How to Apply for a Payment Gateway: What Individuals, Sole Proprietors and Companies Need, and How Long Review Takes

Once you've decided to take payments yourself, the next step is applying for a payment gateway account 📝 The most common questions are "Can I apply without a company?" and "What do I need to prepare?" This article covers each type of applicant separately and lists the common reasons applications get sent back, so you can check against it before you submit.

The info below is mainly based on ECPay's and NewebPay's public information. Details vary by provider, so go by each provider's official announcements.

First, figure out what you're applying as: individual, sole proprietor or company

Payment gateways usually split applicants into two types:

• Individual: you apply under your own identity, and payments go into your personal account
• Business (sole proprietor, company, organization): you apply as an entity with a business tax ID (Unified Business Number), and payments go into that entity's account

ECPay's official info says individuals, companies and sole proprietors, foundations and associations, and civic organizations can all apply (ECPay service info). NewebPay also has individual and business members; individuals must be natural persons with full legal capacity, one account per person (Site Now NewebPay summary, 10/2026).

The main difference is usually the collection limit. For ECPay regular sellers, for example, the 30-day collection limit is US$6,455 for individuals and US$16,130 for businesses (ECPay fees page) .

What you need to prepare

Individuals

• Your national ID number, plus a photo or copy of your ID document
• A bank account in your own name (usually the cover page of your passbook)
• Your mobile number and email
• The URL of your live website or sales page

ECPay's personal data consent form lists collecting copies of ID documents, financial account details and copies, and similar information (ECPay personal data consent form), so you can use that as a guide when preparing.

Sole proprietors and companies

• Business tax ID (Unified Business Number) and registration documents (business registration for sole proprietors, company registration for companies)
• ID documents of the responsible person
• A bank account in the name of the sole proprietorship or company
• Beneficial owner information: ECPay business sellers go through an extra “beneficial owner verification” (ECPay verification info), and NewebPay business members also need to attach the beneficial owner's ID and a declaration
• The URL of your live website or sales page

The bank account name must match the applicant: your own name for individuals, the company's name for companies. This is a very common reason for being sent back ⚠️

Application steps

Taking ECPay as an example (ECPay registration info), the steps are roughly:

• Register an account and set your username and password
• Verify by text message
• Verify your email: the official info says this email must be the same as the contact email listed on the website where you sell
• Fill in seller information: shop info, identity details, contact details, and upload files
• Set up the bank account for receiving payments
• Apply for services: payments, shipping and e-invoices can be applied for separately
• Wait for review: in order, identity verification, bank verification, (for businesses) beneficial owner verification, and finally payment collection review

Other providers name the steps differently, but the order is roughly similar.

How long does review take?

ECPay's official pages don't give a fixed number of review days. NewebPay's individual registration page mentions you can start taking payments in as little as one day (as quoted in the summary article above); an integration guide for PAYUNi mentions activation within about a week (WPSite PAYUNi guide) .

The actual time depends a lot on whether your documents are complete and whether you need to submit more. To be safe, leave one to two weeks for payment gateway review before your website goes live ⏳

Common reasons applications get sent back

Here's what official info and integration guides often mention:

• The website isn't live yet, or only has an "under construction" page
• The website doesn't show descriptions and prices for products or services
• There's no contact info in the footer, or the contact email doesn't match the email you applied with
• The bank account name doesn't match the applicant
• What you sell falls into a category the provider's rules don't accept; for example, some guides mention gift cards, adult content and gambling
• Photos are unclear, or fields are filled in incorrectly

ECPay's info also says that if your payment collection review doesn't pass, you can change your sales URL and resubmit (ECPay verification info). Don't worry too much if you're sent back; just fill in what the notice asks for.

Checklist before you submit

Before sending your application, you can go through this list yourself:

• Your website opens, and the URL is your real domain, not a test URL
• Every product or service has a description and a price
• The footer has your shop or company name and a phone number or email
• The contact email on your website is the same email you're applying with
• Your return, exchange or cancellation policy is written down
• Photos of your ID and bank account are clear, with all four corners visible
• The bank account name matches the applicant
• What you sell isn't in a category the provider's rules prohibit

After approval: connect the account to your website

Once approved, your payment gateway dashboard will have a merchant ID and keys for integration. These are for your website, so it knows which account payments should go into.

• When integrating, first do test payments in the provider's test environment to make sure payment, notifications and order status all work correctly, then switch to the live environment
• Keys are like real keys: only give them to the person doing the integration, and never post them anywhere public
• If you change websites later, just connect the new website to the same account. There's no need to apply again

One more thing: tax registration

Applying for a payment gateway and taxes are two separate things, but people often ask about them together. Under Ministry of Finance rules, if you sell goods online with monthly sales of US$2,585 or more (US$1,290 or more for services), you need to complete tax registration. For details, go by your local National Taxation Bureau.

Get your website ready first

The review looks at your website, so it's best to have it ready before you submit: products or services, prices, contact info and return/exchange policy should all be on it.

Our Small Shop Website US$20/month. Booking deposits and event registration fees connect to your own ECPay account, so the money goes straight to you; E-commerce Website every plan includes payment gateway integration, your choice of ECPay or NewebPay. You apply for the account, and we handle the integration 🛠️

If you're still comparing which one to apply for, start with Taiwan payment gateway comparison.