Online Payment Processing
Guys im a freshman computer science student and i want to build a online payment system for my country, right now we can not purchase from sites like Amazon or any e-commerce, how do payment processing work? Do i need to partner with an existing bank in my country? If you know please tell me.
10 comments
You need a couple of generic stuff:
- A non-sanctioned country
- Partnering up with existing banks so you can actually process payments and manage fees
- Regulatory license for payment processing - if applicable
- PCIDSS compliance if you will process cards (can come later on, card schemes will knock your door)
- A really secure infrastructure and application (or you are in trouble)
- Some of the founding people actually knowing the domain
- Well-thought API
If you get past the first one then the rest is actually all about the investment.
- A non-sanctioned country
- Partnering up with existing banks so you can actually process payments and manage fees
- Regulatory license for payment processing - if applicable
- PCIDSS compliance if you will process cards (can come later on, card schemes will knock your door)
- A really secure infrastructure and application (or you are in trouble)
- Some of the founding people actually knowing the domain
- Well-thought API
If you get past the first one then the rest is actually all about the investment.
If your country doesn't have an online payment system, it's probably a low priority concern for your government / banking regulator. If there are no laws / regulation prohibiting it, that's great for you as you will have more freedom to build a system with whatever feature you want. But there's always the risk that as soon as you build something and introduce it into the market, you and your product will suddenly be under the government or banking regulator's glare.
So the first step (and this is true for anything to do with the finance industry) is to study the banking laws and regulations of your country.
The second step is to determine what FinTech infrastructure they have in place for banking, and what you will have to build and add-on to it. E.g: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was created by India to be the backbone of its digital payment systems over its existing banking system - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Payments_Corporation_... ... If your country already has something like that in place, then check if they offer a way for private entities to use it build on it. For e.g. NPCI offers an API Platform called Nfinite that allows corporates and startups to tap into their network and build new platforms (see https://nfinite.in/about-us ).
So the first step (and this is true for anything to do with the finance industry) is to study the banking laws and regulations of your country.
The second step is to determine what FinTech infrastructure they have in place for banking, and what you will have to build and add-on to it. E.g: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was created by India to be the backbone of its digital payment systems over its existing banking system - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Payments_Corporation_... ... If your country already has something like that in place, then check if they offer a way for private entities to use it build on it. For e.g. NPCI offers an API Platform called Nfinite that allows corporates and startups to tap into their network and build new platforms (see https://nfinite.in/about-us ).
You have 5 major challenges:
- Build a tech stack, that is limited on your skills
- Deal with laws, regulation and banks
- Be ready to feel the beautiful world of "everyone will try to steal money"
- Been business savy to sell & manage this
- You will handle a potential BIG amount of money. Now you need to be reputable AND worry about been a target (in all senses: A target for the tax collectors, regulatory agencies, banks, entrenched player(s) that will try to take you down, etc)
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The first is challenging.
The second can be near impossible depending on a lot of factors (like, be friend with that "connected" people, have enough cash to support legally you can operate this, etc), specially if your country have not an already healthy ecosystem (a big tell something is fishy).
You need the second more than the first, if wanna be FIRST party on this, instead of a player in a segment of this.
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A probably better avenue is to incorporate in a place where you have access to a stablished processor (like https://stripe.com/atlas) and be a intermediary. STILL you will deal with the 4 things above (and still need to have enough financial capability to deal with the incorporation, taxes, hiring of lawyer, accounting, etc), but will be relatively easier.
- Build a tech stack, that is limited on your skills
- Deal with laws, regulation and banks
- Be ready to feel the beautiful world of "everyone will try to steal money"
- Been business savy to sell & manage this
- You will handle a potential BIG amount of money. Now you need to be reputable AND worry about been a target (in all senses: A target for the tax collectors, regulatory agencies, banks, entrenched player(s) that will try to take you down, etc)
---
The first is challenging.
The second can be near impossible depending on a lot of factors (like, be friend with that "connected" people, have enough cash to support legally you can operate this, etc), specially if your country have not an already healthy ecosystem (a big tell something is fishy).
You need the second more than the first, if wanna be FIRST party on this, instead of a player in a segment of this.
---
A probably better avenue is to incorporate in a place where you have access to a stablished processor (like https://stripe.com/atlas) and be a intermediary. STILL you will deal with the 4 things above (and still need to have enough financial capability to deal with the incorporation, taxes, hiring of lawyer, accounting, etc), but will be relatively easier.
Don't know why you are being downvoted - you are right about many aspects and this isn't a simple project at all that a fresher right out of college can realistically execute.
Have you looked into building payment gateway apps? If there are payment processing services that supports your country, you can look into if they have an API that you could use to build a payment gateway. The payment gateway app can then be integrated into eCommerce sites.
https://www.cyclos.org/ - closer to a payment gateway
https://tyk.io/ - Gateway part - figure out the payment part
https://mojaloop.io/ - Learn about specifications
https://www.openbankproject.com/ - Learn the code
It would help if you'd supply us with the country you're in :)
For sanctioned countries, there is a very good chance to start successful Amazon alternaives as e.g. Digikala did in Iran ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digikala ).
Anyway, other than crypto solutions (if supported), there is no way to have financial transactions with giant western companies like Amazon. Shipping items is also another issue.
Targeting local customers is easier. Then you can expand the business to the allies countries.
Anyway, other than crypto solutions (if supported), there is no way to have financial transactions with giant western companies like Amazon. Shipping items is also another issue.
Targeting local customers is easier. Then you can expand the business to the allies countries.
Send me money, i will buy for you and send by post!