How Stitch makes card processing more reliable

Processing card payments in South Africa involves a number of third parties, including acquiring banks, issuing banks, networks like Mastercard and Visa, payment service providers (PSPs) and MPIs (merchant plugins) for 3DS authentication. 

Stitch Card removes complexities around card processing, and improves reliability, by building redundancies into our card solution, optimising user journeys to enable flexible authentication mechanisms and more. Stitch also follows stringent data privacy and protection measures, via PCI DSS Level 1 certification and ISO 27001 ISMS certification. 

Benefits of integrating Stitch card

• Built-in redundancy. We’ve improved reliability in our card processing solution by building redundancy into our system. This happens through backup acquirers and providers that we've integrated at every step of the process. If one provider fails, Stitch automatically switches to another, ensuring uninterrupted service and high conversion rates for merchants.

• Direct connections with banks. Thanks to our custom built ‘switch and transaction engine’, we’re able to directly communicate with banks, facilitating faster responses to market changes, regulatory updates and evolving messaging requirements. By controlling this critical infrastructure, we can minimise reliance on external parties and ensure a smoother, more responsive experience for merchants and their consumers.

• Own your network tokens. With Stitch, merchants have control over their tokenised cardholder data, giving them the freedom to easily move card payment processors without lock-in, enable recurring payments and easily update expired or lost cards.

• Flexible integration options. Merchants can leverage our optimised, pre-built card payment flows that move customers from sign up to transaction quickly, or choose to leverage secure fields or direct API integrations to maintain elements of their own UI.

• Flexible 3DS protocols. Stitch assists merchants in navigating the challenges of 3DS authentication. 3DS authentication can be complex, and if not optimised, it can lead to significant transaction drop-off rates, sometimes as high as 20-30%. Stitch helps merchants fine-tune their authentication processes, striking a balance between security and a more seamless user experience.

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FAQs

Why is card processing reliability important for businesses?

Reliable card processing ensures customers can complete transactions without interruption. Downtime or failed payments directly impact revenue, customer trust, and brand reputation.

How does Stitch improve card processing reliability?

Stitch uses redundant infrastructure, intelligent routing, and continuous monitoring to minimise downtime and automatically reroute transactions if an issue occurs.

What is intelligent routing in card payments?

Intelligent routing selects the best available processing path for each transaction based on performance, availability, and success rates, improving approval rates and reliability.

How does redundancy reduce payment downtime?

Redundancy removes single points of failure by maintaining backup systems and multiple processing routes, ensuring payments continue even when a component fails.

Which businesses benefit most from reliable card processing?

High-volume merchants, enterprise retailers, marketplaces, and subscription businesses benefit most from reliable card processing due to their dependence on uninterrupted payments.

Is reliable card processing important in South Africa?

Yes. Given local infrastructure variability and peak traffic periods, reliable and resilient card processing is critical for South African businesses to maintain consistent payment performance.

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