A comprehensive article that covers all the various NetSuite credit card processing choices and how to avoid selecting a bad processor.

NetSuite credit card processors are somewhat limited and a bit convoluted due to NetSuite’s restrictive attitude on which credit card gateways and processors are allowed into their SuitePayments program.

Some providers, being rebuffed by NetSuite, have built their own custom NetSuite credit card processing solution on top of NetSuite but these have a higher risk of breaking (being unsupported by NetSuite).

This comprehensive article on how to avoid bad NetSuite credit card processors and covers the ins and outs of how this all works with details on every available NetSuite credit card gateway and processor whether they are a certified or custom solution.

If you wish cut through the fog of NetSuite credit card processing quickly then I highly recommend you contact the pros over at SCS Cloud (a NetSuite 5 star solution provider) who can quickly provide you with a sound recommendation on which NetSuite credit card processing solution best fits your needs.

Important Terms to Understand

Here are some important terms to understand:

• Processor: manages the credit card transaction process by acting as the mediator between the merchant and the financial institutions involved. A processor can authorize transactions and works on merchants getting paid on time by facilitating the transfer of funds. 
• Gateway: securely transmits the online payment data to the processor to continue the lifecycle of the transaction. It also authorizes payments for card-not-present transactions, mostly e-commerce websites. Think of it as an online point-of-sale terminal for your business.
• Acquirer: the financial institution that holds and manages the bank account for a merchant who wishes to accept payment via credit or debit cards. The acquirer, also known as the acquiring or merchant bank, is the financial institution that maintains a merchant’s account in order to accept credit cards. The acquirer settles card transactions for a merchant into their account. Sometimes the payment processor and the acquirer are one and the same.

For the purposes of this article, Processor and Acquirer are used interchangeably.

SuitePayments Club

Essentially the NetSuite SuitePayments program is the “club” that a payment gateway or processor must be invited into in order to provide a seamless and supported credit card processing solution on the NetSuite ERP platform. The program provides a standard set of programmable hooks, processing features and access to the SuitePayments support and development teams.

Once a gateway or processor has been invited into the SuitePayments program then their integrated solution is fully implemented, vetted, certified, supported and promoted by NetSuite as a Payment Service Provider (PSP).

Now, the SuitePayments club is not free and a gateway or processor must share their revenue with NetSuite but the good news for you is that NetSuite does not charge any type of access fee to use a Payment Service Provider.

The SuitePayments certification process for a Payment Service Provider should give you confidence that the NetSuite credit card processing solution will actually work but they do not guarantee it especially if the provider creates custom extensions outside of the SuitePayments framework.

There are currently only 9 SuitePayments Payment Service Providers (3 gateways, 2 global processors, 1 USA only processor and 3 non-US processors):

1. Adyen (global)
2. Cybersource (gateway)
3. eWay (non-USA)
4. Freedom Pay (gateway)
5. Merchant eSolutions (USA)
6. PayU (Latin America)
7. SecurePay (ANZO)
8. Solupay (gateway)
9. Worldpay (global)

Details of each gateway and processor is laid out in the Payment Service Providers section below.

Non-Certified Risky Solutions

Outside of the SuitePayments program, some adventurous companies have built 100% custom credit card processing solutions using their own programming stack on top of NetSuite. I say adventurous because this is quite complex requiring extensive custom NetSuite scripting to provide a truly seamless experience for all the various use cases where credit card processing can take place within NetSuite.

Such solutions tend to get meager traction with NetSuite customers and are a bear to support because any NetSuite update or release could break the solution leaving their customers high and dry while they scramble to fix their solution. So, a word of warning here when contemplating using a non-certified NetSuite credit card processing solution. 

If the vendor is unable to show their company listed as a standard SuitePayments Payment Service Provider on the NetSuite SuiteApp.com website then they are definitely non-certified regardless of what they say.

There are 4 non-certified solutions that the author is aware of:

1. Altapay
2. Cardknox
3. Bluesnap
4. NewGen

Details of each is laid out in the Payment Service Providers section below.

Notes:

• Altapay was removed from the SuitePayments program in 2020 (as noted by their absence on the NetSuite SuiteApp.com website) but may be available as a non-certified solution.
• Cardknox has a reseller called 8Quanta who are a value added reseller on the customer support side but the actual NetSuite bundle is from Cardknox. 8Quanta is also a reseller of the FreedomPay gateway to support NetSuite POS.

