Choosing a payment setup: bank gateway or payment provider?
If you sell online there are two ways to take payments, and each asks different things of you. Here is how to work out which one fits.
The shop is ready and the products are in. Next you need a way to take the money, and in Türkiye there are two.
Route 1: a bank virtual POS
You apply to your bank for a virtual POS. Once it's approved, the bank's system connects straight to your site.
The upside is that commission is usually lower, and there's room to negotiate as your turnover grows.
The downside is a slow application with a lot of paperwork. The bank asks for company documents, trading history and sometimes a deposit. If your company is new, being turned down is common.
Each bank also means a separate integration, so working with three banks means three separate setups.
Route 2: a payment provider
Providers such as iyzico, PayTR and Param sit between you and the bank. With one integration you can accept every card and most banks' instalment plans.
The upside is that applying is much easier and faster. Even as a sole trader you can be selling within a few days. Integration comes as a ready-made plugin, so there's almost no technical work.
The downside is higher commission than a bank charges, and the gap turns into serious money as your turnover grows.
What to compare
Commission and hidden deductions
Don't decide on the headline percentage alone. Ask what commission applies to instalment payments, whether anything is deducted when you refund, and whether there's a fixed monthly fee.
Settlement time
How many days until the money reaches your account? It ranges from 1 to 7 days and can matter more to your cash flow than the commission.
If you pay suppliers up front for stock, waiting seven days for your money squeezes your working capital.
Instalment support
In Türkiye, instalments have a direct effect on whether people buy. Find out which banks' cards you can offer instalments on, how many instalments, and who pays for them.
3D Secure
The step where the cardholder confirms the payment with an SMS code. Turning on 3D Secure costs a few points of conversion, but it moves fraud risk and chargeback liability from you to the bank.
If you're just starting out, keep 3D Secure on. A single fraudulent transaction costs more than a few lost orders.
What I recommend
If you're just starting out, go with a payment provider. Setup is quick, the risk is low, and you don't have to wait weeks on paperwork just to find out whether anything sells.
Once your monthly turnover settles at a steady level, apply for a bank virtual POS. By then you'll probably be approved, and the commission difference is worth the effort.
You can also run both. The bank POS handles payments and the provider stays as a backup, so sales don't stop if one of them fails.