Subscription businesses rely on recurring revenue, but this model comes with its own set of challenges. For digital subscription businesses like e-learning platforms, fitness apps, or streaming services, dealing with a global customer base and tricky recurring billing can get overwhelming fast. From handling global transaction complexities, through managing refunds, to navigating tax compliance, there’s a lot to manage. That’s where the Merchant of Record (MoR) comes in.
Using a Merchant of Record solution can be make a huge difference for digital subscription businesses. This smoother operations, easier compliance, and faster global growth!
In this blog, we’ll explain what a Merchant of Record is, why it’s essential for subscription-based models, and how it drives growth. We’ll also take a look at how Cleeng offers an all-encompassing MoR solution for subscription services.
A Merchant of Record (MoR) is the legal entity that handles payments for your business. Think of it as the intermediary between your customers and your subscription service. A MoR takes care of the entire payment lifecycle, including transaction handling, compliance, refunds, chargebacks, and tax management.
When you opt for a Merchant of Record, the MoR handles everything behind the scenes so you can focus on your business. Your customers might be making purchases directly on your website, but it's the MoR’s name that appears on their credit card statements.
For D2C subscription businesses, this means managing recurring payments, keeping up with global payment preferences, and ensuring compliance with digital-specific regulations like GDPR or local sales taxes.
Merchants can choose to act as their own Merchant of Record, managing the infrastructure, payments, and compliance processes themselves. However, this can be time-consuming and challenging, especially for businesses looking to operate internationally. By partnering with a third-party Merchant of Record for subscriptions, you can streamline administrative setup, offload the complexities of payment processing and sales tax compliance, and focus your resources on what matters most, growing your business through product innovation and customer acquisition.
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A Merchant of Record is an entity legally responsible for processing payments and managing all associated financial and regulatory tasks. By acting as the legal seller of the goods or services, a MoR handles tasks you might otherwise need entire teams or external consultants for. Here’s a closer look at the key responsibilities of a MoR:
Tax compliance can be a minefield. For digital subscription businesses, managing taxes requires understanding location-based rules for intangible products. For example:
A MoR calculates, collects, and remits taxes on your behalf, ensuring your business stays compliant with local and global regulations. More importantly, they assume liability for tax errors and compliance issues, saving you from costly fines or reputational damage.
Managing payments for subscriptions often involves handling recurring billing across various geographies. With global audiences, you must ensure seamless auto-renewals, provide various payment methods and localized pricing. A Merchant of Record simplifies this by handling:
Account setups, allowing you to accept payments in the countries you want to operate in.
Currency conversions, ensuring customers can pay using their local currency while reconciling revenue across international markets.
Global payment gateway integration, for seamless transaction processing.
Fee negotiations, ensuring cost-efficient payment processing for your business.
By removing these complexities, a MoR allows you to expand into international markets without reinventing the wheel.
Subscription businesses are lucrative targets for fraudulent transactions and cyber threats. Customers trust you to keep their payment info safe, and a MoR adds a layer of defense with measures such as:
Advanced fraud detection systems, reducing fraudulent activities.
Chargeback management, protecting your revenue and reputation.
PCI-DSS compliance, securing sensitive payment data to minimize risks.
Thanks to a MoR, you can avoid financial pitfalls while preserving customer trust.
Operational efficiency is the backbone of any successful subscription business. For digital businesses, managing legal, tax, and payment complexities in-house can quickly become overwhelming. Instead, a Merchant of Record handles these time-consuming tasks on your behalf.
This not only saves money but also frees up your internal resources to concentrate on core business activities like product development and customer engagement.
Seamless transactions are key to subscriber satisfaction. A Merchant of Record for subscriptions helps optimize the purchasing experience by:
Image: Preferred payment method by country in Europe
Wondering if a Merchant of Record for subscriptions is the right solution for your business? A MoR can help you reduce costs by up to 34% when operating globally. Download our free eBook to learn how!
A Merchant of Record is distinct from a Payment Service Provider, as they serve different roles within the payment process.
PSPs are a component of your payment infrastructure, focused on processing transactions. They route payments from the buyer’s account to the seller’s account. Examples of PSPs include gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and others.
However, when using a PSP, you’re responsible for managing additional tools to create a complete billing stack. You’re still in charge of things like keeping an eye on tax thresholds, registering for sales tax, managing reports and documentation, and making sure everything stays compliant.