Gateway and Processor Pricing

NetSuite gateway pricing from Cybersource and FreedomPay is straight forward:

• 10¢ – 15¢ cents per transaction.
• $49 – $199 monthly fee depending on setup.
• A one-time setup fee up to $299.

NetSuite processor pricing is typically interchange-plus pricing:

• Interchange-plus pricing gives full transparency on all the various charges going to the processor, credit card issuing bank and credit card association (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc.)
• The fees charged by the credit card issuing bank and association are fixed and are not negotiable and depend on the type of credit card the customer uses (e.g. debit, corporate card, rewards card, etc.) Each card type has a specific and published interchange rate.
• The processor makes money by applying a markup which, in the NetSuite world, is normally 30 basis points or 0.30% on every transaction (100 basis points = 1%).
• There may be some negotiating room on the processor’s markup but not much.
• You can learn more about interchange-plus pricing from Merchant Maverick.
• A processor will also charge other fees on top of the markup:
  • 4¢ – 10¢ cents per transaction
  • Monthly fee
  • Statement fee
  • Gateway fee
  • Other fees

Normally interchange-plus pricing is fixed regardless of the volume of monthly transactions. The lone exception is Adyen which has a complicated tier structure charging a range of basis points depending on the monthly transaction volume (general example would be 45 – 60 basis points). Each tier is pegged at a specific basis point meaning that even if your monthly volume was very high, that first tier would still be assessed at the higher basis points level. This positions Adyen as the most expensive NetSuite credit card payment processor.

eWay pricing is another exception and expensive with a fixed 150 basis points or 1.5% and $0.25 per transaction.

Point of Sale Options

NetSuite Point-of-Sale (POS) options are quite limited with only two official NetSuite POS solutions and a few other custom POS solutions available on the market.

The advantage of the two official POS solutions is that some of the NetSuite Payment Service Providers support them and that gives a true omni-channel solution for NetSuite credit card processing: card present, card not presence and eCommerce.

The two official NetSuite POS solutions are:

1. SuiteCommerce In Store (SCIS)
2. NetSuite POS

Each have their strengths and limitations which are beyond the scope of this article.

The Payment Service Providers section for each provider details which official POS solutions are supported.

The few custom POS solutions available have their own credit card processing which is done off platform and are not covered in this article.

Card Present Solutions

Beyond the sophisticated Point-of-Sale (POS) solutions available, a number of Payment Service Providers have simple card present solutions that connect with various credit card terminals directly from the standard NetSuite transaction records:

• Cash Sale
• Sales Order
• Customer Deposit
• Customer Payment

In the author’s opinion, the best solution is from FreedomPay and SCS Cloud which seamlessly integrates the Ingenico Lane Series of credit card terminals with the standard NetSuite transaction records.

The FreedomPay + SCS Cloud solution is fast, secure and utilizes the same NetSuite Payment Processing Profile as card not present transactions which is a real boon because then card present and card not present transactions all roll up to the same gateway (FreedomPay).

This solution also uniquely provides Level II and Level III data for card present transactions which can greatly reduce the interchange-plus rates from the processor.

There are other solutions from Cardknox, MerchantE, Versapay, and Worldpay: see the Payment Services Providers section for details.

Selecting a Good NetSuite Payment Service Provider

All NetSuite credit card payment service providers have the following essential features within NetSuite:

• Seamless credit card processing integration.
• Credit card authorizations.
• Credit card charges.
• Credit card refunds.

Features which are generally not available within NetSuite include (exceptions noted in the Payment Service Providers section):

• Same day credit card voids.
• Credit card reconciliation against the daily processor batches.
• Integration with a Point-of-Sale system.
• Support for Card Present transactions (retail).

Narrowing the Field of Providers

Use these questions and answers to help you select a NetSuite credit card payment service provider:

Is your bank account, where credit card sales are deposited, located outside of the USA?

• Look for your specific country in the Presence column in the snapshot table (below).

Are you constrained to use a specific processor (acquirer) for your company?

• Look for your specific processor in the Acquirer column in the snapshot table (below).

Do you require card-present transactions?

• Look for card present providers in the Card Present column in the snapshot table (below).

