Payment gateway support remains critical as automation misses failures

Payment gateway support remains a core operational issue for merchants even as automated systems handle high transaction volumes, according to Nanne Parmar, chief executive of Easemoney. Parmar said modern gateways can process more than 10,000 transactions a minute, but about 15% of digital transaction failures stem from silent errors between merchants, gateways, network switches and banking APIs.

Writing on Finextra’s community platform, Parmar argued that automated tools work well for routine support requests, such as checking transaction status, identifying common error codes, collecting logs and sending alerts. He said AI-powered support can resolve up to 70% of common merchant queries, allowing technical teams to focus on production incidents that require engineering judgment.

The operational risk is concentrated in failures that cross several systems. Parmar said a single online payment can pass through as many as seven systems before completion, including the checkout page, payment gateway, bank, UPI or card network and other financial infrastructure. Customers may see only a generic payment failure message even when the underlying fault sits elsewhere in the chain.

Why does payment gateway support need human engineers?

Human engineers are needed when an error cannot be diagnosed from a single system message. Parmar said these cases can involve API failures, webhook errors, delayed bank callbacks, gateway timeouts, settlement mismatches and conflicting records between banks and merchants.

Webhook failures are a common example. A webhook is an automated message sent from one system to another when an event occurs, such as a payment confirmation. If the callback fails or arrives late, a bank may mark a payment as successful while the merchant’s order remains pending.

Parmar said around 23% of payment failures involve inconsistent error codes across systems. In such cases, support engineers may need to review API logs, webhook events, server records and bank responses before identifying the root cause.

What are the revenue risks from payment outages?

Parmar cited studies showing that unresolved gateway issues can reduce daily revenue by 2% to 5% for every hour a payment problem continues. He also said 68% of customers may abandon their carts if they face payment problems during checkout.

For a business processing ₹10 crore in monthly payments, Parmar said even one hour of downtime can create material losses. He identified subscription platforms, travel websites, online retailers and education companies as businesses where failed payments can quickly translate into lost sales and customer dissatisfaction.

During outages, Parmar said merchants need clear answers on the cause of the failure, how many transactions are affected, whether a workaround is available, who is handling the incident and when the next update will be provided.

What should payment gateway support include?

Parmar said merchants should look beyond pricing, checkout features and transaction success rates when selecting a payment provider. He said service-level agreements should include a human engineering response within 15 to 30 minutes for critical payment outages.

He also said payment support teams should understand APIs, software development kits, webhooks, refunds, settlements and reconciliation. Critical production issues should be escalated by priority, with one support manager owning the case and coordinating across engineering, banking and operations teams.

Before launch, Parmar said human engineers should review webhooks, retry logic, payment status mapping and reconciliation processes to reduce production errors. He cited EnKash Payment Gateway as an example of a provider offering REST APIs, mobile SDKs, plugins, documentation and human technical specialists for integration and live operations.

Parmar’s central view is that automation and human support should operate together: automated systems handle predictable requests, while engineers address complex exceptions involving banks, networks and merchant systems.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.