5 Signs You Are Ready for Stripe Alternatives

While many small businesses use Stripe to process payments, the platform may miss the target when it comes to advanced features, customizable processes, and competitive pricing (see our Revolv3 vs. Stripe to see how we compare). If you’re trying to grow your business more affordably, you may want to begin searching for Stripe alternatives that can scale with your business.

That said, searching for a new payment processing solution may be overwhelming. But don’t put it off—your business may already show signs that it’s time to find a more enterprise-friendly payment processing solution. Learn more about these signs below.

5 Signs Your Business Needs an Alternative for Stripe

Stripe is a popular payment service provider. While it has fast implementation features, an end-user-friendly interface, and some enhanced features like stacked payfac - a scaling business will likely benefit from finding an alternative to Stripe. 

If the following statement is true to your business, you have outgrown the benefits of Stripe. 

Your business is processing more than $200K per month on Stripe with average transactions under $100 or your average transaction is over $100, and you are processing more than 4,000 transactions per month.

1. Your Business Handles High Volumes of Online Payments

Payment gateways will charge fees per transaction, which can add up for businesses processing large volumes of online transactions. Therefore, most payment platforms will offer tiered pricing that reduces the fee per transaction as you keep processing more transactions.

Stripe mainly sells on a simple single rate pricing that does not allow the merchant to benefit from the cost savings through optimizing interchange fees. In addition, Stripe charges additional fees for nearly every service in their portfolio. Hence, you need to contact their sales department to discuss which services benefit you and research to determine if the cost offsets a reasonable value added. Even if you have negotiated more favorable pricing, there are more significant revenue impacts Stripe processing has on your business.

Stripe charges a percentage plus a flat fee per transaction for most payment options. While this fee structure is typical in the payment processing industry, many payment processors offer more competitive pricing for businesses with high volumes of online payments.

While most understand basic processing costs and can negotiate more favorable terms with Stripe, they miss out on advanced processing functionality that other platforms provide. Once your business is high volume, you will benefit by having AI Machine learning algorithms that identify the data type and configuration by card product. This intelligence will provide real-time adjustable logic, resulting in higher approval rates and less customer churn. 

Large and enterprise businesses utilize multiple acquirers to benefit from higher approval performance, redundancy, and cost optimization. Consider your business type and card user demographics when choosing among different acquirers. Just as with car shopping, where some prefer a 3-row SUV while others opt for a 2-seat sports car, having multiple options can benefit most businesses.

There are over 25 data points on each payment transaction. Advanced payment platforms will meticulously evaluate that data and route the payment transaction with the highest likelihood of approval. These systems use AI and machine learning to apply real-time, adjustable logic to your payment requests. These advanced features include: 

• Multiple merchant IDs (MIDs)
• Logic that evaluates the card issuer
• Multiple processor routing 
• Network tokens 
• ECI Code Optimization
• PINLess debit routing
• Real-time and batch account updater
• Configurable retry logic
• A platform that learns from transactional data 
• Recommendations on processing updates that will benefit your business with lower costs or higher approvals 
• Proactive service representatives engage merchants when they will benefit from or are impacted by account changes, pricing updates, or network regulations. 

2. You Need Advanced Reports and Proper Reconciliation for Processing Costs and Invoices

Stripe provides you with basic transaction information and shows you when payments fail. However, these reports lack insight into your overall payment performance and likely obfuscate network and issuer decline details. An advanced payment platform would give you transaction analytics by the card issuer, allowing you to see efficiency by card network, card product, and more. Payment networks update regulations every April and October, creating a flurry of e-commerce regulations over the last five years. 

With so many merchant-facing updates, having complete network and processor decline information is imperative to a high-performance billing platform. Accurate processing cost reports provide detailed breakdowns of all fees incurred, linking each fee to its corresponding invoice. This transparency empowers merchants to understand the cost of collecting payments from customers. Additionally, it enables easy access to the overall costs associated with your business operations. A reliable partner to address your queries is crucial, especially regarding payments. Ensuring the accuracy of all transaction costs linked to invoices, products, and customers is critical for properly assessing your revenue. 

A solid grasp of your subscription billing metrics drives revenue and profitability. Reporting that provides you with insight into your percentages of what is collected vs. what is owed, percentage of loss, and effective cost is imperative. Look for reporting that gives you this vital insight into your subscription offerings.

3. Your Team Requires Quick & Convenient Customer Service

Stripe offers limited phone support. The company does not have a phone number that customers can call. Instead, you have to request a call online. Alternatively, if you are processing high volumes, other payment platforms will first consult with you on your current statements and give you payment expert advice on where there is potential to optimize.

High-volume merchants need quick and convenient service, as time can represent large volumes of missed opportunities. Find a payment provider with customer service available over the phone and chat, email, Slack, Teams, etc. Your business will inevitably need specific insight from payment experts to evaluate where your payment gaps are. Payment experts understand the nuances of your data, offering insights on costs, approvals, and optimizing advanced technologies tailored to your business needs for effective payment solutions.

4. Your Business Requires Highly Tailored Payment Methods

The basic Stripe system supports standard payment methods, such as credit or debit cards, digital wallets, ACH transfers, and more.

Large subscription-based businesses may process payments at various intervals and have more complex pricing schemes. For example, your business may need payment options for one-time payments, recurring payments, tiered pricing, add-ons, prorations, renewal discounts, plan changes, discount periods, trial extensions, and more. In this case, it is time to research Stripe competitors to find a payment gateway that offers better subscription management solutions.

5. You Would Like to Grow Your Business With Accurate Fraud Protection

Stripe offers fairly sophisticated security standards regarding built-in, all-in-one payment solutions. However, one of the major downfalls is that it can create more complexity in your payment stack when you need alternative vendors outside the Stripe ecosystem. There may be limitations in fraud data, security methods, or programming settings that make it difficult to set up a custom security system for your business. As your business grows, consider leveraging industry-specific fraud services to enhance your company's operations, marketing strategies, and product offerings. Rules-based fraud systems are sufficient, but you may need behavioral biometrics for advanced sales funnels or fraud vendors who guarantee transactions for physical goods that help reduce false declines and chargeback liability. 

Fulfill All Your Payment Processing Needs with Revolv3

Most subscription billing options aren’t built to approve payments on the first pass. Some are built with logic to make it easy to onboard but aren’t agile enough to keep up with the frequently changing rules of the banks, Visa and MC and the processors. For these and other reasons, approval rates are lower than they could be, revenue is lost, and customer churn is accelerated. On top of that, competitors charge an exorbitant amount of fees for all transactions, even if they’re declined.

Businesses ready to explore Stripe alternatives can find everything they need to scale their business and improve customer churn rates with Revolv3. You can see the payment features side by side below. Revolv3 uses adaptive technology to improve payment approval rates and increase your business’s revenue. Revolv3 only charges for approved payments. Contact us today to learn more about Revolv3’s payment optimization platform.