- Operating job
- Payment methods
- Exceptions
- Settlement
Compare gateways by the work they need to do
Use the table as a set of questions for a product demo or sandbox test. Confirm methods, settlement currencies and specific capabilities for your own account.
| Operating job | Payment to test | Exception to test | Evidence to request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local e-commerce | M-Pesa order in KES | Customer abandons the prompt, then retries | Order, attempt and settlement references |
| SaaS | Initial invoice and renewal | Renewal fails after service has started | Invoice state, retry controls and credit records |
| Marketplace | Order involving two sellers | One seller’s item is refunded after fulfilment | Seller allocation, reversals and payout records |
| Travel | Booking deposit and remaining balance | Partial cancellation or card dispute | Booking reference, currency and adjustment records |
Local e-commerce: recover a payment without duplicating an order
Test a typical Kenyan shilling order from checkout through the M-Pesa prompt. Then close the checkout while the order is pending and try a second attempt. The gateway should give your team a way to see which attempt completed, match it to the right order and detect a second success. Check what your customer sees while payment is pending and whether support can find an attempt using the order reference alone.
Measure the work required to recover an exception as well as the time to complete a successful checkout. A payment method that looks simple in a demo can create more work if support has to match receipts by hand. Review how Kenyan payment rails deliver confirmation before designing the retry path.
SaaS: match payment events to billing states
For subscriptions, ask which methods support repeat billing, what permission the customer gives, and what happens if the payment fails. If a method requires fresh customer approval, decide how the renewal invoice will be delivered and when access will be suspended. Keep the payment result, invoice balance and product entitlement as separate records.
Test a failed renewal, a late payment and a customer who changes plans part-way through a billing period. Confirm that invoice references survive in the transaction export and that the finance team can trace an adjustment or credit back to the original invoice.
Marketplaces: trace money by seller
Start with a basket containing items from two sellers. Ask who receives the customer payment, who is entitled to each portion and who can initiate a refund. If you need split settlements or seller payouts, check that the provider supports the arrangement under your contract and can show the allocation in its reports.
Run a partial refund after one seller has already been paid. The export should let your team identify the adjustment and the amount still owed to each seller. Keep seller payouts and the gateway’s settlement to the marketplace in separate ledger entries.
Travel: keep payments attached to the booking
A single booking can include a deposit, a balance payment and later adjustments. Test whether the gateway stores your booking reference with each transaction. For international customers, confirm the supported payment and settlement currencies, who applies currency conversion, and how refunds and disputes are reflected in reports.
Use a real cancellation policy in the test scenario. Ask how your support team would refund one part of a booking and how finance would identify that refund on the next reconciliation run.
Compare the evidence before signing
Verify the legal entity and the services it is authorised to provide through the Central Bank of Kenya’s National Payments System resources. For card acceptance, ask the provider or acquirer to explain which PCI DSS responsibilities your integration leaves with your business.
Request a test export and a written fee schedule for the same scenario you tested. Compare the full cost of accepting payments with the work your team would still need to do. A final review with finance, support and engineering will surface different gaps in the same payment flow.