BlueSnap: The Smart Braintree Alternative to Get Global Conversions Right

Braintree, which has built its reputation on offering a solid set of payment solutions to support eCommerce merchants, acquired the mobile payment company Venmo in 2012. A year later Braintree was acquired by PayPal and since then has been feverishly promoting the value of their integrated solution. While this Braintree/PayPal/Venmo solution does have its perks, it does not address some of the most pressing and practical issues facing global merchants today. Fortunately, there are better Braintree alternatives.

Which Is the Better Choice for Your Business – BlueSnap or Braintree/PayPal?

Global Processing

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Countries Supported for Business	180	45
Acquiring Banks for Local Payment Processing	30+ global banks to process transactions locally and improve your transaction rates with failover and a single account	A single bank in eight regions
# of Currencies Accepted	100	130
Mobile Wallets	PayPal, Alipay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Apple Pay, Google Pay	PayPal, Apple Pay, Visa Checkout, Masterpass, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Amex Express Checkout
# of Payment Types Accepted	110+	25

User Experience & Integration

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Integration Methods/Options	API with Hosted Payment Fields, Localized Hosted Checkout, Platform plug-ins, SDKs in 8 languages, in-app payments	API with Hosted Payment Fields, Platform plug-ins, drop in UI
# of Languages	29	23
Mobile Payments, including in-app payments	Yes	Yes

Subscriptions

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Recurring Payments	Yes – plus a full subscription engine for more complex requirements	Yes
Tokenization and Vaulting	Yes	Yes

Security and Compliance

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Fraud Protection	Yes Including multiple levels of control enabled through Kount (Managed, Configurable, Enterprise)	Yes – Kount Standard & Kount Custom solutions, and 3D Secure
PCI Compliance	PCI Level 1	PCI Level 1

Reporting and Support

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Reporting	Sales Intelligence and Consolidated Reconciliation for all payment types Payment Conversion Reporting	Limited reports via Control Panel or API
Customer Support	Global team with call-in support	Global team with call-in support
Developer Support	A Developer Hub and a dedicated account management team	https://developers.braintreepayments.com

Here are a few critical areas where Braintree/PayPal fall short:

• Payment Conversions: With less global bank connections to process payments locally, Braintree/PayPal merchants often recieve lower payment conversion rates than their industry peers, particularly if they are selling into multiple countries.
• Global Payment Types: While PayPal may be the most well known, there are hundreds of alternative payment types needed to support a true global eCommerce effort — Braintree only supports 25.
• Detailed Payment Analytics: Braintree/PayPal has reporting on sales and reconciliation, but falls short on the detailed analytics you need to understand whether your site is converting well.  BlueSnap provides detailed reports beyond the basic sales intelligence and reconciliation reporting.  Empowering merchants with detailed Payment Conversion reports by currency, geography, price point and more enables continuous optimization of payment success rates.

The breadth of the Braintree / PayPal combo and their capabilities is broad. As such, they are not solely focused on the needs of merchants like you — Braintree/PayPal has dual interests, with a focus on both supporting the consumer with their wallets (PayPal and Venmo) as well as supporting eCommerce merchants. As a result, they are often placed in a situation where they must choose between serving the merchant processing needs or the needs of the consumer wallet holder.  These interests also pit Braintree/PayPal in direct competition with some of the largest payment types in the world; including emerging digital wallets that compete with Venmo such as Visa Checkout, MasterPass, AliPay, Apple Pay and more.

BlueSnap on the other hand, is focused entirely on supporting merchants like you by offering the global functionality you need, while matching the API and developer-friendly functionality of Braintree/PayPal –  allowing you to capitalize on today’s $4 billion cross-border eCommerce opportunities. Read on to learn why BlueSnap might be your best option if you are looking for a strong Braintree alternative.

Processing

As your business grows, you need the power of multiple bank connections to ensure you are maximizing payment conversions. BlueSnap’s Intelligent Payment Routing leverages 30+ global banks through a single connection with failover to ensure that every transaction that can be approved, is approved.  Braintree/PayPal will limit you to only a few local banks, severely hampering your conversion opportunities and increasing the likelihood of payment processing declines.

BlueSnap’s All-in-One Payment Platform was designed to fight checkout abandonment and convert more shoppers to buyers, globally, which is the Platform supports 110 trusted payment types versus Braintree’s 25.  With alternative payments predicted to account for as much as 50% of eCommerce sales by 2020, BlueSnap accepts a host of payment types ranging from cards to ACH and local bank transfers as well as local eCommerce payment options.

Security and Compliance

We provide the most extensive built-in fraud and risk management solution to protect your revenue and give you a say over how much fraud protection your business really needs. The platform comes with a full-stack fraud solution built-in from Kount, Chargebacks 911, Verifi, Ethoca and CardinalCommerce for 3D Secure. To help minimize your fraud risk we offer:

• Three levels of enhanced fraud protection services, consisting of:
  • Leaving complete oversight of fraud management to us
  • Creating customizable thresholds for key fraud variables
  • Enabling your in-house fraud agents with enterprise Kount
• Chargebacks911 fully manages chargebacks to protect businesses against invalid disputes and friendly-fraud, with the goal of recovering lost revenue, reducing risk and protecting your bottom line
• Ethoca & Verifi – Verifi CDRN and Ethoca Alerts can stop chargebacks before they happen and can prevent up to 40% of fraud and non-fraud related chargebacks so businesses can keep more sales.
• 3D Secure from CardinalCommerce – BlueSnap supports Cardinal Consumer Authentication, which leverages 3-D Secure, with all the major card programs, to authenticate Card-Not-Present transactions behind the scenes for a friction-free consumer experience. This lets businesses implement an additional layer of protection and comply with any regional or card type requirements or mandates.
• Tokenization and vaulting, adding an extra layer of protection to every transaction.
• PCI level 1 compliance; or, for merchants who host their own order pages and use BlueSnap APIs, free enrollment in a PCI security program through Security Metrics.

Pricing and Support

A huge benefit that BlueSnap offers its merchants is full global merchant support. With support staff located around the world, we are always available and ready to assist you with your payment gateway and merchant account questions. At Braintree/PayPal, you are one of 10 million + merchants, often left to fight for attention.

At BlueSnap, we also offer the unique benefit of dedicated account management as well as consolidated reconciliation for all payment types and currencies.

So, if you are looking for a strong Braintree alternative, consider BlueSnap. Contact us today to learn more.