FAQ
Questions
Common questions from platform, engineering and security teams.
Control and visibility
What is Sureway Payments?
A payment gateway built for recurring and subscription billing. Your platform sends charges, refunds and voids to Sureway through a connector in a gateway format it already supports, and Sureway processes them on the merchant's account. It works with the merchant account each merchant already has.
Who decides when a card is charged?
Your platform. Sureway never starts a transaction. Each charge begins with a request from your platform and ends with one response back to it, so the schedule, the amount and the decision to charge stay with you.
Does Sureway retry declined payments?
No. A decline comes back to your platform as a decline, with the issuer's response code in your connector's format. Your retry and dunning rules decide what happens next, as they do with your other gateways.
Does Sureway change the transaction we send?
Amount, currency, card and customer are charged as sent. Like other gateways, Sureway formats each request to card network requirements, for example standard address formatting. It also applies BIN-level optimization, formatting each request for the requirements of the card's issuing bank.
Can Sureway send a merchant's payments to a different processor?
No. Each merchant's charges run on the processing account that merchant set up at onboarding. Sureway does not move charges between processors or split them across accounts.
What does our team see on each transaction?
A standard gateway response: result, authorization code, AVS and CVV results, response code and transaction ID, in your connector's format. Your support team reads it the way it reads any other gateway's response. If they need a field you don't receive today, raise it during scoping.
Cards and compliance
Who stores the cards?
Sureway stores cards in its PCI DSS compliant vault, as the merchant's gateway. Your platform stores a token that stands in for the card, not the card number. Merchants who leave can have their cards exported to another PCI DSS compliant provider.
Can merchants keep their existing stored cards?
Yes. Cards a merchant already has stored with their current gateway can be charged through Sureway without collecting them again or running a card migration, as long as that gateway account stays open. Merchants can also move their cards into the Sureway vault.
Do rebills keep their stored-credential history?
Yes. Sureway accepts the stored-credential fields your connector sends today, such as who initiated the charge and whether it is recurring, and returns the network transaction ID for later charges. That keeps each rebill linked to the cardholder's original authorization, which issuers look for on recurring payments.
Is Sureway PCI DSS compliant?
Yes. Sureway Payments is PCI DSS v4.0.1 compliant. Our Attestation of Compliance is shared on request, and your security team can go through our documentation during technical review.
Does Sureway have a SOC 2 report?
Yes. Sureway Payments has a SOC 2 report from an independent auditor, covering how we manage security and access to our systems. It is shared with your security team on request, under NDA, alongside our PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance.
Does a merchant need a new merchant account?
No. Sureway works with the merchant account a merchant already has, so their acquiring bank relationship and funding stay as they are.
Integration
Which API format does Sureway use?
A gateway API format most billing platforms already support. Your team builds a connector of a type it has built before, with the same request fields, response codes and error handling. The format is confirmed during scoping.
How much work is it for our team?
One gateway connector, one entry on your gateway list with its credential fields, and the certification scenarios for sale, refund and void. Sandbox credentials are issued at kickoff, and your integration contact works through certification with your team.
What happens if Sureway can't be reached?
Your connector receives a standard gateway error in its format, and your platform's existing rules for an unavailable gateway apply. Handle it the way you handle any gateway timeout today.
Who supports our team, and when?
You have a named integration contact through build and certification. Support hours and the escalation path for your team and your merchants are agreed before go-live.
Can a merchant start using Sureway without us?
No. Like any gateway, Sureway has to be on your platform's gateway list before a merchant can choose it. Your platform decides when to add it.
Can we see the API specification?
Yes. The full specification is shared on request during technical review, along with the certification scenarios.
Commercial
Why would a merchant ask for Sureway?
Merchants choose Sureway for approval rates on recurring charges. The request reaches your team the way any request for a new gateway does, and you decide whether to add it. Merchants who don't choose Sureway are not affected.
Does Sureway offer billing, subscriptions or customer management?
No. Sureway processes the payments your platform sends. It has no billing engine, subscription scheduler or customer portal, so billing, schedules, customer records and commissions stay in your platform.
What about refunds and chargebacks?
Refunds and voids go through the same connector, against the Sureway transaction ID, in full or in part. Chargebacks follow the merchant's acquirer process, and the transaction ID lets your team match a dispute to the original charge.
What does it cost?
Merchant pricing is agreed directly with each merchant. Platform partner terms are discussed during scoping.
Who do I talk to?
Write to support@surewaypayments.com. Tell us which gateway connectors your platform ships, and we will set up a scoping call.