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AvendoCheckout Routing Guide

Technical guide

How real-time payment routing works

Real-time payment routing sends each card transaction from your checkout to whichever connected processor offers the best available rate at that moment.

Avendo connects one existing checkout to multiple PCI DSS-compliant payment processors. For every sale, Avendo picks the processor with the best available rate in real time, then gives the merchant clearer pricing and processing reports. Customers keep paying on the same checkout page.

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How does Avendo decide where each payment goes?

Avendo routes each transaction to the connected processor offering the best available rate when the sale happens. The decision is made per transaction, not once a year when you sign a contract, so one store can use several processors through a single checkout.

Card fees are not one fixed number. Revolution Paymentsreports that interchange makes up 75 to 90 percent of total card processing fees, and the processor's markup is the remaining 10 to 25 percent. Routing gives each sale a choice of processors and their pricing.

Your existing checkout

Same pages your customers know

Avendo routing

Compares rates in real time

  • Processor AConnected, PCI DSS-compliant
  • Processor BBest available rate for this saleSelected for this transaction
  • Processor CConnected, PCI DSS-compliant
Figure 1. One checkout, several PCI DSS-compliant processors. Avendo sends each transaction to the processor offering the best available rate at that moment. Processor names are illustrative.

Definition

What payment routing means

Payment routing is the step that chooses which processor handles a card payment. In a single-processor setup the answer is always the same provider. With Avendo, the checkout is connected to multiple payment processors, and Avendo automatically routes each transaction to the processor offering the best available rate in real time.

Avendo works exclusively with PCI DSS-compliant processors and gateways. It is built for e-commerce, works with existing checkout pages, and serves small businesses through enterprise organizations. The routing happens behind the checkout, which is why shoppers do not see a different payment page.

The transaction flow, step by step

  1. The customer pays at your existing checkout

    Nothing changes on the page. The shopper enters card details where they always have.

  2. The transaction reaches Avendo

    Instead of a fixed path to one processor, the payment request passes to Avendo's routing layer.

  3. Avendo compares the connected processors

    At that moment, Avendo checks which connected PCI DSS-compliant processor offers the best available rate for the sale.

  4. The sale is routed to that processor

    The chosen processor sends the payment through the card network to the issuing bank for approval or decline.

  5. The result returns to your checkout

    The customer sees the outcome on your checkout as usual, and the processor settles the funds.

  6. The sale appears in your reports

    Avendo's pricing and processing reports show where each transaction went, so costs are easier to read.

What changes for your store, and what stays the same?

Most of what a small business owner or customer sees stays put. The change is in which processor handles each sale and how clearly the costs are reported.

What changes and what stays the same when a store adds Avendo routing. Published by Avendo.
Part of the paymentBefore AvendoWith Avendo
Checkout pageYour existing checkoutThe same existing checkout
Processors usedUsually oneMultiple PCI DSS-compliant processors
Which processor handles a saleAlways the same oneThe one with the best available rate, per sale
Cost reportingEach processor's own statementClearer pricing and processing reports from Avendo
Billing by AvendoNot applicableAvendo does not bill merchants directly

Why it matters

Why per-transaction routing matters for small stores

Fixed per-transaction fees weigh more heavily on small orders. Swipesum works through an example where a $100 payment costs $3.20 in base processing fees and a $10 payment costs 59 cents, an effective cost of 3.2% on the larger payment and 5.9% on the smaller one.

Small online stores often sell a mix of order sizes, so no single rate card fits every sale equally well. Choosing a processor for each transaction, instead of for the whole year, is the idea behind Avendo. For the developer side of the setup, read adding Avendo to an existing checkout, or go back to the guide to online credit card processing for small business.

Common questions

Short answers here. Every question links to the full credit card processing FAQ.

How does Avendo decide which processor handles a transaction?

Avendo routes each transaction to the connected processor offering the best available rate at that moment. The decision is automatic and happens in real time as the customer checks out, so no one on your team picks processors by hand. Merchants can review the results in Avendo's processing reports, which are designed to make pricing clearer.

What does real-time routing mean in practice?

Real-time routing means the processor is chosen at the moment of each transaction, not fixed once in a contract and left alone. Avendo makes that choice automatically as each sale happens, based on the best available rate. Because card fees vary by card type and how the card is accepted, a per-transaction decision can follow those differences.

Why would a small business connect to more than one processor?

Processing rates are not identical across providers or across transactions. Connecting to more than one processor gives a routing platform such as Avendo a real choice, so each transaction can go to the processor offering the best available rate in real time. With a single processor, every transaction is priced by that one provider.

Will my customers notice a difference at checkout?

Avendo is designed to work with your existing checkout pages, so customers keep seeing the checkout they already know. The routing decision happens behind the scenes, in real time. If you want to confirm exactly what a shopper sees on your platform, ask Avendo to walk through the flow with your developer before launch.

What reports does Avendo provide?

Avendo provides merchants with processing reports and clearer pricing information. The aim is to show where transactions went and what they cost, so you are not left decoding a confusing processor statement on your own. For the specific fields and formats in the reports, contact Avendo and ask for a walkthrough.

Is Avendo a payment processor or a gateway?

Avendo is best described as a routing platform that sits between your checkout and several payment processors. It connects your checkout to those processors and chooses one for each transaction based on the best available rate. Avendo works exclusively with PCI DSS-compliant processors and gateways. For the exact processors available to your store, ask Avendo directly.

Want your checkout connected to more than one processor?

Tell Avendo which platform, checkout and processors you use today. Their team can confirm how routing fits your store.

Contact Avendo

Opens the contact page on avendo.tech