API or Application Programming Interface simply refers to the “middleman” between two kinds of software to communicate. For people with no technical background, sending instant messages or simply using a mobile app is one example that they’re using an API.
The market is saturated with so many APIs, and such availability makes it hard for merchants to choose the right one for their business. Regardless if you are a start-up or an established brand, it is always best to choose the one that fits your payment needs.
What makes a great API and when should you consider switching your payment gateway?
Sandbox or Testing Mode
- Being able to experiment with dummy data on your merchant website is one of the things to consider when choosing a payment API. The testing environment or sandbox mode will let you play around and get familiar with the entire payment process.
Security
- A good API should have a strong encryption mechanism to ensure all transactions are highly protected. It should also have the capability to change API keys and credentials, restrict access if needed so only machines can only read your data, and not change it.
Flexibility
- Your choice of payment API must show flexibility when it comes to creating a payment workflow that is based on your business logic and programming language. It should give you full control over your payment process while maintaining efficiency.
Stability
- A stable and reliable API should be able to handle your design flow to meet the demands of your customers. Apart from customer’s expectations, a good payment API must also be able to perform regardless of the type of your chosen integration.
Some test to determine the stability of a payment API is if it can handle multiple calls into one single API request or can it handle the load?
Documentation
- A good payment API should have extensive documentation and is regularly updated. It should have clear and public documentation with concise examples and direct solutions for each functionality.
A reliable payment processor should have these instructions, examples, and solutions in simplified terms for easy understanding. Another thing to consider is the availability of detailed guides in human language to better understand the payment system or integration issues.
Consistency
- Although issues and surprises are expected to happen, a reliable payment API should be able to handle and manage large volume transactions with near-zero downtime.
Make sure that the payment API should be consistently up and working particularly when customers are already on the payment phase on your website.
Support
- It is always better to have responsive support especially when you need it the most. Some may have overlooked this, but getting help as soon as you encounter payment issues is a very big factor to consider.
Make sure that your payment processor or provider can give you the assurance that you will get help immediately when issues arise.
As you can see, the things to consider when choosing a payment API are dependent on your business needs. So, before deciding which provider to choose, think about the functionalities that are needed to meet the requirements of your enterprise the most.
