By Ken Musante
Napa Payments and Consulting
Like Stripe, Adyen is a competitor to traditional acquirers. Both Stripe and Adyen have cool solutions that are built on a modern tech stack exposing APIs to POS systems and vendors wishing to support merchants within their proprietary ecosystems. Some solution providers and POS systems work exclusively with Stripe and Adyen, shunning traditional acquirers. Both companies are signing new partners regularly.
Both Stripe and Adyen can accommodate multi-country, omnicommerce solutions, but there is a price. Merchants and sales professionals should understand how to both work with these offerings and, when appropriate, how to compete to provide the optimal solution, minimize processing costs and maximize efficiencies for merchant clients.
To be clear, there are many advantages to Stripe and Adyen. A single platform with capabilities to support omnicommerce across the globe is valued. Instead of needing disparate solutions, these providers present an end-to-end solution. Both companies orchestrate a merchant’s gateway, tokens and data.
They have risk tools and robust dashboards for visibility into authorization rates and for refining authorization approval parameters. Both provide developer documentation with clear, ample sample code and a test environment. They both also have additional services such as loyalty and alternative payments that are valued by larger merchants. Both also serve marketplaces allowing for payouts as well as payments.
Some vendors and POS providers have elected to integrate only to Stripe or Adyen, so if a merchant wants a particular solution, a traditional acquirer may not be an option. Like competitive payfac offerings, should a POS solution integrate only with Stripe or Adyen, it could be difficult for a merchant services professional to monetize the merchant setup.
POS providers do this for several reasons. First, it takes effort, discipline and talent to properly integrate with a processor. If a POS provider can work with a vendor like Stripe or Adyen, the work is lessened because those platforms are built with an API-first approach. They also have good sample code and documentation. This makes it faster and easier to integrate with fewer end points.
Because many companies make their living off the residual revenue from merchant processing, it's important to understand why merchants may choose that option as well as some of the drawbacks.
Neither Stripe nor Adyen have access to a full complement of card accepting devices. Both require some code to payment-enable a merchant. From a cost standpoint, while Stripe’s single rate is attractive and allows merchants to understand their costs, it is more expensive than typical interchange plus pricing.
Adyen’s pricing is transparent and provided in an interchange++ methodology, but its pricing, too, can be more expensive than a typical interchange plus fee schedule. Adyen has a processing fee and discount/authorization fee in addition to Interchange. Moreover, Adyen typically has a minimum invoice, making processing expensive for smaller merchants.
Both companies enable a merchant to begin processing quickly; however, this can lead to held or delayed funds in the event that a merchant is not fully understood by the processor.
Even with these drawbacks known, some merchants still opt for a Stripe- or Adyen-specific solution. When this occurs, payment professionals may still be able to monetize the relationship by providing needed consulting services to assist the merchant minimize their hardware costs and potentially add value by assisting the merchant to integrate their disparate processing platforms.
Done right, these merchants will appreciate the assistance in achieving their goals and allow for some compensation for the relationship. This will also leave open future opportunities, referrals and ancillary services.
Stripe and Adyen are great solutions and will continue to enhance their offerings. Merchants should understand their strengths and drawbacks. Payment professionals should as well, so they can best position themselves for success regardless of a merchant's processor selection. 
As founder of Humboldt Merchant Services, co-founder of Eureka Payments, and a former executive for such payments innovators as WePay, a division of JPMorgan Chase, Ken Musante has experience in all aspects of successful ISO building. He currently provides consulting services and expert witness testimony as founder of Napa Payments and Consulting, www.napapaymentsandconsulting.com. Contact him at kenm@napapaymentsandconsulting.com, 707-601-7656 or www.linkedin.com/in/ken-musante-us/.
The Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information.
Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact names or information may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.
Prev Next
