Limits in PayStar: How to Cap Payments, Turnover, and Balances

How to limit payments, turnover, and balances

1) Where to find the Limits section and what it looks like

The Limits section is a list of all active limits with filters, search, and the Add limit button.

The table typically shows:

Condition — the limit rule in a human-readable format (example: Failed payment count in 5 min | payeerIdentifier = 3 | €)

Object — what the limit is applied to (Merchant / Pipeline / Channel / Integration / Gateway)

Created — when the limit was created

⋮ — actions for the limit (for example, delete)

2) When you need limits: typical business use cases

2.1. How to cap a provider if you don’t fully trust it (or you want to “try it”)

Use turnover and/or balance limits to test a provider safely without risking your full volume.

Recommended setup

Object: Gateway or Integration (sometimes Channel)

Turnover: Turnover1D (quick test) or TurnoverDaily/Weekly/Monthly (calendar caps)

Balance: MinBalance / Overdraft / MaxBalance

Currency: the currency of the test flow

Important: for balance-based limits to work correctly, make sure your fees/commissions are up to date. Otherwise the calculated balance may be incorrect.

2.2. How to cap a provider by turnover (contractual daily/weekly/monthly cap)

If a provider gives you a quota like “no more than X per day/week/month”, set a calendar limit.

Recommended setup

Object: Integration or Channel

Limit type: TurnoverDaily / TurnoverWeekly / TurnoverMonthly

Currency: the required currency

How calendar periods are calculated (by the team time zone)

Day: from 00:00:01 to 23:59:59

Week: starts on Monday (from 00:00:01)

Month: starts on the 1st day (from 00:00:01)

2.3. How to cap a provider by balance (to avoid going negative or accumulating too much float)

Balance limits are useful when:

you must not send traffic with a low remaining balance;

you don’t want to keep too much “float” with a provider;

you need to control the allowed negative (if overdraft is used).

Recommended setup

Object: Gateway / Integration / Channel

Limit type: MinBalance / MaxBalance / Overdraft

Currency: the currency of the flow/balance

Important: balance accuracy depends on up-to-date fees/commissions.

2.4. How to limit successful transactions per user (if the provider doesn’t want more)

If a provider asks for “no more than N successful transactions per customer per period”, set a success limit grouped by a “user key”.

Recommended setup

Object: Gateway / Integration / Channel

Limit type: Success payment count

Interval value: 300 (5 min) / 3600 (1 hour) / 86400 (1 day) — as required by the provider

Properties: payeerIdentifier (often the best choice) or cardNumber / phoneNumber

Limit: N (quota)

2.5. How to limit failed attempts per user to avoid “burning” payment details

If a user/card/IP produces a streak of declines, it can “burn” details and hurt conversion. Limit attempts in a short time window.

Recommended setup

Object: Gateway / Integration / Channel

Limit type: Failed payment count

Interval value: 60–300 seconds

Properties: cardNumber / payeerIdentifier / ip

Limit: typically 3–10 (depends on your policy)

2.6. How to protect against card-testing / bot attacks using limits

Automated testing usually means frequent attempts and many failures. Limit operation frequency by IP and/or cards.

Recommended setup

Object: Gateway / Integration / Channel

Limit type: Total payment count and/or Failed payment count

Interval value: 60–300 seconds

Properties: most often ip, sometimes additionally cardNumber

2.7. How to limit amounts per user (AML / internal rules)

If you need to limit “how much money a single user can process” per day/month.

Recommended setup

Object: Merchant (rule for the whole business) or Gateway/Integration/Channel (rule for a specific provider)

Limit type: Total payment sum or Success payment sum

Interval value: 86400 (1 day) / 2592000 (30 days)

Properties: payeerIdentifier or cardNumber

Currency: the required currency

2.8. How to “smooth” load on a channel if the provider is unstable at high frequency

If a provider/channel starts returning 5xx/timeouts during spikes, limit the number of operations in a short interval.

Recommended setup

Object: Channel / Integration

Limit type: Total payment count

Interval value: 60–300 seconds

3) Which objects can you apply limits to?

