FAQ
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Enterprise payment routing questions are answered here in plain language, grouped by topic: what it is, pricing, integration, uptime and PCI DSS, fit, bank routing numbers and getting started with Avendo.
It connects one checkout to several card processors and picks a processor for each transaction. Avendo routes every e-commerce transaction to the eligible processor offering the best available rate, shows the pricing in a dashboard, and bills its 10 cent fee to processors rather than merchants.
Enterprise payment routing sends each card transaction to one of several connected processors instead of a single fixed provider. The service applies this to e-commerce: it connects an existing checkout to multiple processors and routes each transaction, in real time, to the processor offering the best available rate. The goal is lower processing cost without changing how customers pay.
The service routes each transaction to the eligible processor offering the best available rate at the moment of the transaction. Processors that have approved the merchant compete on pricing for every charge, so competition does not end after onboarding. Merchants see payment activity and pricing for each transaction in one dashboard.
Payment routing for enterprise teams changes the processor behind each charge, not the checkout your customers see. Nothing changes in how you accept payments; what changes is how much revenue the business keeps. Finance gets per-transaction pricing visibility, and digital teams keep their existing checkout pages.
No, customers should see the same checkout. The service integrates directly with the checkout pages a merchant already uses and handles the processor choice behind the scenes. The customer enters card details as before; routing happens after they press pay.
It means the lowest price offered among the processors eligible for that specific transaction at that moment. Card network interchange and assessment fees still apply to every merchant, so routing competes on the processor portion of the cost. This is described as choosing the best rate for your business on every transaction.
Yes. Interchange rates and assessment fees are set by Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover, apply to all merchants, and are charged by your payment processor. The service does not set them. Its role is to help merchants reach the best available processor rate on top of those network costs for each transaction.
No. Merchants never receive an invoice, bill or direct charge from the service, and there are no monthly charges or separate platform fees. Compensation is handled entirely between the service and its payment processors through the Avendo Services Fee.
The Avendo Services Fee is 10 cents per transaction, billed to the payment processor rather than to the merchant. This is available on the pricing page. Merchants still pay their processor for processing, including card network interchange and assessment fees.
Credit card processing cost is the sum of card network interchange and assessments plus the processor markup, and it varies by card type, transaction size and pricing model. A quick way to find your own cost is total monthly processing fees divided by monthly card sales, which gives your effective rate.
Fees feel high because several parties take a share: card networks, issuing banks through interchange, and the processor through its markup. With one processor, pricing tends to stay fixed until you renegotiate or switch. It keeps processors competing on every transaction.
Card mix (rewards and corporate cards usually cost more), card-not-present risk, average ticket size, chargeback history and the processor markup all move the total. Merchants control the markup most directly. Routing each transaction across competing processors targets that markup without changing card mix or checkout.
Multiply annual card volume by the rate reduction you want to test. At $10,000,000 in annual card volume, every 0.25 percentage point equals $25,000 a year. The calculator on this guide does that math. It is an estimate only; real savings depend on your card mix and the offers processors make.
With a single processor, fees can change after signing and the only leverage is renegotiating or leaving. One public BBB complaint about Worldpay reports a merchant cancelled because fees kept escalating despite emails saying they would stay constant. Transaction-level routing keeps several processors competing, so pricing is tested on every charge.
It can be worth more. ACI Worldwide writes that a 3 percent uplift in acceptance rate is worth roughly $30 million for every $1 billion in processing volume. Enterprise teams should track both approval rates and effective fee rates when judging any routing setup.
The service currently supports custom-cart integrations. WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento or Adobe Commerce may require a compatibility review or future integration. Stores built on Shopify, Wix, Square or GoDaddy cannot be onboarded today; support is being worked toward.
Yes, a custom cart is the integration the service supports today. Enterprise and digital teams with their own checkout are the most direct fit, especially for e-commerce, online subscriptions, SaaS and memberships. Contact the service to confirm the integration path for your stack.
Not yet. The service is currently available only for e-commerce, card-not-present transactions. It cannot onboard in-person or point-of-sale businesses today and says support is coming. Teams with mixed channels can still route their online volume.
The application takes about 10 minutes, and the registration page lists 15 minutes. You apply once; everything is collected and sent to eligible processors for review, so you do not repeat paperwork for each processor.
Have your SSN, EIN or ITIN, a voided check or bank letter showing account and routing number, three months of processing statements (or bank statements), business address and contact details, and a government-issued ID. The registration form also asks for Articles of Organization or Incorporation.
No. The service collects your information in one place and sends it to eligible processors for review, so you apply once. Processors that accept your account then compete on price for each transaction you process.
No. There is no obligation to switch before evaluating the opportunity, and one application is the starting point for participating processor review. You can see which processors can support your business before deciding.
The dashboard gives approved merchants access to their transaction data and reports in one place, with visibility into how processors price each transaction and where each cost comes from. It is described as a plain-language view of what you are paying for.