Are you comfortable with not using a NetSuite SuitePayments certified provider?

• Note the value in the Certified column in the snapshot table (below).

Does the short list of providers have all the features and services needed for your NetSuite implementation?

• Study the detailed section for each provider in the Payment Service Providers sections (below the table).

Getting the Best Deal

My strong recommendation is to contact the experts over at SCS Cloud (a NetSuite 5 star solution provider) who can collect all the needed financial and NetSuite information from you and then make intelligent recommendations on which NetSuite credit card processing solution best fits your needs.

Keep in mind that price should not be the determining factor: emphasis on how the solution fits into your unique NetSuite environment should be the main driver.

If you wish to go solo then once you narrow down the NetSuite credit card payment service providers to fit your requirements then the next step is to:

1. Contact each NetSuite credit card gateway and/or processor to request an interchange-plus quote.
2. You will need to provide 3 months of credit card statements.
3. Evaluate the quotes received.

The negotiation process can be confusing as the sales rep is there to sell you a service and they can throw out a lot of terms and misdirections. Additionally your unique NetSuite requirements will not be understood by the sales rep because they are definitely not NetSuite experts.

The Fallacy of SuiteApp.com Reviews

All certified SuitePayments providers will be listed on the SuiteApp.com exchange but you should realize that NetSuite never publishes a negative review (based on the author’s experience when attempting to post a negative review).

Therefore, the SuitePayments team apparently do not wish negative reviews to be seen or known about. And, you will only see the “good” news reviews.

NetSuite Credit Card Payment Service Providers

This section gives full details on each of the available NetSuite credit card payment service providers and whether they are certified in the NetSuite SuitePayments program. All providers support Card Not Present (CNP) transactions and only a few support Card Present (CP) transactions.

NetSuite Payment Service Providers Snapshot

The following table gives a quick snapshot of each NetSuite credit card processor and more detailed information can be found in the sections following the table.

Adyen

Adyen is a Dutch payment company that allows businesses to accept e-commerce, mobile, and point-of-sale payments. They has more than 3,500 customers and is listed on the stock exchange Euronext. Founded in 2006.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2916.

Presence: USA, Europe, Brazil, Mexico and Japan.

Processor: self-acquiring solution.

Card-present: Certified with the NetSuite SuiteCommerce In Store (SCIS) point-of-sale system.

NetSuite Value adds: no information available.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, they had 23 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 23 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle).

Pricing notes: has a complicated pricing tier structure that charges a range of basis points depending on the monthly transaction volume (general example 45 – 60 basis points). Each tier is pegged at a specific basis point meaning that even if your monthly volume was very high, that first tier would still be assessed at the higher basis points level. This positions Adyen as the most expensive NetSuite credit card payment processor.

Reviews: Merchant Maverick (4 out of 5 stars)

Recommendation: pricing tier structure is a negative unless their valued added back-end systems are deemed extremely valuable. NetSuite customer support is poor making it challenging to roll out an implementation. 

Back to payment service providers table

Altapay (Valitor)

Altapay was purchased by Valitor in 2014 and changed its name to Valitor in 2019. Valitor is an international payment solutions company who helps partners, merchants and consumers make and receive payments.

Certification: lost their listing on the SuiteApp.com exchange in 2020 and thus are no longer a NetSuite certified solution. It is unclear whether they even offer a non-certified solution today.

Presence: UK, Ireland, Europe.

Processor: major acquiring banks in Europe (list unknown).

Card-present: no card-present solution for NetSuite.

NetSuite Value adds: no information available.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, Altapay had 28 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 28 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle).

Pricing notes: no information available.

Recommendation: author has no experience with Altapay.

Back to payment service providers table

Bluesnap

BlueSnap is a global payments company providing an all-in-one payment platform designed to accelerate commerce for B2B and B2C businesses. It is a private equity company and founded in 2001.

Certification: is a non-certified solution.

Presence: USA.

Processor: self-acquiring solution.

Card-present: no card-present solution for NetSuite.

NetSuite Value adds: a custom NetSuite advanced and automated A/R solution with recurring subscriptions and scheduled billing.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, Bluesnap had 3 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 3 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle).

Pricing notes: no information available.

Recommendation: Bluesnap is a non-certified solution and is therefore not recommended by the author unless their value added features are compelling and as long as the risks associated with a non-certified solution are understood.

