What if you could identify merchant risk before investing resources in onboarding?
That question drove us to build Explore Merchant, a comprehensive pre-onboarding risk assessment tool that helps payment companies make informed decisions before committing to the formal onboarding process.
The problem with traditional onboarding
Most payment companies discover red flags after they have already invested in due diligence, integration discussions, and compliance checks. A merchant that looks promising on paper turns out to have a dubious web presence, poor customer reviews, or policy gaps that create regulatory exposure.
By that point, your team has already spent days (sometimes weeks) evaluating a merchant that was never going to pass underwriting. That wasted effort compounds across hundreds of merchant applications.
What Explore Merchant does
Explore Merchant runs a multi-layered assessment on any merchant before you commit resources to formal onboarding. Here is what it covers:
Website risk assessment
The tool analyzes domain reputation, traffic patterns, and contact authenticity. It checks whether the merchant’s website is legitimate, how long the domain has been registered, whether traffic volumes match the stated business model, and whether contact details are real and verifiable.
Policy compliance checks
Explore Merchant scans delivery policies, privacy policies, terms of service, and refund policies for compliance gaps. Missing or inadequate policies are flagged before they become a problem during formal onboarding review.
External perception analysis
Customer sentiment matters. The tool pulls data from Google Reviews and Trustpilot to surface fraud indicators, service quality issues, and patterns that suggest operational risk. A merchant with a trail of unresolved complaints is a merchant you want to flag early.
Credit risk scoring
Probability of default modelling gives you a quantified view of the merchant’s financial health. Rather than relying on gut feel or basic credit checks, Explore Merchant provides a structured risk score you can use to prioritize your pipeline.
Bulk assessment
Need to evaluate a batch of merchant applications? Upload up to 100 merchants at once and get a consolidated risk view across your entire pipeline. This is especially useful for acquirers and PSPs processing high volumes of merchant applications.
How it changes your workflow
The old approach: receive a merchant application, assign it to your onboarding team, invest in due diligence, discover a red flag, write off the effort.
The new approach: run Explore Merchant first, filter out high-risk merchants before they enter your pipeline, and focus onboarding resources on merchants actually worth pursuing.
This shift does not eliminate formal onboarding. It adds a lightweight screening layer that catches obvious risks early, so your team spends their time on merchants with a genuine chance of approval.
Who it is for
Explore Merchant is built for acquirers, PSPs, and PayFacs who process merchant applications at scale. If your team spends significant time on onboarding reviews and you want to reduce the rate of wasted effort, this tool is designed for you.
Get started
Explore Merchant is available now. Get in touch to see how it fits into your onboarding workflow, or visit the Assess page to learn more about our pre-onboarding capabilities.