Overview
A gateway move relocates a merchant's entire gateway account from one affiliate or sub-affiliate to another within your portfolio. This allows partners to reassign a merchant to a different sub-affiliate (or parent affiliate) while the merchant keeps their account history, stored data, and integrations.
What Is a Gateway Move?
A gateway move (also called a parent affiliate change) reassigns a merchant's gateway account to a new parent within the same partner portfolio. The account isn't copied or rebuilt. It's the same account, just under a new parent, so everything tied to it comes along:
- Transaction history
- Customer Vault records and tokens
- Security and API keys
- Recurring and card-on-file (COF) setup
This is what makes a gateway move different from a Data Transfer. A Data Transfer copies only cardholder data into a separate account's Customer Vault, and it doesn't carry over recurring or COF chains. Because a gateway move keeps the same account, the merchant keeps processing with no re-tokenizing and no need to restart COF chains. If you need to copy card data between two separate accounts instead, see Data Import, Export, & Transfer Information.
Why It Matters for Partners
- You can reassign merchants between your sub-affiliates or up to your parent affiliate as your portfolio changes, without disrupting the merchant.
- The merchant keeps the same Gateway ID, stored data, and integrations, so there's no downtime and nothing to re-onboard.
Prerequisites
A few things need to be true before a move can go through:
- The request comes from an admin or authorized contact on the affiliate (partner) account. If a merchant asks for a move, they'll need to go through their partner.
- The account is in good standing with no outstanding balance. Any balance has to be billed first.
- The receiving sub-affiliate supports every processor the merchant currently uses. If one is missing, it needs to be added to the new parent before the move.
How It Works
- Make sure the prerequisites above are covered.
- Submit a request to NMI Support with:
- Merchant or gateway name
- Gateway ID
- Current affiliate or account ID (where the gateway is moving from)
- Destination sub-affiliate ID (where it's moving to)
- NMI Support confirms the details and completes the move.
- Once it's done, check that the merchant sits under the correct parent and that processing is working as expected.
Common Questions
Is a gateway move the same as a data transfer? No. A gateway move relocates the whole account, including its history, Customer Vault, keys, and recurring setup, to a new parent within your portfolio. A data transfer only copies cardholder data into a separate account's Customer Vault. See Data Import, Export, & Transfer Information.
Will the merchant lose their stored cards or recurring billing? No. Since the account moves intact, Customer Vault records and recurring/COF setup stay exactly where they are.
Does the merchant's Gateway ID change? No. The Gateway ID stays the same.
Can a merchant request their own move? No. The request has to come from an authorized contact on the partner account. A merchant who wants a move should reach out to their partner to get it started.
Need Help?
For additional support, please contact our Support team by Submitting a Ticket.
Key Definitions
- Gateway Move (Parent Affiliate Change): Reassigning a merchant's gateway account to a new affiliate parent within the same partner portfolio, with the account and all its data kept intact.
- Affiliate / Parent / Sub-Affiliate: The hierarchy of accounts within your portfolio. A merchant sits under an affiliate (its parent), which may sit under a higher-level affiliate of its own.
- Customer Vault: NMI's secure storage for tokenized payment data.
- Card-on-File (COF): Stored payment details used for repeat or recurring transactions.
- Data Transfer: Copying cardholder data from one gateway account into another account's Customer Vault. This is separate from a gateway move.