Merchants can lower payment processing fees by using payment orchestration platforms like Primer that simplify how transactions are routed, optimized, and reconciled across multiple providers.
Instead of relying on one payment processor, orchestration platforms like Primer let you connect to several acquirers, gateways, and payment methods: giving you full control over costs and visibility into your true payment performance.
What payment orchestration is
Payment orchestration unifies every aspect of your payment ecosystem: including processors, payment methods, fraud tools, and reporting, into a single platform. It gives merchants full visibility and flexibility across their payment stack, making it easier to optimize costs and reduce operational complexity.
How payment orchestration lowers processing fees
1. Leveraging local acquirers
Working with local acquirers helps merchants avoid cross-border interchange fees and improve authorization rates.
For example, a merchant selling in Brazil can route BRL transactions through a local acquirer rather than a European one, potentially saving up to 1–2% in fees. This strategy is especially effective for global ecommerce, SaaS, and subscription businesses.
2. Optimizing payment methods
Payment orchestration platforms analyze performance across payment methods and allow merchants to promote lower-cost options like bank transfers or local wallets.
3. Vendor independence and volume leverage
By connecting to multiple processors, merchants can avoid vendor lock-in and negotiate better rates. Orchestration platforms also make it easy to compare authorization rates, costs, and reliability across acquirers, helping you shift volume to the best performer.
For example, a merchant might benchmark Adyen, Stripe, and a local PSP, then route more traffic to whichever provides the lowest fees and highest approval rate.
4. Fewer failed transaction costs
Failed or declined transactions often trigger unnecessary fees. Payment orchestration reduces these losses by automatically detecting failed payments and re-routing them through a backup acquirer or payment method in real time. Primer Fallbacks automatically retry failed payments through another processor, reducing payment loss.
5. Centralized reconciliation and fee transparency
Managing multiple PSPs often means inconsistent reporting and hidden fees. Payment orchestration platforms with centralized Reconciliation solve this by consolidating settlement reports, fees, and payouts across all providers and regions.
With accurate reconciliation, merchants can:
- Detect overcharges and duplicate deductions
- Track interchange, assessment, and processor fees per acquirer
- Compare total costs across currencies,payment types, and markets
This level of transparency enables smarter financial decisions, regional optimization, and sustainable cost reductions.
7. Tokenization across providers
Tokenization allows merchants to store payment credentials securely and reuse them across processors. With orchestration, tokenization lets merchants switch PSPs or add new ones without losing saved cards, keeping costs flexible and avoiding expensive vendor lock-in.
Reduce your payment processing fees with Primer
Primer helps you do all of the above. It’s a unified payment infrastructure that helps merchants integrate, automate, and optimize payments through a single API.
With Primer, you can:
- Connect and manage multiple processors without writing code
- Configure smart routing and fallback logic using simple workflows
- Analyze fees, settlements, and payouts with Primer Reconciliation, your single source of truth for payment costs
FAQs: The best payment orchestration platform for reducing payment processing fees
1. What is payment orchestration?
Payment orchestration connects multiple payment processors, methods, and services into one platform. It gives merchants control over routing, reconciliation, and cost optimization without managing multiple integrations.
2. How does smart routing lower processing costs?
Smart routing lets merchants define logic to send each transaction through the most cost-effective route. Platforms like Primer make it easy to create these rules without technical resources, helping merchants minimize fees and improve approval rates.
3. What is payment reconciliation, and why does it matter?
Payment reconciliation matches PSP payouts against internal records to ensure every transaction is accurate. With centralized reconciliation, merchants can identify hidden fees, track true processing costs, and make better financial decisions.
4. How does payment orchestration help with vendor lock-in?
By connecting to multiple acquirers through a single API, merchants can switch providers freely without losing stored payment credentials. This flexibility helps maintain competitive pricing and performance.
5. Can payment orchestration improve customer experience too?
Yes. By reducing failed payments and offering more reliable authorization routes, orchestration enhances checkout success and customer satisfaction while keeping processing costs low.
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