Referral
The simplest rung. You send merchants to us, we underwrite and board them, you earn a share of the revenue, with no payments liability and no compliance burden. The fastest way to start earning from payments.
Payments for platforms
Payments for Platforms
GivePayments helps software platforms, marketplaces, and SaaS companies embed payments and monetize them, across a ladder from referral, to PayFac-as-a-Service, to full payment facilitator, with the infrastructure, sponsorship, and high-risk underwriting depth to own the merchant experience without taking on more compliance burden than your stage justifies.
- Referral to full PayFac
- High-risk underwriting built in
- No re-platforming to climb
The opportunity
Payments as a product line, not a checkbox
If you run a platform, vertical SaaS, a marketplace, software with merchants on it, your customers are already taking payments. The only question is whether they take them through you or wander off to a separate processor, leaving the experience disjointed and the economics on someone else's table.
The mistake platforms make is treating this as a single binary, “do we become a payment facilitator or not?”, when it's really a ladder. Start where your volume and risk appetite sit today and climb as the numbers justify it; our infrastructure lets you move up without re-platforming.
The ladder
The three ways to embed payments
PayFac-as-a-Service
Where most serious platforms land. You own the merchant-facing experience, onboarding, sub-merchant management, payment monetization with your own pricing, on our infrastructure and sponsorship, without registering as a PayFac.
Full payment facilitator
The top rung. You register directly with the card networks, take on underwriting and compliance for your sub-merchants, and own the economics end to end. The most lucrative and the most demanding.
Compare the models
Referral vs. PayFac-as-a-Service vs. full PayFac
| Referral | PayFac-as-a-Service | Full PayFac | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you own | Merchant introduction | The full merchant experience | The entire payments stack |
| Payments liability | None | On our infrastructure / sponsorship | Yours, directly |
| Compliance burden | None | We carry registration & compliance | You register with the card networks |
| Economics | Share of revenue | Set your own sub-merchant pricing | End-to-end economics |
| Best for | Economics without operational weight | Most serious platforms | Large volume, full appetite |
Why us
Where GivePayments fits
Plenty of providers will plug payments into a low-risk SaaS product. Fewer can do it for platforms whose merchants run high-risk models, and that's where we're built differently. Our underwriting depth in high-risk verticals means we can sponsor and board sub-merchants that mainstream platform-payments providers decline.
If your platform serves industries like supplements, subscriptions, or other elevated-risk categories, you're not forced to turn those merchants away or route them elsewhere, we can board them under your platform. The embed model changes; the capability to board genuinely hard merchants stays constant.
Explore
Explore the platform models
Embedded payments
Bring payment acceptance natively into your software so merchants get paid without leaving your product.
Marketplace payments & split payouts
Collect from buyers and split funds to multiple sellers, with registration and concurrence handled properly.
PayFac-as-a-Service
Own the merchant experience and the economics on our infrastructure and sponsorship, without registering as a PayFac.
FAQ
Platform payments FAQ
What are payments for platforms?
Payments for platforms means embedding payment acceptance inside your software so your customers, the merchants who use your product, can get paid through you rather than going off to set up a separate processor. SaaS platforms, marketplaces, and vertical software companies do this to improve the customer experience, control onboarding, and earn a share of the payment economics. The models range from a simple referral arrangement to becoming a full payment facilitator.
What is the difference between referral, PayFac-as-a-Service, and full PayFac?
They're rungs on a ladder of how much of the payments stack you own. Referral means you send merchants to a processor and earn a share with no payments liability. PayFac-as-a-Service lets you own the merchant experience, onboarding, sub-merchant management, payment monetization, on top of our infrastructure and sponsorship, without the registration and compliance burden of becoming a PayFac yourself. Full payment facilitator means you register with the card networks and take on underwriting and compliance responsibility directly. Most platforms start lower and move up as volume justifies it.
Can a platform monetize payments?
Yes, payment monetization is the core reason platforms embed payments. Depending on the model, you can earn a share of processing revenue, set your own pricing to sub-merchants on a PayFac model, and turn payments from a cost your customers pay elsewhere into a revenue line inside your product. How much you earn scales with how much of the stack you own and how much risk and compliance responsibility you take on.
Do I need to become a payment facilitator to embed payments?
No. Becoming a registered payment facilitator is the most advanced model, and it carries real registration, underwriting, and compliance obligations. Most platforms get the experience and economics they want through PayFac-as-a-Service, where you own the merchant-facing experience on our infrastructure and sponsorship without registering as a PayFac yourself. You can start there and move to full PayFac later if your volume and appetite justify the added responsibility.
Related
Keep exploring
Build payments into your platform.
The right rung depends on your volume, your merchant mix, and how much of the stack you want to own. That's a conversation, let's map the model that fits.