Routing across several processors reduces dependence on any single provider, which is the core of most multi-processor resilience plans. The system describes choosing the most reliable option in the moment and relying on redundant systems and real-time monitoring from trusted processors. Ask directly how failover is handled for your account.
Ask for the uptime commitment as a percentage, how it is measured, the credits if it is missed, incident notification times, and the status page URL. No numeric uptime SLA is published on the site, so request the specifics during your contact call.
With one processor, an outage can stop checkout until it recovers. Processors such as Adyen publish status pages and system messages for this reason. In a multi-processor setup, other eligible processors remain connected. Confirm with the service how transactions are rerouted during a processor incident.
The service coordinates with PCI DSS certified processors, and the compliance framework was created under PCI DSS and privacy laws including the CPRA and EU GDPR. Merchants still have their own PCI obligations, typically confirmed through a self-assessment questionnaire.
Tokenization replaces sensitive card data with secure digital tokens, so raw card numbers are not stored in your systems. It simplifies token management across multiple processors, which matters for subscriptions that must charge stored cards through whichever processor wins the transaction.
Responsibility is shared. The processors and gateways handle card data within their certified environments, and the merchant remains responsible for its own checkout and systems. Ask the service which parts of card data handling sit with its partners so your compliance team can scope your assessment correctly.
The service serves online merchants from small businesses to enterprise organizations. It is best suited to meaningful card-not-present volume: subscription businesses, SaaS and software, e-commerce, memberships, online coaching and consulting, recurring services, digital businesses and repeat online purchases.
The best online credit card processing for a small business is clear on cost and does not lock you into one price. The service fits small online merchants on a supported checkout because it charges merchants no fee and keeps processors competing on every transaction. Small shops on Shopify, Wix, Square or GoDaddy should wait for support.
Look for transparent pricing, no surprise platform fees, clear reporting and no long-term lock-in. The 10 cent per transaction fee (billed to processors) is published, merchants are never billed and long-term lock-in is avoided by routing each transaction to the best available processor rate.
For card-not-present businesses with steady volume, routing usually wins because competition continues on every transaction instead of ending at signing. A single processor can still suit businesses that need in-person payments today or run on platforms the service does not support yet.
A periodic rate review compares processors, picks one and then competition stops until the next review. Transaction-level routing keeps multiple eligible processors competing every time a customer pays, so pricing never goes static.
They are different layers. Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay and Braintree are processors or payment platforms, each setting its own pricing for merchants who sign with them. The service connects one checkout to multiple processors and routes each transaction to the best available rate. Ask which processors are in the network for your business type.
Processing cost flows straight into operating profit. A sustained expense reduction, at a 5 times EBITDA multiple, can raise business value by five times the annual saving. The review is designed for owners, CFOs, controllers, CPAs, M&A advisors, buyers and private equity professionals.
No. A bank routing number (ABA number) is a nine-digit code that identifies a US bank for ACH transfers, wires and checks. Payment routing is the choice of which card processor handles an online card transaction. The service works on card payment routing, though you do provide a bank routing number so processors know where to deposit funds.
Use the routing number your bank lists for ACH or electronic payments, which is usually the number printed on your checks. Some banks list a separate number for wire transfers, so do not assume they match. Confirm in online banking or with your bank before setting up deposits.
Large banks such as Chase use different routing numbers by the state or region where an account was opened, often a legacy of past mergers, and many list a separate number for wires. Your correct number depends on your account. Check Chase online banking or a check from your account to confirm.
Each of these has eight digits, but US ABA routing numbers have nine, so a digit is likely missing. Find the full nine-digit number on a check or in online banking, then look it up in the Federal Reserve E-Payments Routing Directory at frbservices.org.
Search the Federal Reserve E-Payments Routing Directory at frbservices.org, which lists the institution behind each nine-digit routing number. For a specific bank such as Encore Bank or Bank of New Hampshire, use the number shown in your online banking or on your checks, since banks can use more than one.
Contact the service through its contact page at avendo.tech/contact-us. The team answers questions about onboarding, your account and how the service fits the setup you already have. Bring a recent processing statement so the conversation starts from your real effective rate.
Have your monthly card volume, average ticket, checkout platform and your last three months of processing statements ready. Knowing your effective rate (total fees divided by card sales) makes it easier to judge what transaction-level routing could change.
Applications are accepted through the website, and registration pages note that partners review applications once Avendo officially launches. Ask the team for the current status and timeline for your business when you get in touch.
Alex Popovics, CEO, a Florida native and licensed attorney, and Victor Popovics, President. Victor spent more than 20 years operating a water technology business that sold products online and through major marketplaces.
It was created to address how confusing and unclear credit card processing rates can be. Victor Popovics found that once pricing was set, there was little chance to revisit it without renegotiating or moving. The service keeps processors competing on every transaction instead.
Talk to the Avendo team about your checkout, volume and current rate. Avendo never bills merchants, and there is no obligation to switch.
