PG contract and merchant screening guide · 2026

Screening is not a process that begins when documents arrive. It is a process that verifies the values you declared. So fix those values first. The first is the contracting party: a corporation or a sole proprietor, and whether the entity signing is the same entity that actually operates the service. A structure where a subsidiary or an operating agency runs the storefront diverges here. The second is what you sell — write the products and services that will appear on the site as an actual list. The third is expected monthly volume and average ticket size, because these set both the rate and the collateral terms; declare a large number without a basis and the collateral grows with it. The fourth is the settlement cycle you want. With those four written down, your first conversation with the provider becomes a check on terms rather than a request for a quote. These values go straight onto the application form and become the baseline the reviewer compares against your site, so align them internally instead of arriving with different numbers from different departments. Amending them later because they diverged from the business plan can send screening back to the start.

The most common reason for rejection is not paperwork, it is the site. Reviewers do not stop at the payment screen. They check whether product pages state price and delivery terms, whether terms of service and the privacy policy open, whether refund and withdrawal rules exist as their own document, and whether the business registration number, mail-order sales registration number, representative's name, address, and contact details appear in the footer. Some verify that the customer service number actually connects. Applying before this is ready costs twice the time in rejection and resubmission. If the site is still in development, agree with the provider on a route they can use for review. For a service that cannot be seen without an account, create a review account and submit it. Products you do not intend to sell are also grounds for rejection — anything on the screen reads as something you sell.

Within the same industry, what you sell changes the requirements. Products requiring a license carry that evidence into the screening file. Health functional foods, medical devices, alcohol, cosmetics, travel services, lending and financial products, and education services are the usual places where an extra check attaches. A gap between the moment of payment and the moment goods or services are delivered also changes terms: prepaid balances, reservations, subscriptions, made-to-order goods, and crowdfunding all sit here. Intermediary structures divide once more. Whether you are the seller or you connect buyers with sellers changes both who is settled to and where liability sits, and it carries its own disclosure requirement. If you plan to ship abroad or accept cards issued overseas, declare that at the start. Adding a product category after screening usually means being screened again.

Use the provider's current application guide and the applicant's business type to establish the document list. Check which business registration, representative verification, and settlement-account records are needed. A corporation may also need registry, seal, or beneficial-owner documents; a sole proprietor follows the identity checks for that applicant type. Confirm acceptable account names against the applicant and the provider's conditions instead of excluding representative-named accounts in every case. Include licensing evidence when the products require it. Schedule documents with issue-date or validity conditions for the submission date. Check the correct form and upload route for a corporation, sole proprietor, or hosted store, since these can differ. Also record the forms, owner, and submission route for adding methods or changing merchant information.

Screening time depends on the provider, each payment method's process, and how ready the application is. Incomplete screens, mismatches between the submitted products and the site, or late questions about licensing and marketplace structure can add rework. Cards, bank transfer, wallets, and carrier billing may have different reviewers and activation schedules. Check whether billing keys and escrow require separate applications or review. In the first call, share the business category, products, and required methods, then separate tasks that can run in parallel from those awaiting another step. Align expected completion and time for corrections with launch for each essential method. Record an owner and next check date for unconfirmed methods and decide their launch scope separately.

The provider receives the approved amount from the card companies and passes it to the merchant. Between those two moments, cancellations, refunds, non-delivery, and disputes need somewhere to be recovered from. Guarantee insurance, pledged collateral, and settlement holdback occupy that place. Five things generally set the size: the dispute history of the industry, expected monthly volume, the gap between payment and delivery, how long the business has operated and its financial position, and the share of revenue that is prepaid in nature. The longer goods or services arrive after payment, the harder the requirement lands. Holdback is often not fixed at signing but written as a condition that triggers during operation — a clause that withholds a share when the cancellation rate crosses a threshold or disputes spike. If the share and the release condition are not written as numbers, that clause becomes the route by which cash gets locked up in your busiest season. Once volume accumulates and disputes stay low there is room to renegotiate, so set the review date at the start.

Determine whether purchase-protection requirements apply by checking the transaction type, payment method, and the scope and exceptions of the relevant law. Before signing, confirm applicability with internal legal staff or an adviser, and ask the provider about available escrow or other required features and the application process. Go beyond the feature name in the contract: document the purchase confirmation, delivery information, and cancellation steps needed in the order flow. If an insurance arrangement is required, assign enrolment, renewal, and evidence management separately. Review payment-screen and terms disclosures against the applicable requirements, and record the review date and supporting basis. Use provider documentation to establish supported features and integration steps, separately from determining the merchant's legal obligations.

The first is settlement: the cycle, the payout date, what happens when a payout date falls on a holiday, and whether the cycle differs by payment method. The second is fees: per-method rates, any joining fee or monthly charge, per-item charges such as settlement transfers and tax invoice issuance, and whether the provider can change a rate unilaterally, under what condition and with how much notice. The third is cancellations and disputes: how many days you have to respond to a card issuer's chargeback, what happens to the funds when that window passes, and who submits the evidence. The fourth is settlement holdback and the release of collateral. The fifth is termination: who may terminate and when, when remaining funds and holdback are returned, and who handles cancellations and refunds that arrive during that period. The last clause is the least read at the start of a contract and the most expensive at the end of one.

On approval you receive a merchant ID, test and production keys, and an admin console account. At that point, check the payment methods named in the contract are actually enabled in the console. Any method still under screening moves down the development order. The domain that opens the payment window and the server address that receives results have to be registered, so submit both development and production addresses. Confirm that the settlement account, the tax invoice conditions, and the settlement cycle read the same in the contract and in the console. That is where the contract and screening stage ends; state design, exception handling, and sandbox verification are picked up by the integration kickoff checklist. IXC prepares the comparison of payment methods and terms, the screening document list, and the technical review responses with you, and adjusts the development order to the screening schedule. The party whose name goes on the contract is the client.