In the digital age, businesses of all sizes rely on fast, efficient, and secure payment processing. While smaller companies may get by with one merchant account, many organisations — especially those operating in high-risk or international markets — require multiple merchant accounts. Managing them separately can quickly become a challenge. That’s where a payment gateway for multiple merchant accounts comes in, offering a unified way to handle all transactions.
A multi-merchant payment gateway is software that allows businesses to connect more than one merchant account across different acquiring banks or service providers. Instead of logging into several dashboards, companies gain a single access point to track all payments, transaction details, and account history.
Without such a setup, businesses using multiple payment providers would need to manage each account manually, leading to fragmented data and higher administrative costs. A multi-account payment gateway eliminates this inefficiency by streamlining access and consolidating reporting.
A payment gateway is a software application that facilitates the transfer of payment information between a customer, merchant, and their acquiring bank. It enables secure processing of payments from customers using debit or credit cards. For many businesses, one gateway isn’t always enough. That’s why a lot of companies choose to work with multiple payment gateways. Doing so gives them more flexibility — different gateways can handle different currencies, regions, or payment methods.
A merchant account is a special bank or PSP account that allows businesses to accept card payments. The account type, conditions, and fees depend on factors such as industry, turnover, and risk level. High-risk businesses — like gambling or travel — often face stricter terms and higher fees. This makes solutions for managing multiple merchant accounts particularly valuable for such sectors.
While not every company needs several accounts, some industries find them essential. Banks and acquirers often impose turnover limits; if your merchant account limit is $70,000 but you expect $100,000 in transactions, you’ll need another account.
Multi-account payment strategies are also common for businesses with multiple websites or online stores. A payment gateway for multiple websites or a multiple-store payment solution lets each site operate smoothly while still being connected to a central payment hub.
For high-risk industries like iGaming, adult entertainment, or crypto, multi-merchant online payment processing offers another benefit: risk diversification. If one account is frozen or restricted, transactions can be rerouted to another account, ensuring business continuity. This approach also helps companies stay within chargeback thresholds and reduce exposure to unexpected freezes.
Large enterprises and platforms that support multiple merchants under one umbrella also benefit from a multi-merchant payment gateway. For example, marketplaces, franchise networks, or SaaS platforms often manage several sub-merchants at once.
Working with multiple payment processors brings several advantages. It expands payment options for customers, helps businesses scale without being limited by turnover caps, and opens doors to new markets. Features like intelligent payment routing allow transactions to be directed to the best-performing provider, reducing costs and boosting approval rates.
Another benefit is reliability: if one processor experiences downtime, others can take over, ensuring uninterrupted transaction flows. For high-risk merchants, dispersing traffic across multiple payment providers lowers the risk of account termination due to chargeback ratios or volume limits.
On the downside, getting a merchant account approved is never simple, and repeating the process for multiple accounts multiplies the effort. Management also becomes more complex: merchants must maintain relationships with different acquiring banks and reconcile data from separate dashboards. Without a proper multiple payment gateway integration, handling this manually can be overwhelming.
There are two ways to work with multiple merchant accounts. The first is to integrate all the providers needed and manually log in to multiple dashboards at different providers. This can be time-consuming and may require significant technical expertise to manage. The second option is to use a payment gateway with ready-made integrations and a single place to manage all payment flows across all merchant accounts.
The first option may be suitable for businesses with in-house technical expertise and resources to manage multiple integrations. However, for many businesses, the second option is a more practical solution. By using a payment gateway with ready-made integrations, businesses can save time and effort while ensuring that all their payment processing needs are met.
While using a payment gateway with ready-made integrations may offer several benefits, it is important to consider the potential drawbacks. For example, businesses may need to pay higher fees for using such a service, and they may be limited in terms of the payment providers they can use. Additionally, businesses may be reliant on the payment gateway provider for support and technical assistance.
Corefy is a payment orchestration platform that offers businesses a range of benefits when it comes to working with multiple merchant accounts. After a single API integration, you’ll have only one dashboard with all your transactional data gathered and unified and all the tools presented for you to use.
In addition to the wide range of integrations, Corefy also provides an advanced payment infrastructure that is developed and maintained by our team of experts. We offer solutions for both payments and payouts, with special features like intelligent routing, cascading, multicurrency support, dynamic currency conversion, reporting and analytics, etc.
Besides providing our clients with all the payment tech they might need, we share our industry expertise, helping them optimise and grow their businesses. Don’t hesitate to book a demo to learn more about how we can facilitate your growth and solve your payment pains.