In contrast, a Merchant of Record takes full responsibility for payments and associated liabilities. This includes tax compliance, reporting, and other regulatory obligations. With a MoR, your role is limited to ensuring they remit payments to you, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.
Scaling subscription businesses globally presents unique challenges, especially when it comes to payments. For subscription businesses, the Merchant of Record solution can ease and speed up growth by:
For businesses offering digital services, where tax rules are often determined by customer location, a MoR ensures compliance with international laws. It also supports a variety of payment options and currencies.
With a MoR, time-consuming tasks like managing disputes, chargebacks, and billing insights are no longer your task. This allows you to focus resources on growth rather than administrative burdens. Moreover, MoR solutions offer a significantly more cost-effective alternative to managing recurring revenue internally. This is primarily due to the fact that MoRs leverage economies of scale, utilizing their existing infrastructure and expertise to service multiple clients.
A Merchant of Record for subscription businesses can enhance customer experience and satisfaction by providing localized payment options and currencies. This results in lower churn and increased retention rates. Additionally, many MoRs offer customer support in local languages, further improving the experience.
For businesses entering new markets, a Merchant of Record navigates region-specific regulations, payment systems, and tax requirements.
This enables confident, hassle-free global expansion while also mitigating costs.
A MoR minimizes revenue loss by reducing failed transactions, automating tax processes, and preventing fraud. Its data and reporting insights also empower businesses to make strategic decisions that improve marketing, pricing, and retention.
If you’re looking for a proven partner to simplify payments and compliance, look no further than Cleeng. With years of experience in subscription management, Cleeng’s MoR solution is tailored to the needs of subscription businesses.
Cleeng’s MoR service offers everything you need to manage subscription payments efficiently:
Global payment processing. Accept payments in local currencies and through preferred regional payment methods. Cleeng integrates 200+ payment methods across 230 countries and territories, supporting 37 currencies out of the box. See all currencies accepted by Cleeng.
Tax compliance made easy. Cleeng handles tax calculation and remittance across 13,000+ jurisdictions worldwide. Using tools like Avalara for complex regions like the U.S., Cleeng determines the correct tax based on customer location and ensures timely remittance to the appropriate authorities. By taking full liability for errors or delays, Cleeng eliminates the risks of tax compliance.
VAT-MOSS. Cleeng simplifies complex global tax management, including VAT Mini One Stop Shop (VAT-MOSS) for digital services in the EU, to keep you compliant across multiple jurisdictions.
Fraud protection. Cleeng’s advanced fraud detection system identifies suspicious behavior. It analyzes customer and fraudster patterns against industry benchmarks. Risk checks are triggered by multiple payment refusals exceeding our set threshold. With AI, we adapt to evolving fraud tactics, ensuring robust protection tailored to your needs. Our chargeback rate is just 0.3%, which is 50% better than the industry average.
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Cleeng ensures all cardholder data is handled securely, reducing the risk of data breaches and fraudulent transactions that could lead to payment declines.
GDPR, CCPA, and other data privacy regulations. Cleeng strictly follows global data protection laws, guaranteeing that customers' personal data is handled responsibly. This not only ensures compliance but also fosters trust with your audience.
PSD2 compliance for European transactions. Cleeng implements Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and other PSD2 requirements, boosting transaction security and minimizing fraud for businesses operating in or serving European customers.
Actionable insights. Cleeng provides key payment metrics and customizable filters to create your own dashboard. You can also view benchmark insights to understand your business' standing and identify areas for improvement. With real-time data, you can make strategic business decisions faster and smarter.
Localized experience: With Cleeng, you can provide a customer-friendly checkout process in any market you choose to operate in.
"Working with Cleeng as our MoR has been a game-changer for us. Their expertise in handling payments and preventing fraud has streamlined our operations and helped us achieve results surpassing industry standards. It’s allowed us to concentrate on growing our content and connecting with our audience, knowing that Cleeng has the financial side covered."
Tsunehiko ‘T’ Takeuchi, Vice President at NHK Cosmomedia America
Cleeng goes beyond just acting as your Merchant of Record. Cleeng is a complete Subscription Management platform. Whether you’re a fitness platform, streaming service, or e-learning provider, Cleeng’s tools are designed to grow your business. Learn how Jme achieved record KPIs by partnering with Cleeng.
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