Explore Robust Adyen Merchant of Record Alternatives 2024
Before delving deep into the Adyen merchant of record alternative, it must be clarified that the one thing that a thriving business absolutely needs today is a robust payment processor that handles all its payment woes without any burden on the end consumer. And this is a feature which Adyen provides fairly masterfully as part of its suite of services.
Yet as businesses expand, their needs grow too and for many Adyen may no longer be the most suited option. In this blog, we will be addressing the concerns of these businesses. In the first section of the blog we will be understanding the Adyen merchant of record, highlight some of its key features, and then flag where Adyen may be lacking. This will be followed with the second section in which a list of Adyen’s alternatives will be provided. In the third section, we will then talk about SubscriptionFlow and how having just the right merchant of record service helps in integrating it seamlessly with your subscription-management software.
Read more: Unify Your eCommerce Operations: Adyen-Shopify Integration
Section 1: Understanding Adyen Merchant of Record
What is a merchant of record? How can it be of help to a business?
A merchant of record is a third party which handles all your payment-related problems and logistics on your behalf. You literally just pay them, and they do all the rest. Some of the things that a merchant of record handles on your behalf are as follows: it processes all transactions for you (this is why companies like Adyen that offer merchants of record services also usually function as a payment gateway) and it manages all the taxes on the transaction on your behalf, including the ones that are region/country specific.
Putting it even more simply, the following are a list of features that a merchant of record offers:
1. Being the initial point of contact for assisting shoppers.
2. Overseeing transactions, disputes, and cancellations and/or refunds.
3. Aiding in resolving financial disputes.
4. Vigilantly monitoring products and services to ensure compliance with legality, prohibitions, and authenticity.
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Reviewing Adyen Merchant of Record
One of the biggest reason why businesses flock to Adyen is because they wish to expand into international markets. This is because Adyen is particularly adept at simplifying the process of offering a hyper-simplified shopping experience for all markets, irrespective of their local demands and tax regulations.
Cons:
Adyen users have been flagging a few problems that they have been having with it that are as follows:
1. There have been issues reported with Adyen’s resolution of disputes and its customer services. An example of this is a few customers reporting that their funds were not processed thoroughly, which caused immense dissatisfaction with their customers to the point where they had to constantly pose follow-up questions to Adyen’s customer care. All of this was a cause of great stress.
2. Another con of Adyen that is actually common amongst most of its competitors as well is that it levies an unavoidable monthly minimum fee that could be prohibitively expensive for smaller companies or those with variable transaction volumes. This requirement may result in needless spending, particularly in times of slow sales.
3. Lastly, Adyen might not be the best option for businesses that deal with high-risk customers, like those in sectors where chargebacks and fraudulent activity are common. High-risk businesses may find it difficult to be accepted on the platform due to strict criteria or limitations, which may drive them to look for other payment processing options.
Pros:
1. As opposed to this, many users have highlighted that they have benefited tremendously from Adyen’s capabilities of preventing fraud and managing risks for its clients. All of this was made possible by Adyen having implemented a new feature of combining AI-powered machine learning with actual human skills to ensure that their transactions were safeguarded.
2. Adyen makes sure that different regulatory requirements are followed, such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance, PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliance, and other local laws.
3. Adyen uses highly developed risk management tools to reduce the likelihood of chargebacks and fraud, shielding retailers from monetary losses.
4. With its solid APIs and developer-friendly tools, Adyen’s MOR service easily integrates with current e-commerce platforms.
Read more: Adyen vs Square–Exploring the Ultimate Payment Gateway
Section 2: Understanding the Alternatives to Adyen
Now, after having gone through the list of features offered by Adyen, evaluating them all on the basis of them either being its pros or cons, we will now parse through a list of Adyen merchant of record alternatives to help you decide what to shift to. The following options will be discussed in this section:
2. Stripe
3. FastSpring
4. Lemon Squeezy
1. SubscriptionFlow
SubscriptionFlow offers merchant of record services on top of being a robust subscription management solution. Using your subscription-management platform as your merchant of record has many benefits for subscription-based businesses. It saves you from the uninspiring, cumbersome, and time-consuming tasks of handling your payments and subscriptions to this software and instead focusing on improving your offered products. SubscriptionFlow offers:
1. Recurring billing, invoicing & payment automation.
2. Automated payment retries & dunning management.
3. Multi-currency support.
4. Optimization of customer subscription journeys.
5. Compliance liability.
6. Tax management.
7. Cross border payment processing.
8. Local payment methods
9. Multiple payment gateway integrations.
Utilizing SubscriptionFlow merchant of record results in efficient operations and mitigated compliance risks. It holds itself financially liable for any disputes or chargeback issues with the end consumer. Let us now dig into why you should choose SubscriptionFlow as an alternative to Adyen.
Why Choose a SubscriptionFlow’s Merchant of Record?
SubscriptionFlow does not restrict you to the Adyen payment gateway when it comes to collecting payments. Instead integrate with multiple payment gateways and collect payments globally in multiple currencies. It also provides self-serve checkout functionality and localized custom B2B quotes and invoicing. This helps with assisting in making payments across more than 240 countries/territories worldwide. It is also number one in terms of customizability.
Adyen is popular in the European region, but SubscriptionFlow can handle local tax and compliance regulations & supply payment methods for countries that extend beyond the EU.
2. Stripe
Stripe also offers merchant of record services on top of being a payment gateway. It does that by holding itself financially liable for any mishaps in the transactions that are being carried out by the end consumer on checkout webpage of your e-business. That said, let us now dig into why you should choose Stripe as an alternative to Adyen.
Why Choose a Stripe Merchant of Record?
Simply put, many businesses have reported a great degree of satisfaction with Stripe and its handling of their payments. This has been especially true of those businesses that have had to deal with issues of tax collection, compliance management, conversion of currency, and the handling of chargeback.
This is owing to Stripe’s skillful handling of all the disparate local regulations of different countries and their tax laws. An example of this can be the European Union, where despite being a single market, each of its 27 member states nonetheless has different rules and regulations that companies must adhere to if they are to operate without facing litigation in that country.
3. FastSpring
Those businesses which are looking for endless customizability, FastSpring is the way to go. It offers versatile support for a lot of payment models, including one-time purchases, recurring payments, subscriptions, and trials, both with and without payments.
Furthermore, FastSpring’s localization capabilities are made possible with its JavaScript library that specifically alters your storefront and shopping cart according to your preferences. Doing this and by utilizing its robust checkout localization options such as supporting over 20 languages to have your storefront’s page in, you can ensure that your digital presence is felt in across the globe.
4. Lemon Squeezy
This is a merchant of record that is most suited for those businesses that do not have a large enough budget to afford Stripe but still require enough of similar services. Lemon Squeezy is also suited for those businesses that mostly offer digital services. It does that by taking on responsibility for the financial aspects of online transactions, including tax collection, compliance with regulations, and handling chargebacks and refunds (like the other merchants of record on this list).
Yet where it edges out its competition is in the ease of setting up and managing SaaS subscription plans. It streamlines everything by neatly arranging your products in the dashboard, API and storefront. This has proven to be especially fruitful for those businesses that offer a variety of services and goods.
However, there are some considerations to keep in mind. While Lemon Squeezy takes on the responsibility of financial transactions, businesses may have less control over the customer payment experience. This is true for all merchants of records, but since Lemon Squeezy is still expanding and developing its features, it may be a bigger risk to trust this much responsibility on Lemon Squeezy.
Conclusion:
When exploring Adyen merchant of record alternatives, it is vital assess your needs. Adyen effectively manages the complexities of cross border payments without imposing burdens on consumers and businesses alike. Nevertheless, as businesses grow, their demands evolve, prompting the search for solutions that may prove to be a better fit.
To cap it all off, let us go over the crux of what we have covered in this blog: we have understood the concerns of expanding businesses, commencing with an examination of Adyen’s Merchant of Record, its functionalities, and potential limitations. Following this, the blog has explored alternative options such as SubscriptionFlow, Stripe, FastSpring, and Lemon Squeezy, each presenting distinct benefits tailored to diverse business needs.
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