Taking into account the complexity of the MLM business model, businesses might struggle with the selection of an appropriate payment gateway option. The reason behind this is that making the wrong decision may put your company at risk in the future.
Unless your business model suits the payment policies, you will run the risk of having your money frozen by the provider overnight. Autoship payments are a major contributor to income for MLM businesses. Hence, in case of automatic payment failure, recurring income will be reduced, and the distributors will lose confidence. The top leaders may quit due to delayed payouts, which will result in a network structure collapse. The majority of the brands will choose the most common payment types that they may be regretting afterwards.
We have compiled a convenient MLM Payment Gateway Evaluation Toolkit to help you choose the right payment gateway comparing major payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal and custom payment solutions in a detailed manner. The toolkit compares major payment gateways based on key direct selling requirements, including recurring billing reliability, commission payout flexibility, chargeback risk, and global market coverage.
This toolkit helps with a wide range of operational decisions and will cover you whether you are building a new brand, relaunching or expanding your current network.
Compare Stripe, PayPal, and Custom Solutions and pick the right gateway using a free MLM Payment Gateway Evaluation Toolkit, before it costs you.
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What's inside the free MLM Payment Gateway Evaluation Toolkit
| Tab | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cover and Guide | This tab explains how to use the workbook step by step. It also describes what each section does and how the tools work together. A color legend is included to help you understand the outputs easily. |
| Weighted Scorecard | This tab helps you compare Stripe, PayPal, and custom solutions using 30 evaluation criteria. You can adjust the weight of each category based on your priorities. The sheet automatically calculates total scores and shows the best option for your business. |
| 12-Month Cost Calculator | This tab calculates the true annual cost of each payment gateway. You enter your sales volume, average transaction value, international share, and autoship ratio. It includes all major costs such as transaction fees, FX charges, and setup costs. |
| Global Readiness Map | This tab helps you check where each gateway works across 25 global markets. You can mark your current and future markets to see coverage. It quickly highlights any gaps before you make a decision. |
| Chargeback Rate Tracker | This tab tracks your monthly transactions and chargebacks over a year. It automatically calculates your chargeback rate and shows trends over time. This helps you monitor risk and maintain gateway stability. |
| Pre-Commitment Checklist | This tab provides a 35-point checklist to review before choosing a gateway. It covers areas like compliance, integration, commercial terms, and readiness. Every item should be completed before signing any agreement. |
Who will benefit most from this toolkit?
C-suite executives and founders need to ensure the chosen payment option wouldn't hinder the growth of the company but instead help them expand globally. The template provides a bigger picture and helps the company avoid compliance troubles and expand smoothly.
CFOs and finance leaders are the ones constantly calculating how much the operation costs the company. And making a bad payment decision can be a business risk considering transaction fees, currency exchange fees, chargeback fees, and delay in payouts. The toolkit provides them with a real view of the total cost.
This toolkit will help the technical team to assess how well the payment option integrates into their MLM system and whether the billing processes are going smoothly. It also gives them a warning about the technical limitations of the chosen option.
Top earners are the most important people in your network. If they lose trust, they will leave and team members under them would also follow the same decision. A structured toolkit helps them identify flaws in the payment option and if a platform change is required.
Direct selling consultants and advisors design plans, choose payment options and fix systems. This template helps them to convince their clients about different payment options backed by proven results and data.
Click to download the free Payment Gateway Evaluation Toolkit that recommends a feasible and suitable payment option after carefully evaluating your business model and long-term goals.
*No email required.
Why this toolkit works
Most payment options are not designed to handle the MLM complexities by default. Every evaluation criterion in this toolkit goes through important direct selling functions such as autoship billing, distributor payouts and rank based commission. It recommends payment options which wouldn't break your MLM system.
The toolkit can be made as a reflection of your business model. It weighs each operation and shows how much score each function carries, and this will help you to prioritize.
The toolkit calculates actual total cost which will possibly be different from the fees advertised by the payment company. True cost involves transaction fees, conversion fees, setup costs and more. It calculates total cost over a period of 12 months so that you won't think an option is cheap looking at what is advertised explicitly on paper.
Events like funds getting frozen can cause various issues. From losing distributor trust to a collapse of the company, choosing the wrong payment can pose many risks. The toolkit analyzes these risks before finalizing on any payment option.
This toolkit seamlessly integrates into all modern MLM platforms. If the chosen payment option doesn’t integrate well into the system, payouts may fail, commissions won’t be calculated properly, and autoship breaks.
How to use it
Customize the scorecard tab by examining 30 evaluation criteria and entering weights in the column of Weight % to indicate your business priorities. Enter a score from 1-5 for each payment gateway based on your research and the guide in the article. The sheet will calculate your weighted scores and recommend the suitable gateway.
The workbook will calculate true cost over 12 months upon entering monthly sales value, average order value, international sales percentage and autoship ratio in the Cost Calculator tab. Although the payment fees may look affordable on paper, it can get expensive if the hidden and miscellanious costs are considered.
List the markets you plan to operate in future to check global readiness. The toolkit will assess the readiness as some payment gateways won't work in certain countries.
Chargeback rates can become a real operational risk if you don’t choose a payment option that tolerates your chargeback rates. In the Chargeback Tracker tab, enter your last three to six months of transactions and number of chargebacks. The sheet instantly calculates the chargeback rate and suggest the payment option that aligns with the calculated chargeback rate.
Use the Decision Checklist tab to complete a final round of checks. It should go through all criteria including legal compliance, tech integration, cost clarity and risk understanding. Most companies skip this final step and end up in trouble with the payment provider.
Download the Payment Gateway Evaluation Toolkit to choose a payment option that is compatible with your MLM system and has high readiness for global expansion.
*No email required.