The short answer
Stored cards are held as tokens by your processor or gateway. Moving them requires a PCI-compliant vault-to-vault transfer between providers, coordinated under both parties' security procedures. It is routine when both sides cooperate — and a serious obstacle when the outgoing provider does not.
Agree portability up front
Before integrating a gateway, get written confirmation that your vault is portable on request. Subscription businesses that skip this step discover the cost years later.
If migration is refused
The fallback is asking customers to re-enter card details, which typically loses 10-30% of a subscriber base. That figure is why portability is worth negotiating hard at the start.
Key takeaways
- Vaults are portable in principle and often obstructed in practice
- Get portability in writing before integrating
- Re-collection costs a meaningful share of any subscriber base
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