Back to payment service providers table

Cardknox

Cardknox is a privately held payment gateway integration provider and a Fidelity Payments company. Founded in 2010.

Certification: is a non-certified solution.

Presence: USA.

Processor: First Data, Elavon, TSYS, AMEX Direct, Chase, Global, Heartland, Vantiv, Worldpay, Moneris and Mercury.

Card-present: supports a simple card-present solution utilizing the IDTECH Augusta EMV USB reader:

NetSuite Value adds: NetSuite automated credit card reconciliation which creates deposit records from the daily batches.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, Cardknox had 16 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 16 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle).

Pricing notes: normal interchange-plus rates (see Gateway and Processing Pricing section above) plus additional fees for the their NetSuite bundle and a fixed monthly gateway fee.

Recommendation: Cardknox is a non-certified solution and is therefore not recommended by the author unless their value added features are compelling and as long as the risks associated with a non-certified solution are understood.

Back to payment service providers table

Cybersource

CyberSource is a global payment management platform built on secure Visa infrastructure with the benefits and insights of a vast $427 billion global processing network. Founded in 1994.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2007.

Presence: USA and 190 countries / territories.

Processor: self acquiring or gateway for 120+ acquirers.

Card-present: no card-present solution.

NetSuite Value adds: none.

NetSuite footprint: it is unknown how many CyberSource customers there are on NetSuite but they have been on the platform since 2007.

Pricing notes: normal gateway rates (see Gateway and Processing Pricing section above).

Recommendation: CyberSource is a solid, reliable gateway provider on the NetSuite platform and is highly recommended.

Back to payment service providers table

eWay

eWay is a non-USA payments gateway provider owned by Global Payments. Founded in 1998.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2007.

Presence: Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Processor: Global Payments.

Card-present: no card-present solution.

NetSuite Value adds: no information available.

NetSuite footprint: It is unknown how many eWay customers there are on NetSuite but they have been on the platform since 2007.

Pricing notes: pricing is expensive with a fixed 150 basis points or 1.5% and $0.25 per transaction.

Recommendation: the author has no experience with this gateway.

Back to payment service providers table

FreedomPay

FreedomPay is a private payments gateway company providing a commerce solution including mobile payment capabilities, high-level security, incentive technologies, and business intelligence that integrate with live POS systems. Founded in 2000.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2017.

Presence: USA and Canada.

Processor: First Data, Elavon, TSYS, Heartland/Global Payments, Chase Paymentech, Vantiv/WorldPay.

Card-present: Certified with the NetSuite POS point-of-sale system. Has an excellent card present solution with SCS Cloud which seamlessly integrates the Ingenico Lane Series of credit card terminals with the standard NetSuite transaction records.

The FreedomPay + SCS Cloud solution is fast, secure and utilizes the same NetSuite Payment Processing Profile as card not present transactions which is a real boon because then card present and card not present transactions all roll up to the same gateway (FreedomPay).

NetSuite Value adds: none.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, FreedomPay had 65 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 65 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle). 

Pricing notes: normal gateway rates (see Gateway and Processing Pricing section above).

Recommendation: FreedomPay is a solid, reliable gateway provider on the NetSuite platform and is highly recommended.

Back to payment service providers table

MerchantE

MerchantE (recently rebranded from Merchant e-Solutions) offers global payment solutions for sales channels including e-commerce, mail orders, and scheduled payments. Owned by Cielo. Founded in 1999.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2000.

Presence: USA.

Processor: self-acquiring.

Card-present: Certified with the NetSuite SuiteCommerce In Store (SCIS) point-of-sale system. A manual card swipe solution using a Magtek Dynamag card reader (non-EMV) is available:

NetSuite Value adds: none.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, MerchantE had 1,086 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 1,086 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle). 

Pricing notes: normal interchange-plus rates (see Gateway and Processing Pricing section above).

Reviews: Merchant Maverick (4 out of 5 stars)

Recommendation: MerchantE is a solid, reliable processor provider on the NetSuite platform and recommended providing you ensure the quoted pricing is competitive and not inflated. 

Back to payment service providers table

NewGen

NewGen is an Oracle NetSuite solution provider who have developed a non-certified custom integration to the PayTrace payments gateway. PayTrace was founded in 2004.

Certification: is a non-certified solution.

