Multi-Acquiring

Routing

In a multi-acquirer environment, merchants often face the burden of integrating with multiple channel entities to handle different payment types, brands, and regions. This creates operational complexity, slows down innovation, and increases maintenance overhead.

The Simplified Approach: One Merchant Entity, Intelligent Routing

By integrating once with a single merchant entity ID, merchants can delegate the complexity of orchestration to the platform. Channel Routing intelligently directs transactions to the right channel entity ID based on:

• Card brand (e.g., Visa, MasterCard, Amex)
• Payment type (e.g., authorization, debit/sale, credit/refund)

This removes the need for merchants to manage multiple integrations and lets the platform handle the orchestration dynamically.

Routing Use Cases - Real-World Scenarios

Routes transactions to specific channels based on predefined criteria, such as card brand or payment type.

Routing Enables Full Orchestration

Once routed to the appropriate channel, the platform can:

• Dispatch the transaction to the best acquirer based on BIN, geography, or ticket size.
• Apply Smart Retry or Authorization Optimization if the acquirer is temporarily down or declines the transaction.

This layered orchestration is only possible when the merchant integrates once and lets the platform handle the rest.

Conclusion

Channel routing is a key enabler of smart payment orchestration. By routing transactions based on brand or payment type, merchants can optimize costs, improve approval rates, and reduce complexity—all through a single integration. This approach ensures efficient, resilient, and scalable payment processing in a dynamic eCommerce landscape.

Dispatching

Dispatching is the process of selecting the best merchant account (MID) to process a transaction once it reaches a payment channel — whether it got there through routing or was sent directly. Its purpose is to ensure that each transaction is handled by the most suitable acquirer, based on a set of business rules and real-time conditions. This helps merchants:

• Optimize costs by choosing acquirers with better rates for specific card types or regions.
• Improve approval rates by sending transactions to acquirers with stronger performance for certain banks or shopper profiles.
• Balance load across multiple MIDs to avoid overloading a single acquirer.
• Manage risk by directing high-risk transactions to acquirers with advanced fraud protection.

In short, dispatching gives merchants fine-grained control over how transactions are processed — without needing to hard-code logic or manage multiple integrations manually.

Dispatching Use Cases – Real-World Scenarios

How It Works

Dispatching is triggered when a transaction reaches a payment channel—either through routing or direct targeting. The system then evaluates dispatching rules in a specific order to determine the best merchant account for processing.

Global Dispatching Rules (Evaluated First)

Executed first, one rule at a time, in strict priority order (1 to 4), across the hierarchy: Channel → Merchant → Division → PSP

1. Payment Type Dispatching – Based on transaction type (e.g., credit / refund, direct debit / credit transfer, online transfer).
2. Shopper Type Dispatching – Distinguishes between first-time and returning shoppers.
3. Recurring Dispatching – Routes based on recurring vs. one-time transactions.
4. Ticket Size Dispatching – Based on the transaction amount.

Global rules evaluate the entire hierarchy one rule at a time, stopping as soon as a match is found. If no match is found for any global rule, local rules are evaluated next.

Local Dispatching Rules (Evaluated After Global)

Executed only if no Global rule results in a match. Local rules are evaluated in order of priority at each level of the hierarchy:

1. Merchant Account Velocity Dispatcher – Limits volume per MID over time.
2. Clearing Institute Velocity Dispatcher – Controls volume per clearing institute.
3. BIN Range and BIN Country Dispatching – Routes based on card BIN or issuing country.
4. Weight Dispatcher – Prioritizes MIDs to influence distribution.

Local rules evaluate all rules at each level (Channel → Merchant → Division → PSP) before moving up. If a match is found, that merchant account is used. If no match is found at any level, the system selects a random merchant account attached to the same channel that matches the required configuration (e.g., brand, currency).

Conclusion

Dispatching plays a critical role in optimizing how transactions are processed across multiple merchant accounts. By applying prioritized rules to select the best-fit acquirer, it helps merchants improve approval rates, control costs, and manage risk—automatically and efficiently. It’s a key component of a smart, scalable payment orchestration strategy.

Smart Retry

Smart Retry is an intelligent payment optimization feature that automatically retries failed transactions using fallback acquirers or modified transaction parameters. Its goal is to increase payment success rates, reduce friction, and improve customer experience by adapting to the reasons behind transaction failures.

How It Works

Smart Retry identifies the reason for a transaction failure and applies a retry strategy based on:

• Type of decline (e.g., soft vs. hard).
• Fallback acquirers with better acceptance profiles.
• Authentication enhancements (e.g., adding Strong Customer Authentication data when required).

Top 2 Real-World Use Cases

Business Model Adaptation

• Global Acquirer: Retry failed transactions with a global acquirer when local acquirers decline.
• High-Risk Profiles: Use fallback acquirers with greater flexibility for high-risk transactions.

Understanding Bank Rejects

Soft Bank Rejects

• Issue: Temporary issues that can be retried immediately.
• Example: Payment fails due to a temporary connection issue. Smart Retry resubmits the transaction.

Hard Bank Rejects

• Issue: Permanent failures that should not be retried until resolved.
• Example: Payment declined because the card is reported stolen. Do not retry until resolved with the issuing bank.

Smart Retry is particularly effective for handling soft bank rejects, increasing the likelihood of successful payment completion.

Conclusion

Smart Retry is a strategic tool that enhances payment resilience and customer satisfaction. By intelligently handling failed transactions—especially soft declines—it ensures higher conversion rates, fewer lost sales, and a smoother checkout experience. Businesses leveraging Smart Retry can adapt to global payment complexities, reduce friction, and build trust with their customers.

Strategy Stacking

In a multi-acquirer environment, optimizing payments requires more than isolated tactics. Strategy stacking brings together distinct orchestration layers—each with a specific role in the transaction journey. By aligning routing, dispatching, and smart retry, merchants can create a seamless, intelligent flow that adapts to real-time conditions and business priorities.

Orchestration Strategies Overview

Strategy	Description	When to Use
Channel Routing	Directs transactions to the appropriate payment channel (entity ID) based on brand or payment type.	To simplify integration, optimize cost, and segment traffic by brand/type.
Dispatching	Selects the best merchant account (MID) within a channel using prioritized business rules.	To optimize approval rates, manage risk, and control processing costs.
Smart Retry	Retries failed transactions using fallback acquirers after a decline.	To recover from soft declines and temporary issues without user disruption.

Combining Strategies for Robust Multi-Acquiring

Combined Strategy	Description	When to Use
Channel Routing + Dispatching	Routes transactions to the right channel, then selects the best MID using business rules.	When you want centralized integration with granular control over processing.
Dispatching + Smart Retry	Selects the best MID, and if the transaction fails, retries with a fallback acquirer.	When optimizing for approval and ensuring recovery from soft declines.
Channel Routing + Smart Retry	Routes to the right channel, and retries failed transactions with fallback acquirers.	When simplifying integration and ensuring resilience against acquirer failures.
Channel Routing + Dispatching + Smart Retry	Full orchestration: route to the right channel, dispatch to the best MID, and retry if needed.	When you need end-to-end optimization for cost, risk, and success rates.