Confused about the enormous number of steps you have to fulfil to get your e-commerce website approved for a payment gateway?
We understand that it can be overwhelming to prepare such a big load of information, and we’re here to make it easy for you.
Merchant onboarding is the process of connecting a merchant (you) to a processor, payment gateway, or acquirer platform.
Traditionally, merchant onboarding was performed manually. An applicant had to submit a particular paper form and other documents to the underwriter for background verification. If the documents were approved, the underwriter sent back the MID.
With the advent of digitalization, everything shifted to digital mediums.
The Paytm All-In-One Payment Gateway enables merchants to quickly integrate the gateway and instantly accept digital payments under a completely automated process.
The RBI has also recently come up with specific PA/PG guidelines as a fraud prevention mechanism that must be validated on a business’s website while onboarding them.
Thus, to receive a settlement of collected payments after your business account is successfully verified, the verification of business documents & website is essential to fulfilling compliance requirements.
Guidelines on merchant onboarding on payment gateways
You, as an e-commerce business need to have these 7 sections on your website to be compliant:
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Product Services Catalogue + Pricing
- Product Service Purchase Flow
- Privacy Policy
- Terms & Conditions
- Returns, Refunds & Cancellation Policy
Thus, having updated and easily accessible information on your website/app for the following points is necessary to have a smoother and faster application approval process.
Here’s how you can craft these:
About Us
In simplest terms, it’s a page on your website explaining what your business does.
Ideally, your about page should include your mission statement, a brief company description, corporate history, and more.
Beyond why you do what you do, let people know what you actually create or sell in clear terms. Even though this page is about you, it’s more about why people should buy your product or service from you.
Setting a face to your brand helps to humanize it. Even if you only highlight the founders, your About Us page can be a chance to build your personal brand. You can also share how your story and experience make you and your company an excellent fit to serve your market.
Lastly, don’t forget to incorporate your corporate values.
Contact Us
Great contact forms typically:
- Are simple to find, so a visitor can instantly get in touch should they need to
- Explain why someone should contact you, and describe how you can help solve your visitors’ problems
- Have an email, address, and phone number so visitors can quickly find the correct information
- Have a short form using fields that’ll help you understand who’s contacting you
- Have a call-to-action to provide visitors with another option if they choose not to complete the form
- Showcase your thought leadership, whether that’s by including a list of recent blog posts or articles about your business in the press
- Link to running social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to give visitors a way to engage with you
Product / Services Catalogue + Pricing
An ideal product/services catalogue depicts all the products that you have to showcase and sell in a visually appealing way.
Good categorization ensures that users can easily navigate your website and find exactly what they’re looking for.
Product images are essential as they create an impression on the buyer. An image enhances the description of your product.
Product descriptions are a crucial part of the catalogue. They present your product’s USP and help the audience understand that your product is authentic and unique.
Don’t forget to list the price of the product clearly and boldly. It’s also vital to mention whether the price is inclusive of GST or not, as it helps establish a relationship of trust between you and the visitor.
Product/Services Purchase Flow
Ideally, a product purchase flow should be clear and straightforward. Here’s how:
The user should select the products from the store page & add the desired products to their cart.
After adding products to the cart, they should be proceeded to checkout to complete the ordering process.
They should be required to provide their details like name, email, mobile number & address at the checkout page. After giving the details, the user should select the payment method to complete the order’s payment.
Once the payment method is selected, the user should be taken to the order completion page. This should display his/her Order ID & Transaction ID for the payment along with the order details.
The user should also be notified about the order details & payment receipts via email, SMS & other mediums.
Privacy Policy
A privacy policy is a statement that indicates a firm’s or website’s policy on receiving and releasing information about a visitor.
It usually reveals what specific information is received and whether it is kept confidential, distributed, or sold to other firms, researchers or sellers.
It should ideally be a part of the footer content on your website.
You need to reveal the types of personal data your site or app collects and how it is collected. Most of our approved companies use a list format for this section to make the information clear and easy to read.
A section should explain to your users how and why you use the information you collect. Explain to your users how this data collection can benefit them and how it is used by your business.
Let your users know whether you distribute their personal data to anyone else and under what conditions you do. Don’t forget to include a disclaimer as well.
Add a section with your Privacy Policy that covers the rights of users. This section should explain that users have the right to make amendments to their data, to delete data, to review the information on them that you hold, and other rights.
A Notification of Changes clause is usually included under its own section in the Privacy Policy.
Informing users that you have made changes to your Privacy Policy helps enhance your company image of transparency and openness. Also, this clause grants you the right to make alterations to your Privacy Policy when needed.
Terms & Conditions
All of the efforts you put into writing Terms & Conditions will be lost unless the user accepts them. Many apps and websites make consumers accept the agreement at signup or login.
Unless you don’t accumulate any personal information, you’ll likely have to draft a separate Privacy Policy.
Generally, you want it transparent to your users that you will not be responsible for damages arising from the use of your service. You’ll also like to inform users that their use of your app or website may come with risk, even if that possibility is slight.
If your service (app or website) is specific, with a great chance that users may misinterpret your intentions, specific disclaimers are also helpful.
Utilizing your intellectual property without permission or a license is a violation and is actionable under law. If a consumer does this, you want the ability to pursue an infringement claim and terminate that user’s access to the services you provide. The intellectual property section in Terms & Conditions takes care of this situation.
If you entertain advertisements from third parties, you should disclose those relationships even if you are not paid for them.
Subscription services (like SaaS apps) must incorporate payment terms in their Terms & Conditions.
This enables you to terminate service for non-payment and puts customers on notice that you need payment information. These terms also indicate the frequency of payment and whether you offer monthly, quarterly or annual payment plans.
The termination clause contains your capacity to administer the Terms & Conditions. It may stand on its own or state violations that occur in termination.
Complete your Terms & Conditions with an invitation for users to contact you if they require simplification of the conditions you have in your agreement.
Return, Refund, & Cancellation Policy
Your Return Policy should include the following information:
- In how many days do customers have to initiate a return to get it
- How they should initiate a return
- Terms of returns (must be unworn, in original packaging, etc.)
- Limitations on returnable items (no returns on software or undergarments, etc.)
- What form you provide a refund in (the primary mode of payment, store credit only, etc.)
- If you or the customer pays return shipping costs
- If you have any restocking or other fees, you deduct from refunds
Risk is the leading cause of uncertainty on most grounds. A robust risk management system is necessary to meet the challenges of fraud and ensure customer protection. The Paytm Payment Gateway has assigned adequate information and data security infrastructure and procedures to prevent and detect frauds.
We also have a running mechanism to monitor, handle, and follow up on cybersecurity incidents and breaches. The same is reported immediately to the DPSS, RBI, Central Office, Mumbai. They are also reported to CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) as per the details notified by CERT-In.
So, hesitate no more. Practice caution and make your online business effectively hack-proof. For any queries related to the onboarding process, Contact Us, and get started with the Paytm Payment Gateway now!
