Kipp and Primer Partner to Boost Payment Authorization Rates via Real-Time Data Sharing

Merchants using Primer can now access Kipp’s transaction approval platform to reduce false declines and recover revenue. By integrating Kipp into their existing payment workflows, businesses can share real-time data and risk costs with issuing banks, potentially turning borderline declines into successful sales while improving the overall customer experience at checkout.

What was announced

The partnership integrates Kipp’s fintech platform directly into the Primer ecosystem, allowing merchants to activate the service within minutes. Kipp functions by bridging the communication gap between card-issuing banks and merchants. When a transaction is flagged for a potential decline—often due to conservative risk profiles or suspected fraud—Kipp’s automated system intervenes. It shares rich data points between the parties and facilitates a real-time split of risk costs based on predefined rules and risk profiles.

For merchants, the primary value proposition is the recovery of revenue from legitimate customers who would otherwise be turned away. Kipp incentivizes issuing banks to approve these "borderline" transactions by offering a premium, backed by the merchant’s willingness to share data and absorb a portion of the risk. This collaborative approach aims to lower chargeback rates and increase overall authorization success. Through Primer’s automation platform, which handles payments and commerce workflows, merchants can add this capability to their stack without the need for extensive new coding or complex individual integrations with multiple issuers. The system is designed to automate payment processing, which the companies claim will boost efficiency and customer satisfaction by providing a more frictionless checkout experience.

"Kipp is all about collaboration, leveraging data sharing to authorize more legitimate transactions. Through our partnership with Primer, merchants and issuers can benefit from higher approval rates and consumers can enjoy a positive, frictionless experience,"

Chanan Lavi, Kipp CEO and Co-Founder.

The companies involved

Kipp is a fintech platform focused on optimizing the relationship between merchants and card issuers to maximize transaction approvals. Operating under its parent company, The Lifetime Value Company, Kipp provides the technical infrastructure for real-time risk-sharing and data exchange. The company positions itself as a solution to the "false decline" problem, which costs the global retail industry significant revenue annually by blocking legitimate shoppers.

Primer is a payment and commerce automation platform that provides a unified infrastructure for businesses to manage their entire payment stack. By offering a single integration point, Primer allows merchants to connect various payment processors, fraud tools, and payout methods through a drag-and-drop interface. This "orchestration" approach is designed to give merchants more control over their checkout experience and backend operations without being locked into a single provider. Based at primer.io, the company has established itself as a central player in the movement toward modular, flexible payment architectures for global enterprises, helping them navigate the complexities of international commerce.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has tracked Primer’s expansion as a key orchestrator in the global payments market. The company recently made headlines when Checkout.com Leverages Primer for Partners to Fast-Track Global Payment Capabilities, demonstrating its role in helping major acquirers scale. Primer has also focused on enhancing the merchant experience through its product launches, such as when Primer Sets a New Standard for All Checkouts, Combining Simplicity and a Brand-Perfect Experience. Beyond infrastructure, the firm has moved into intelligent management, as seen when Primer Launches World First AI Companion for Payments Teams, Ushering in New Era of Intelligent Payment Management. Additionally, the platform continues to attract major industry players, including a deal where Paysafe Partners with Primer to Boost Global Card Payment Orchestration.

What this means

This partnership highlights a shift in the payments industry from defensive fraud prevention to proactive revenue recovery. For years, merchants and issuers have operated in silos, leading to high rates of false positives that frustrate consumers. By enabling a "premium" for risk, Kipp is essentially creating a market for transaction approvals, which puts pressure on traditional fraud legacy systems that rely on binary logic. As orchestration platforms like Primer become the gatekeepers of the payment stack, the ability to toggle on specialized services like Kipp becomes a competitive necessity. The open question remains whether issuers will broadly adopt this risk-sharing model or if it will remain a niche tool for high-margin merchants.