• Olena Domaieva, Onboarding Manager at Corefy


• 29.10.2025 08:00 am
#PaymentRouting #PSP

Payment routing is often pitched as “send traffic to the cheapest or most likely-to-approve provider.” If only it were that simple. In reality, every decision has to juggle provider constraints and traffic-protection rules, all while keeping conversion and risk in balance. 

At Corefy, a leading payment orchestration platform, our clients encode dozens of such conditions in a single routing scheme. I’ll dive deeper into real routing cases and configurations during our live webinar – happening October 29 at 3 PM CET. And before we meet, here are a couple of field-tested patterns you can start applying right away.

Why routing sophistication matters

A single routing misstep can trigger a cascade of declines, revenue loss, or even acquirer bans – especially in high-risk verticals or global e-commerce. A good routing strategy does more than find available PSPs. It aligns with:

• Provider-side constraints: geo permissions, supported card networks, per-transaction limits, and variable cost tiers.

• User-side variables: payment attempt counters, success/failure ratios per card, turnover limits, authentication requirements (SCA/3DS).

• Business context: campaign, segment, or VIP status passed through metadata attributes, enabling routing to respond to non-financial logic.

Corefy’s routing engine exposes over 100 attributes, including the custom metadata attribute, which allows teams to define their own key–value pairs for precise routing. Let’s discover two practical examples and scenarios we’ve seen succeed in action.

Scenario 1: chargeback prevention through adaptive 3DS gating

High-risk businesses must carefully manage strict chargeback ratio limits. One of the biggest factors influencing these ratios is how 3D Secure (3DS) is used. While non-3DS transactions typically offer higher conversion rates, they also come with greater regulatory and acquirer risks. Without precise control over when to apply 3DS, merchants face a tough trade-off: using it too often can hurt conversion, while skipping it too much can increase fraud and compliance exposure.

To find the right balance, consider implementing the following routing configurations:

• Implement a conditional 3DS enforcement gate based on transaction attributes such as BIN range, issuer country, historical fraud ratio, and metadata signals (e.g., risky campaign tags).

• Build a dual-branch scheme: initial attempts for flagged traffic go through 3DS-enabled MIDs; returning or trusted segments may bypass it within a defined risk window.

• Introduce card/user-level counters — e.g., “≤1 failed 3DS attempt per 24h” — to unlock access to non-3DS flows dynamically.

This approach aligns routing with compliance objectives while preserving conversion for trusted cohorts – something blunt “always-3DS” rules can’t achieve.

Scenario 2: reducing declines with card bindings 

Payment declines can have a lasting impact on customer lifetime value. Research shows that 42% of customers who experience a transaction decline never attempt to pay again – a silent revenue killer that quietly compounds across all segments.

To counter this, we introduced the card binding feature. The logic is straightforward: when a transaction succeeds through a particular Merchant ID (MID), the system automatically binds that card to the same MID, giving it top priority in future payment routing.

Pro tip: сombine card binding with metadata-based segmentation for maximum impact. For example:

if metadata.segment == 'VIP' → apply binding logic for premium MIDs; else use standard rotation.

This ensures your most valuable customers always hit the most reliable acquirer first. 

Card binding turns your routing layer into a learning system that improves automatically with every successful transaction.

Join our live webinar

A thoughtful approach to payment routing can truly transform how your business operates. On October 29 at 3 PM CET, I’ll be speaking at Corefy’s first live webinar, which will focus on payment routing – but not in theory. I’ll share real-world examples and routing setups we’ve implemented and seen succeed in production. 

Together, we’ll look at how to build and fine-tune a multi-PSP strategy, apply smart routing logic, and use data-driven decisions to solve real payment challenges and boost performance across regions.

I’m looking forward to seeing you there and diving deeper into the strategies that truly make routing work. Join the webinar!