Why this business exists

The problem this business is built around

A merchant gets terminated on a Tuesday. Revenue stops that afternoon. By Wednesday they have found a market whose front page promises an approval nobody is in a position to promise, whose middle pages are keyword-stuffed filler, and whose actual product is selling their contact details to six different brokers who will all call within the hour.

That merchant is not in a position to evaluate any of it. They need processing back, and they are being sold urgency by people who understand that.

Meanwhile the useful information — which providers are actually boarding this category this month, what reserve is normal, whether a MATCH listing is survivable, what the scheme registration will cost — is not published anywhere, because the people who know it make money from the merchant not knowing it.

What we do differently, concretely

• One introduction at a time. Your details go to the provider whose appetite fits your profile. We do not broadcast applications and we do not sell leads.
• We say no. If your profile is not placeable, you get told within a business day. A fast no is more valuable than a slow maybe, and it costs us nothing to give.
• The numbers are published. Fee and reserve ranges are on every category page, with the caveat that they are ranges rather than quotes. Most of this market treats pricing as something to be revealed only after you are committed.
• We cite sources. Where a page makes a regulatory claim, the primary source is linked and the review date is visible. Where we could not verify something, we left it out.

Who is behind it

Satora is operated by James Hickson, who has spent two decades in regulated financial services and payments. The business is deliberately small: the work is reading applications carefully and knowing which providers are boarding what, and neither of those scales by adding salespeople.

There is no team page with stock photography here, and no invented headcount. When you pre-qualify, a person reads it.

What we are not

We are an introducer. We are not a payment processor, an acquirer, a bank or a payment facilitator. We do not underwrite, approve or decline anyone, we do not hold merchant funds, and we do not give regulated financial advice. How we are paid, and the conflict of interest that creates, is set out in full on how we work.

Contact

The fastest route to a useful answer is the pre-qualification form, because it asks the five things needed to say anything specific. If you would rather just write, hello@satorapay.com reaches the same person.