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Insights and Expertise
ChapterTitle

StreetSmarts SM

Stop missing out on cross-border payments

By Allen Kopelman Stop multiple IDs
Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. Stripe and other companies give customers a single mer-
chant ID to process local and international payments.
ho's processing cross-border payments cur- We need to do the same. Intelligent routing technologies
rently? Shopify, Stripe, Ayden, Checkout, would enable us to create a single merchant ID for all
and the latter two are new to the U.S. mar- transactions. These technologies use algorithms, data and
W ket. These providers do it all in one service, AI that run in the background, directing each transaction
using smart payment routing to enable consumers to pay to the best possible payment processor, gateway or acquir-
in their preferred local currencies. ISOs need to build ing bank.
these capabilities in a hurry because these companies are
eating our lunch. Smart routing capabilities dynamically assess transac-
tions by amount, currency, location, card type, issuer
At a time when anyone with a merchant account can sell bank behavior, regulatory environments, degree of risk
to anyone anywhere in the world, it's high time that ISOs and per-transaction fees. All of this happens instantly
and merchant level salespeople (MLSs) get into the cross- and invisibly, creating a better experience for everyone in
border game. With better technology, we can control our the chain, from processor and acquirer to merchant and
destiny and create a more level playing field. consumer.
Stop outsourcing Stop losing chargebacks

Outsourcing doesn't work. I have not found a cross-bor- No merchant should be afraid of accepting foreign credit
der service provider that will pay more than 25 percent cards in the 21st century; we need to do a better job of
on the whole merchant account. MLSs are losing on these helping them manage risk. The card brands have always
accounts, and it's hard to get merchants that do a lot of said we're in a global economy, but they don't treat charge-
international payments to switch from Stripe and other backs that way. If a U.S. merchant accepts a card from an-
market-leading providers. other country and the cardholder initiates a chargeback,
there is a zero to one percent chance of that merchant re-
Outsourcing is clunky. Bolting on a third-party service covering the funds.
provider and requiring merchants to toggle between lo-
cal and international processing accounts and apps is not I had a merchant sell $20,000 of makeup to a company
ideal. It reminds me of the old mail order/telephone order in Japan, and the company claimed it never received the
(MO/TO) days when merchants used separate accounts package. My merchant had proof of delivery. It didn't mat-
and devices to process MO/TO transactions. ter. The chargeback went through anyway, and that was
that. I've seen this happen again and again, especially
here in South Florida where international tourists buy
things in person, which are not as easy to charge back as

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