MID routing that saves sales
Spread charges across the merchant accounts you already hold, and retry soft declines on the next MID instead of losing the order.
6 ways to pick the MID
Choose one per cascade profile. A fraud filter runs before any of them. Part of Checkout & Payments.
- Priority order
- Always try MID 1 first
- Weighted random
- A set share of volume per MID
- Least used
- Spread volume under each cap
- Lowest decline rate
- Send to the MID approving most
- Geo
- By the customer's country
- BIN
- By the card's first digits
Retry soft declines on another MID
Insufficient funds or Do Not Honor on one account is often an approval on the next. The cascade retries on another eligible MID, within the limits you set.
- Pick the NMI and processor decline codes that count
- Set the maximum number of retries
- Hard declines are never cascaded
Keep each MID inside its limits
Give every NMI MID a weight, the traffic it may take and a daily cap. Preview which MID a charge would pick before it goes live.
- Rules by card brand, product and order amount
- Separate rules for sales, rebills and upsells
- Daily transaction cap per MID, monthly volume cap
- Routing preview to test a rule
- MID split tests on approval rate
Why one MID is a fragile place
ElasticFunnels does not issue merchant accounts. It decides which of yours each charge goes to.
Caps and reserves
Spread volume so no account breaches its monthly cap.
Chargeback ratio
Alerts and auto-refunds keep each MID healthy.
Phone recovery
Failed charges go to agents, with the decline code.
MID routing FAQ
What is MID routing?
MID routing decides which of your merchant accounts (MIDs) each charge is sent to. ElasticFunnels picks the MID by the rules you set, such as priority, weight, volume cap, decline rate, the customer's country or the card's BIN.
What is payment cascading?
When a charge is soft-declined, for example for insufficient funds or Do Not Honor, the cascade retries it on another eligible MID instead of losing the sale. You choose which decline codes count and how many retries are allowed.
Are hard declines retried too?
No, and they should not be. A stolen card, a closed account or an issuer block must not be retried on another MID, because it inflates your decline ratio. Cascading is for soft declines only.
Is ElasticFunnels a high-risk merchant account provider?
No. ElasticFunnels does not underwrite anyone or issue merchant accounts. You bring the MIDs you already hold, from your acquirer or ISO, and ElasticFunnels decides which one each transaction goes to.
Which gateways does MID routing work with?
The routing rules and cascade retries run on NMI MIDs, and you can connect as many NMI merchant accounts as you hold. Stripe, PayPal, Klarna and Authorize.net connect as separate payment methods on the checkout.
Can I keep one MID from breaching its cap?
Yes. Set a daily transaction cap per MID and a monthly volume cap in the MID metadata, and use least-used routing to spread volume before any account hits its limit.