You may wonder sometimes that if the online transactions are free of cost then how come the companies which provide these services earn so much and set to become multinational companies. The answer is that they earn little from each person and accumulate huge capital over time. While doing online transactions we do not pay attention to hidden or small charges. Hence the companies can trick you in the process. For example, if you make a payment of INR 1000 for any service and the next time you see your bank account you notice that your savings are INR 3 short. It may seem a negligible amount, but imagine the same thing for 1 million people! Where did all this money go? Does it go to a third party who was on your network and the minute you made the transaction he/she stole some money in the process?

Should you worry about hidden payment gateway charges?

Hidden payment charges pose a threat to the whole integrity of the process of online payment. There are a lot of threats and potential disadvantages to not knowing the hidden charges of your payment gateway. Some of them are as follows:

• Involvement of a third party

It may happen that a third unauthorized party was sitting on your network and they take some minimal money whenever you make some online transaction. For example, only 3 rupees per 1000. They do so because it doesn’t show up on the updates account system and they easily get away from this. As a common person, we also don’t notice such small transactions. 

• The integrity of the Payment gateway

If you read the terms and conditions of the gateway and the service provider promises a 0% payment charge on online transactions but you still see some less money every time you make payment. This raises a question on the integrity of the payment gateway. One should be careful when using those. 

What are the payment gateway charges on online transactions?

According to the Government of India, there are some specific payment gateway charges which are to be charged from the customer and the service provider has to comply with its rules accordingly. The charges of some of the popular payment options are as follows:

• Debit card Type

The charge with the Rupay cards is around 0% whereas it is 0.4% for MasterCard and Visa cards. There are more specific charges depending on the amount.

• Payment Wallets

You see wallets on the application of the service provider. You may think that there are no charges for paying the merchant with these wallets but you are wrong. There is around a 2% charge for paying from wallets.

• Net Banking

This popular payment option charges 2% every time you make an online transaction. 

• International Payment Gateway

You get charged a whopping 2.8% for paying any international market or merchant.

Tips to identify hidden payment gateway charges

You should first know what are the hidden charges involved in the payment gateway service providers for more secured transactions. If the service provider charges some amount then you must read the terms and conditions carefully and if they promise no cost then you must keep a track of your bank account transactions to avoid some hackers on the network.

You can find the hidden payment gateway charges by following these pro tips:

• Check the terms and conditions thoroughly

The first and the most important way is to read the terms while choosing the service provider. You should keep an eye on how much they will charge for different types of transactions.

• Evaluate the authenticity of the payment gateway

You should check if the service provider is registered by the GOI (government of India) and does it follow the rules laid by the authority. You can check the official websites to check if the service provider is genuine. The charges are standard for the payment gateway and if the service provider charges more then, you can raise a claim against this.

• Know the MDR 

Merchant Discount rate or MDR is one of the tricks the service providers use to debit money from each online transaction. It is a small percentage captured by a business by using the payment gateway. 

• Check your network type

Before making any payment you should be careful what type of network you and your service provider are using. You must check the certifications so that you can avoid any hacker who sits on the network and capture some amount. 

• Select app/software after thorough research

You can always use apps or software to identify hidden charges. If you are a business owner and would like to add a suitable payment method with the lowest payment gateway charges, you can always research before proceeding ahead. 

In this competitive world where every business is designed in such a way to obtain the most from the users, you should be more careful about these hidden charges. Business owners should additionally be alert on what kind of gateway they are using so that a customer does not lose money on unnecessary payment gateway charges. By doing this you can be more secure and assured by the online payment system.