Digital River Alternatives for 2024 -

Sep 24, 2024

There's a wide array of Digital River alternatives on the market. You may not be aware of what makes one of them distinct.

It's important to know it is that Digital River is a merchant of record (MoR) that means that many payment services providers don't include the kind of comprehensive service you're used to from an MoR.

In this blog We discuss:

The Reasons to Choose HTML0 as the Most Effective Digital River Alternative Is a Merchant of Record

If you're a fan of Digital River but aren't familiar about the phrase "merchant of record," you might not be familiar with exactly how many advantages are associated with one.

This article will help you understand the MoR concept and what it is for it's important to know if your company uses one currently to make money from your SaaS software or any other digital item -- you probably want to be sure to remain using one.

 What Is a Merchant of Record?

The merchant of record (MoR) is the company which sells the products and services to customers. The company can function as its own MoR however, many choose to outsource that responsibility to a firm like Digital River or to sell items and services on their behalf.

The MoR takes on the liability of SaaS transactions on your behalf and handles everything from payment processing, charging back management, the collection and payment of taxes, and even the compliance of local legislation and rules. Since the MoR is liable for issues related to these fields and can resolve those issues so you don't have to.

Digital-commerce-reliant businesses that utilize an MoR can focus less on ecommerce and more on making great software, SaaS, video games, mobile games, or other digital goods.

What is it that makes a Merchant of Record Different From payment Service Providers ?

Pay service companies (PSPs) similar to MoRs are an intermediary between companies that want to sell a product, and the specialized networks and services that are required on the backend for the transaction to take place. Those specialized networks and services can include payment gateways processors for payment and merchant accounts to take credit or debit card transactions, as well as other services.

PSPs generally also have the ecommerce platform or integration capabilities (such such as APIs plugins, special integrations, etc.) for integrating their payment platform or payment gateway with your store or website, but options will vary.

But, payment service companies typically fall short of controlling risk, handling tax issues, and assisting with chargebacks. If regulations or rules alter in any one of the regions or countries in which you offer your products, you'll be accountable for keeping track of those changes and updating your PSP processes, and checking out accordingly.

Some PSPs might offer upgraded payment services for their products to make them more similar to the features that MoR automatically provides, however these are typically bolt-on functions, and they will come with upgrade fees. For example, Stripe offers a fraud-prevention upgrade called Radar, but it comes with cost-per-transaction charges.

 Grow with , an Expertly-Trained Merchant of Record

is the most prominent merchant of record for worldwide software companies, facilitating more than 1 billion dollars worth of transactions per year.

Here's a selection of the many reasons why that we've earned this reputation.

 We Have Decades of Expertise

Founded in 2005, has two decades of experience with enabling global payments, and has been part of the SaaS market as it has developed.

As a result, our team has a deep understanding of the complexities of selling digital items and applications, which includes subscription management, as well as the nuances that go with it.

 We're backed By Great Investors

You don't need to worry about being profitable or reliable. Along with our experience, we also offer the peace of mind that comes with being backed by a high-performing, respected investment company.

Through Accel-KKR, we have the funds and resources for you to expand your business using online payments as well as providing superior security, privacy and corporate security governance.

 We Grow When You Grow

Our long-standing presence of experience in the worldwide market of payments platforms has allowed us to expand over time -- but that growth has only happened because of our great clients.

It's due to two main reasons as we use a revenue sharing model and because we're a company that wants to assist to continue your growth.

 1. Makes Money When You Make Money

With's revenue sharing structure We earn a profit when you do. If your customer purchases something We charge a modest commission on the transaction.

This means that even if you're not doing any business or transferring money, we're not charging you that commission.

Our team of experts will work together with you to establish simple, flat-rate pricing based on your volume of transactions and duration, and the price includes all of our platform's features and tools.

2. Would Like to Be Your Partner, Not Just Your Payments Solutions

Stardock was able to make the switch to SaaS subscriptions thanks to 's pre-built subscription infrastructure but they were also aware of the investment we made back into our own platform, to keep developing innovative products and features.

It made Brad Sams of Stardock feel secure in Stardock's partnership with  Brad Sams of Stardock, since he was able to see the partnership was for the long run. "Because the more we improve the better we're going to be. We've got to make sure everyone is winning and things with just felt to be aligned."

" I was following that road that was a continuous investment, not just collecting the paycheck every month but doing nothing."

 -- Brad Sams, Stardock

TestDome is also satisfied with its support and has noted that it ranges from assistance with buyer issues and chargebacks all the way up to the top of the company and our CEO.

