Choosing payments and hosting for a digital goods store

A digital goods store can be ready in days and still wait weeks to take its first card payment. Payment providers treat gift cards, game codes and in-game currency carefully, because they are popular with fraudsters. Hosting is the quieter decision, but it decides who fixes things at 3 a.m.

This guide covers both, with what Kavia Commerce does and does not handle for you.

Why providers call digital goods high risk

Gift cards and game codes are delivered instantly and can be resold, so a stolen card turns into value in seconds. Many payment providers restrict or refuse these products. Stripe, for example, lists restrictions in its restricted businesses list. Approval is decided by the provider, can take days or weeks and can be refused.

What providers usually ask for

• A registered business: company or sole proprietor documents, the owner's ID and proof of address.
• A complete website: your domain, product pages, prices, contact details, terms, privacy and refund policies.
• Your product category: some providers want extra checks for codes and top-ups.
• The right country: many providers serve only businesses registered in certain countries.
• Sanctions checks: payments involving some countries are screened against OFAC, EU and UK lists.

Start this process early. The store can open with methods that need no merchant approval.

Which methods to start with

• Bank transfer with staff approval needs no merchant account. The buyer pays with a reference and your staff confirms it.
• International cards through Stripe or another gateway, only if the gateway approves your business.
• Russian methods such as Russian cards, SberPay, T-Pay, YooMoney and SBP are offered by different providers on different terms. A company outside Russia usually cannot get SBP directly; the Bank of Russia describes the system on its SBP page.

You, as the seller, sign the contract with each provider. We prepare the integration, test it in the provider's test mode and switch it on after the first verified payment. Our payments page lists every method with its real status, checked by date, rather than a wall of logos.

One balance for every channel

Whatever methods you choose, buyers top up one wallet balance. The same balance pays for orders on the website, in the Telegram bot and through the reseller API. Balances change only through append-only ledger entries, so every top-up and refund can be traced.

Hosting: three ways to run the store

• Managed plan: we host it. Server, SSL, updates and backups are included; backups are weekly on Start and daily on Pro. Kavia Max runs on a dedicated server.
• Your server, managed by us: the store runs on your infrastructure and we keep it updated.
• Kavia Source: you buy the source code under a written license and run it yourself. This fits teams with developers who will maintain it. See Kavia Source.

If you have no developers and want to sell rather than run servers, a managed plan is the simpler choice. Your catalog, customers and orders can be exported on request in every case.

Check before you sign

Open the live demo store and try the checkout; no money is charged there. Then tell us your country and market, and we will tell you which payment routes are realistic before you commit.