The Payments Engineer Playbook

The Payments Engineer Playbook

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The Payments Engineer Playbook
The Payments Engineer Playbook
3 Ways You Can Improve Your Payments Authorization Rate Right Now
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3 Ways You Can Improve Your Payments Authorization Rate Right Now

If you see PSPs as fairly good chess players, these ways will help you check mate them

Alvaro Duran's avatar
Alvaro Duran
Feb 26, 2025
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The Payments Engineer Playbook
The Payments Engineer Playbook
3 Ways You Can Improve Your Payments Authorization Rate Right Now
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Editor’s Note: No newsletter next week. A big publication in tech has asked me to put together an article for them. I’ll share more as soon as I’m allowed to.

Now onto this week’s article.


I’m sure you know, but 100% auth rate isn’t a good thing.

The problem with letting all payments go through is that the chances that everyone is legit are minimal. Online, fraud isn’t an isolated incident; there’s a cottage industry of professionals in the business of stealing and selling other people’s credit cards. It is impossible that nobody has tried buying stuff from you illegitimately.

If you’re letting every payment in, you’re being cheated.

That’s why the goal isn’t Number Go Up, but to win every chargeback, to pay the least fees, and to make the most revenue possible.

Which, as far as goals go, is way more complex, because the target keeps moving, so to say.

However, there are ways in which you can be reasonably confident that you’re moving in the right direction. Ways in which successful merchants are already moving, proven ways, to improve auth rates, while keeping fraudsters at bay.

They’re only problem is: they’re bold moves.

I’m Alvaro Duran, and this is The Payments Engineer Playbook. Today, we’re looking at 3 well known paths to Auth Rate Nirvana.

Let’s dive in.

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