When creating a limit, you select an Object (where the rule applies):

Merchant — merchant-level limit

Pipeline — within a specific pipeline

Channel — on a specific payment channel

Integration — on a specific provider integration

Gateway — on a provider/gateway as a whole

4) Limit types (Limit type) and calculation logic

4.1. Turnover

Rolling window

Turnover1D — last 24 hours

Turnover7D — last 168 hours

Turnover30D — last 720 hours

Calendar periods (by the team time zone)

TurnoverDaily — current day: 00:00:01 → 23:59:59

TurnoverWeekly — current week: starts on Monday (from 00:00:01)

TurnoverMonthly — current month: starts on the 1st day (from 00:00:01)

4.2. Balance

MinBalance — do not go below a threshold

MaxBalance — do not accumulate above a threshold

Overdraft — control the allowed negative (if used)

For balances to be calculated correctly, PayStar must have up-to-date fees/commissions configured.

4.3. Operation counts

Total / Success / Failed payment count

4.4. Operation sums

Total / Success / Failed payment sum

5) Interval value: what it is and how to choose it

Interval value is the time window (in seconds) used to calculate count/sum limit types.

Typical values:

60 — 1 minute

300 — 5 minutes

3600 — 1 hour

86400 — 1 day

2592000 — 30 days

5184000 — 60 days

6) Properties: what they are and how to choose them

Properties define what you consider a single user for limit calculations (the grouping key).

Examples:

cardNumber — one user = one card

payeerIdentifier — one user = one payer (payeer)

ip — one user = one IP address

phoneNumber — one user = one phone number

telecomOperator — one user = one telecom operator

7) Currency: why it matters

Currency defines the currency in which the limit is calculated. Limits are typically calculated separately per currency, so you can configure the same rule for multiple currencies.

8) How to create a limit (Add limit)

Click Add limit

Select the Object and the target entity (via search)

Choose the Limit type

Set Interval value (if required)

Set Properties (if required)

Enter the Limit (number)

Select Currency

Click Add

9) How to manage limits: filters and deletion

9.1. Filters

Filters help you quickly find the required limit (by currency, type, object, ID, etc.).
Use Clear Filters to reset filtering.

9.2. Deleting a limit

Open the ⋮ menu on the row and select Delete.

Limits

How to limit payments, turnover, and balances#

1) Where to find the Limits section and what it looks like#

2) When you need limits: typical business use cases#

2.1. How to cap a provider if you don’t fully trust it (or you want to “try it”)#

2.2. How to cap a provider by turnover (contractual daily/weekly/monthly cap)#

2.3. How to cap a provider by balance (to avoid going negative or accumulating too much float)#

2.4. How to limit successful transactions per user (if the provider doesn’t want more)#

2.5. How to limit failed attempts per user to avoid “burning” payment details#

2.6. How to protect against card-testing / bot attacks using limits#

2.7. How to limit amounts per user (AML / internal rules)#

2.8. How to “smooth” load on a channel if the provider is unstable at high frequency#

3) Which objects can you apply limits to?#

4) Limit types (Limit type) and calculation logic#

4.1. Turnover#

4.2. Balance#

4.3. Operation counts#

4.4. Operation sums#

5) Interval value: what it is and how to choose it#

6) Properties: what they are and how to choose them#

7) Currency: why it matters#

8) How to create a limit (Add limit)#

9) How to manage limits: filters and deletion#

9.1. Filters#

9.2. Deleting a limit#

How to limit payments, turnover, and balances

1) Where to find the Limits section and what it looks like

2) When you need limits: typical business use cases

2.1. How to cap a provider if you don’t fully trust it (or you want to “try it”)

2.2. How to cap a provider by turnover (contractual daily/weekly/monthly cap)

2.3. How to cap a provider by balance (to avoid going negative or accumulating too much float)

2.4. How to limit successful transactions per user (if the provider doesn’t want more)

2.5. How to limit failed attempts per user to avoid “burning” payment details

2.6. How to protect against card-testing / bot attacks using limits

2.7. How to limit amounts per user (AML / internal rules)

2.8. How to “smooth” load on a channel if the provider is unstable at high frequency

3) Which objects can you apply limits to?

4) Limit types (Limit type) and calculation logic

4.1. Turnover

4.2. Balance

4.3. Operation counts

4.4. Operation sums

5) Interval value: what it is and how to choose it

6) Properties: what they are and how to choose them

7) Currency: why it matters

8) How to create a limit (Add limit)

9) How to manage limits: filters and deletion

9.1. Filters

9.2. Deleting a limit