Payment provider selection for UK retailers

Choose your payment provider without being sold to.

Objective advice for UK retailers choosing a gateway, acquirer or PSP, from someone who has sat on every side of the table.

Health Check: about 3 to 4 minutes, no account, no obligation.

A shortlist scored on evidence, not slides

Provider AProvider BProvider C
Total cost3 out of 55 out of 54 out of 5
Resilience4 out of 54 out of 53 out of 5
Contract risk3 out of 55 out of 53 out of 5
Evidence score10 out of 1514 out of 1512 out of 15
Illustrative example, not a real client.

What makes me different

When AI writes the RFP and AI answers it, someone has to keep hold of the problem

RFPs are getting longer and more complex, because AI makes it easy to add one more requirement. Responses are getting faster and more polished, for the same reason. In the middle, the plain question can get lost: what is this business actually trying to solve?

I have sat on every side of that exchange for more than 25 years. I keep the process anchored to the problem, so the provider you choose fits how your business really trades. AI is a good tool for this work, and it works best with someone alongside who knows how a payments selection succeeds.

Start with the free Payments Health Check
RFP, drafted with AI Responses, drafted with AI The problem to be solved Someone who knows the way
Illustration of the pattern, not a real RFP.

Track record

  • 100+

    payment RFPs run or answered, as buyer and as seller

  • 127

    applications refactored for sovereign cloud on the Visa Saudi Arabia programme

  • 25+ years

    in payments, across all five seats of the table

Previously at Visa, CyberSource, Argos and Barclaycard.

Every provider will tell you they are the right one.

You are the one who lives with the contract. A wrong choice costs money every month, and unpicking it takes years.

THE PROPOSAL ON YOUR DESK
Blended headline rateQuoted
InterchangeCapped for UK consumer cards

WHAT IT LEAVES OUT

Scheme feesNot itemised
Gateway feesNot itemised
FX and cross-borderNot itemised
Chargebacks and disputesNot itemised
Integration and migrationNot itemised

Illustrative proposal, not a real quote.

  • The pitches all sound the same

    Slides, demos and reference calls make providers hard to compare, and your RFP gets answered by people paid to win it.

  • The risk is yours

    If the migration slips or the fees creep, you answer to the CFO and the board. Few people in the room share that risk.

  • The cost hides in the detail

    Interchange, scheme fees, gateway fees, FX, chargebacks and the integration cost that never makes the headline rate.

You deserve a view from someone with no product to sell.

I have sat in your chair, and in theirs.

At Argos I owned these decisions for a retailer. At CyberSource and Visa I sat on the other side of the table, selling into them. I have been through over 100 payment RFPs from both seats, and I know where the detail gets lost.

I am no longer the one making the buying decision, so I can recommend what is best for you, whoever is paying.

More about my background

Five seats at the table

Follow a card payment from checkout to cardholder.

Payment provider selection for UK retailers | Tango StrategyA card payment passes through five seats: merchant (Argos), payment service provider (CyberSource), acquirer (Barclaycard), card scheme (Visa) and issuer (Barclaycard International). The author has worked in all five.1MerchantArgos2PSPCyberSource3AcquirerBarclaycard4SchemeVisa5IssuerBarclaycard International
  1. Merchant: Argos
  2. PSP: CyberSource
  3. Acquirer: Barclaycard
  4. Scheme: Visa
  5. Issuer: Barclaycard International

I have worked at all five

How it works

Three steps from open question to signed contract. Follow the orange line.

  1. Frame the decision

    We agree what the provider must deliver across channels, markets, cost and resilience. You see where you stand today.

    YOU GETDecision brief and scoring criteria

  2. Test the providers

    I run or review your RFP, score every provider on the same evidence and challenge the claims.

    YOU GETScored shortlist, with the evidence

  3. Decide and negotiate

    You get a board-ready recommendation, support through contract negotiation and a transition plan.

    YOU GETBoard paper, negotiated terms, transition plan

Not ready to start? See where you stand first.

Start the free Payments Health Check See the P.A.C.E. approach

Three ways to work together

Choose the level of support that fits the decision in front of you.

  • Time-critical

    Rapid Response

    A second opinion on a decision that cannot wait. Briefed and delivered in days, capped at five billed days.

    Explore Rapid Response

  • Structured

    Project engagement

    A defined mandate with clear workstreams: RFP support, technology selection or a platform audit.

    Explore project engagements

  • Ongoing

    Long-term partnership

    A fractional head of payments strategy, for as long as the decisions keep coming.

    Explore long-term partnership

What good looks like

The destination is a decision you can defend.

Questions retailers ask before choosing a provider

What should a retailer consider when selecting a payment gateway?

Test more than the feature list. Assess acceptance performance, orchestration flexibility, resilience, data ownership, operating cost, compliance and migration risk. An objective process links each criterion to your target commerce architecture, so the platform you choose improves measurable outcomes instead of adding another integration layer.

How can a merchant reduce processing fee drag?

Map cost at transaction level, isolate avoidable decline and routing losses, then align gateway, acquirer and authentication decisions to commercial outcomes. Treat fees as a performance question as well as a procurement one.

How can a retailer improve approval rates without increasing fraud?

Diagnose decline reasons across the issuer, acquirer, gateway and authentication stages before changing any rules. Targeted routing, tokenisation and retry logic recover genuine demand while protecting fraud performance.

How should a retailer modernise a legacy payment estate?

Set a clear target state, sequence the changes that carry value and protect trading continuity throughout. Start with architecture, commercial leakage and operational constraints, then phase the work across gateway, orchestration, fraud, data and checkout.

Make this decision once, and make it well.

Start with the free Payments Health Check, or talk it through with me.

Or email enquiries@tangopaymentstrategy.com

Connect with me to stay updated

Work for a provider, PSP or fintech? I help you see why merchant RFPs are won and lost.

See partner work

Tango Payment Strategy & Solutions is a Limited Company, Registered in England & Wales. Company Number 17378388

Tango Payment Strategy & Solutions is a Limited Company, Registered in England & Wales.

Company Number 17378388

Tango Payment Strategy & Solutions is a

Limited Company, Registered in England & Wales.

Company Number 17378388

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