How a payment gateway works
The viewer enters payment details on a form hosted or secured by the gateway. The gateway encrypts them, requests authorization from the card network and issuing bank, and returns an approval or a decline within a few seconds.
For subscriptions, the gateway stores a token in place of the card number so the service can charge future renewals without handling card data itself.
What a streaming service needs from a gateway
- Recurring payments with stored tokens and automatic retries
- The local methods your markets use: cards, wallets, bank transfers, UPI, carrier billing
- Charging and settling in local currencies
- Strong customer authentication, such as 3-D Secure, where regulation requires it
- Refunds, dispute handling and reporting that matches your finance records
Choosing gateways by market
No gateway is strongest everywhere. Approval rates are higher when a transaction is processed in the customer's own country, and each region has payment methods the others lack. Services that sell internationally often use one global gateway plus a local one in each major market.
Fees are typically a percentage of the amount plus a fixed sum per transaction. The fixed part weighs heavily on small payments, which matters for low-priced plans and rentals.
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