify their company. This “white label” solution is ready for your brand and includes your logo, colors, and contact information, so your merchants only identify the payment solutions with your company. It eliminates any confusion among your merchant customers about who their service provider and primary contact should be. Your brand is the only thing the merchant will see on your website, merchant portal, and marketing materials.

Your payments ISO partner becomes a silent partner, providing technology, payments functionality, and services. This puts you in more control, allowing you to deliver seamless, consistent customer experiences in all interactions – and enhance your brand’s reputation. With this white label payment solution, you won’t need to overcome negative perceptions a prospect may have about the company your working with. This is because you are creating a unique customer experience. Better still, you don't have to fall in line with another company's existing customer experience.

Once you start providing white label payment processing services, you will also find that you build stronger, longer lasting relationships with your merchants. They'll begin to view you as a payments expert and an expert in the other solutions you provide. You may even find you are able to grow your customer base, as merchants in every vertical or niche can benefit from accepting payments, enabling you to market to more types of businesses.

Remember: white label payment processing enables you to earn huge residual income.

Our White Label Program Will Save You Thousands in Fees

Put your brand on merchant statements and applications — build your brand with your sub-agents and merchants. Full white label payment solution with your logo and branding on applications, statements, online enrollment, merchant and partner portals.

We at Shaw Merchant Group have an awesome white label solution. There is no huge package of documents for you to fill out, no approval process by Visa and Mastercard and the sponsor banks, and best of all no annual dues. Here are some details on the “White Label ISO” program:

Roughly 4–5 weeks to fully set up once we get the signed license document back.
Executed addendum from you saying it’s OK for us to use your brand too.
This program can run on our standard schedule A’s with bonus and free equipment and has no other obligations. from you other than the standard agent agreement.
When we set up the DBA you will have access to EPX/BMO Harris for submitting merchants under your brand.

What do we brand?

Paper Applications
Online Applications (Simplified Enrollment)
Partner.PaymentsHub for your back office.
PaymentsHub for your merchants — It’s generic when your merchant logs in and then show your brand once inside.
Merchant Support Email — TMS (ticket management system) which emails you and your merchant each time we speak with your merchant and shows the proper brand in the notice and as the from address on the email.
Merchant Support Phone — Our call centers answer with a generic “merchant services” then once they have the MID identified, they represent your brand.
Deployment Packages — Generic boxes and welcome docs inside with proper brand.

What we need:

A letter authorizing EPX to register your DBA on your company letterhead.
A high resolution image of your company logo.
A certificate of good standing from the state you are registered in. It may not be called a certificate of 'good standing' in some states.
The ISO Branding request form.

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