 Highly-Commercialized Customer Support and Customer Succeed

The exceptional level of support and service has not just been acknowledged by our customers, it's also being recognised in our own industry.

We don't simply say that we want to be a partner -- we've made it our mission to prove this.

 Our Hands-On Migration Team Strives for Your Success

Support isn't just for those who have joined our platform and we're here to ensure you get up and running on our platform for payments as fast and effortlessly as you can.

Our implementation team of hands-on extremely efficient sales engineers are experts on  the pre-built storefront for web as well as the flexible and comprehensive API, webhook features including webhooks. They're there to help users make seamless changes by integrating and migrating.

 Other Great Features

Here are some additional great reasons for using :

  • Your account will automatically comply in compliance with VAT, sales tax, and privacy regulations across the globe.
  • The company accepts the best ninety-eight percent of the payment methods that are used in more than 185 countries around the globe, in 21+ different languages.
  • It is possible to customize seamless embedded or modal popup checkout experience on your site.
  • We make it easy to give discounts, coupons and dynamic price points for promotions.
  • Checkout can be streamlined to a single click with 1ClickPay.
  • Plus much plus!

3 more Digital River Solutions

The options below are typical choices to look into if you're assessing Digital River competitors. Be aware that none of the below alternatives are merchants of records Therefore, you'll have to add additional services through internal channels or the help of other suppliers and solutions.

 Stripe

Screenshot of Digital River alternative Stripe's homepage, with a colorful red, purple, and yellow background, large black text on the left, and photos of a smartphone screen and an analytics dashboard on the right.

Stripe is a well-known credit card processor that lets businesses accept credit and debit cards, as well as mobile payments and features like:

  • Payment processing.
  • An UI that can be customized and built checkout flow.
  • Simple management of subscriptions.
  • Online invoicing.

You may be wondering if it's an option for your business simply because it's widely used, and could appear at first to have cheaper prices than the one that you're employing. However, that's due to the fact that Stripe isn't a retailer of record.

If you're trying to reduce your transaction costs and you've got the capacity experience, knowledge, and staff to handle the many services you'll be losing when you switch from MoR account to Stripe, it could be a good option for your business. But you'll need to compensate for the loss in services lost, including the tax-related compliance aspect, fraud control and many more. Stripe offers products that meet some of these needs However, these are an add-on that can raise your total cost- so any initial cost savings might quickly disappear.

But, if you're planning to change from Digital River to a business in the same category with the advantages and comfort that MoR provides, Stripe probably isn't the most suitable Digital River competitor for you.

 Adyen

Screenshot of Digital River alternative Adyen's homepage, white background with black or green text and a close-up image of a small digital device and stylus.

Adyen describes itself as "end-to-end payment, data and financial management all in a single solution." The solutions it offers for payments and financial services offer the following features and products:

  • Payments in person and on the internet all in the same system.
  • Optimization of revenue through intelligent payment routing to improve the conversion rate.
  • Subscription management features like dunning automation.
  • Risk management with the detection of fraud and prevention.

Even though Adyen offers many of the benefits the merchant of record has however, you'll still have to control your company accounts and merchant accounts.

PayPal for business

Screenshot of Digital River alternative PayPal for Business' homepage, white background with black and blue text and photos of people and digital devices.

PayPal is an incredibly well-known electronic wallet for personal online payments However, they also offer a payment processing option for small-sized businesses. PayPal for Business is both an in-person and ecommerce solution.

(SaaS businesses that use it can take payments via PayPal.)

Other functions offered by PayPal for Business include but are not limited to:

  • Integrations built-in to major web-based shopping carts (such like Shopify).
  • QR code and POS devices and QR code.
  • Invoicing.
  • Chargeback protection (only available for business accounts that have Advanced Credit and Debit Card checkout).

Besides PayPal for Business, PayPal also offers an exclusive payment processor for SaaS known as Braintree.

 How Do I Help?

Do you require a registered merchant to help you increase your sales internationally? This is a fully-stack and all-in-one payment solution to SaaS, software, video gaming, as well as other businesses that sell digital products.

Our offerings include VAT and sales tax calculation as well as collection and remittance Localization of payments; Regulation compliance; award winning customer support, and many more!

Katie Stephan

Katie Stephan   Katie Stephan is the Senior Content Strategist at . Alongside her years of experience in the field, she has acquired an MFA in creative nonfiction writing and has worked in the communities she lives in as a college writing instructor.