Payment gateway choice impacts SaaS conversions: Ace_Vikings' early findings

We examine Ace_Vikings' experience with Razorpay, PayPal, and Dodo Payments for merchbanao.com, analyzing reported conversion differences and fee structures based on initial testing.

TL;DR

Best for: SaaS businesses targeting global customers where conversion is prioritized over lowest transaction fees. Skip if: Your primary market is India and you haven't investigated Razorpay's specific integration or UX issues, or if you require the absolute lowest transaction costs without considering conversion lift. Bottom line: For Ace_Vikings' merchbanao.com, PayPal delivered initial payments where Razorpay did not, suggesting that user trust and payment method availability can outweigh higher per-transaction fees in early-stage SaaS conversion.

METHODOLOGY

This v0 review draws on the founder Ace_Vikings' published claims on Reddit, observed on 2026-05-10. The signal describes the founder's direct experience testing three payment gateways for their SaaS, merchbanao.com. The tools covered are Razorpay, PayPal, and a third gateway, Dodo Payments. This review covers Ace_Vikings' reported conversion outcomes (specifically, '0 payments' with Razorpay versus 'a few' with PayPal) and the stated fee hierarchy (Dodo > PayPal > Razorpay). We also incorporate the founder's explicit question regarding the impact of gateway choice on conversion. What is NOT covered in this v0 review includes independent performance benchmarks, detailed feature comparisons beyond payment processing, specific fee percentages for each gateway, long-term workflow implications, or edge cases. Independent benchmarks and further testing are pending, and this review will be updated when claims diverge from observed behavior or when more granular data becomes available.

WHAT IT DOES

Ace_Vikings, the founder of merchbanao.com, describes an iterative process of integrating and testing different payment gateways to optimize for customer conversions. The initial focus was on Razorpay, followed by PayPal for global transactions, and most recently, Dodo Payments.

Razorpay for initial setup

Razorpay was the first payment gateway implemented by Ace_Vikings for merchbanao.com. As a payment solution primarily focused on the Indian market, it likely offered localized payment methods and competitive fees within that region. However, Ace_Vikings reported '0 payments' during its tenure, indicating a complete lack of successful transactions through this gateway for their SaaS product.

PayPal for global reach

Following the unsuccessful run with Razorpay, Ace_Vikings transitioned merchbanao.com to PayPal, specifically for handling global payments. This move was driven by the need to secure transactions from a broader international customer base. The founder reported 'a few' payments after integrating PayPal, demonstrating a tangible improvement in conversion rates compared to Razorpay, despite PayPal's higher stated fees relative to Razorpay.

Dodo Payments for specific niche

Most recently, Ace_Vikings has moved merchbanao.com to Dodo Payments. While specific details about Dodo Payments are not provided in the source signal, it is noted that this gateway carries the highest fees among the three tested (Dodo > PayPal > Razorpay). This suggests Dodo Payments might offer a specialized service, better conversion rates in a particular segment, or a unique feature set that Ace_Vikings is now evaluating, potentially justifying its higher cost.

WHAT'S INTERESTING / WHAT'S NOT

What's interesting here is the founder's direct, empirical observation that payment gateway choice significantly impacts conversion, even when it means accepting higher transaction fees. The jump from '0 payments' with Razorpay to 'a few' with PayPal for merchbanao.com is a stark, real-world example of how payment infrastructure is not merely a cost center but a critical component of the sales funnel. This highlights the importance of customer trust, regional payment preferences, and user experience at the checkout stage. The willingness to experiment with a third, even higher-cost provider (Dodo Payments) further underscores the founder's hypothesis that conversion lift can justify increased operational expenses.

What's not interesting, or rather, what's missing, is the granular data needed to make a fully informed decision. The signal lacks specific conversion rates (e.g., 0% vs. 0.5%), exact fee percentages for each gateway, or details on the geographic distribution of merchbanao.com's customer base. Without knowing why Razorpay yielded zero payments (e.g., technical integration issues, lack of preferred payment methods for the target audience, poor UX, or simply no traffic to the checkout page), it's difficult to draw universally applicable conclusions. The generic name