Presence: USA.

Processor: gateway.

Card-present: none.

NetSuite Value adds: none.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, NewGen had 8 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 8 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle). 

Pricing notes: unavailable.

Recommendation: NewGen is a non-certified solution and is therefore not recommended by the author unless their value added features are compelling and as long as the risks associated with a non-certified solution are understood. 

Back to payment service providers table

PayU

PayU is a non-USA payments gateway provider for Latin America. Founded in 2006.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2016.

Presence: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and Peru.

Processor: gateway.

Card-present: no card-present solution.

NetSuite Value adds: no information available.

NetSuite footprint: It is unknown how many PayU customers there are on NetSuite but they have been on the platform since 2016.

Pricing notes: no information available.

Recommendation: the author has no experience with this gateway.

Back to payment service providers table

SecurePay

SecurePay is a non-USA payments gateway provider for ANZO. Founded in 1999.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2012.

Presence: Australia, New Zealand.

Processor: gateway.

Card-present: no card-present solution.

NetSuite Value adds: no information available.

NetSuite footprint: It is unknown how many SecurePay customers there are on NetSuite but they have been on the platform since 2012.

Pricing notes: no information available.

Recommendation: the author has no experience with this gateway.

Back to payment service providers table

Solupay (Versapay)

Solupay is a FirstData Independent Sales Organization (ISO) that delivers simple and secure payment solutions. Purchased by Versapay in 2020. Founded in 2004.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2015.

Presence: USA, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Processor: FirstData as the sole back-end acquirer. Several gateways used for card-present transactions depending on the setup: Payeezy or Bridgepay.

Card-present: multiple credit card terminals available including the Clover terminal. Certified with the NetSuite SuiteCommerce In Store (SCIS) point-of-sale system.

NetSuite Value adds: a touted credit card reconciliation feature within NetSuite but the author was never able to get it working.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, Solupay (Versapay) had 1,183 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 1,183 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle). 

Pricing notes: normal interchange-plus rates (see Gateway and Processing Pricing section above).

Reviews: See my Solupay (Versapay) NetSuite Credit Card Payments Review article.

Recommendation: the author was unsuccessful in getting the Solupay (Versapay) solution working with the Clover credit terminal over an agonizing 11 month implementation project. See my Solupay (Versapay) NetSuite Credit Card Payments Review article for full details. Solupay (Versapay) is not a recommended payments provider based on the author’s first hand experience.

Back to payment service providers table

Worldpay

WorldPay is a well-known global payments processor and was purchased by FIS in 2019. Founded in 1989.

Certification: is a NetSuite certified SuitePayments provider since 2017.

Presence: USA, UK, Hong Kong, Israel and Singapore.

Processor: UK/Europe Self Acquiring; USA gateway for FirstData and Wells Fargo.

Card-present: Certified with the NetSuite SuiteCommerce In Store (SCIS) point-of-sale system. Can also use their TriPOS cloud solution to connect to a variety of payment terminals.

NetSuite Value adds: none.

NetSuite footprint: as of 11 Oct 2020, Worldpay had 0 installs of their bundle in NetSuite (indicating at most 0 customers unless other customers are using a private bundle). 

Pricing notes: normal interchange-plus rates (see Gateway and Processing Pricing section above).

Reviews: Merchant Maverick (3 out of 5 stars)

Recommendation: WorldPay appears to have not gained much traction on the NetSuite platform and the author has no experience with this provider. 

Back to payment service providers table

Final Advice

Selecting a NetSuite Credit Card Processing solution can be a time consuming and daunting task especially if you have never had to evaluate such solutions before.

FreedomPay and CyberSource are solid gateway choices giving you flexibility on selecting your processor.

The FreedomPay + SCS Cloud solution for card present transactions is a great alternative to expensive POS solutions.

MerchantE is a good solution for an all-in-one gateway and processor for the USA.

My strong recommendation is to contact the experts over at SCS Cloud (a NetSuite 5 star solution provider) who will collect all the needed financial and NetSuite information from you and then make intelligent recommendations on which NetSuite credit card processing solution best fits your needs and will work best in your unique NetSuite configuration.

The Last Word

I hope you have found this article useful in understanding the various NetSuite credit card processing choices. Please feel free to post a comment if you feel there is anything missing or incorrect in my article. Thanks!