Most software platforms already have customers taking payments, just not through the platform. We build payments into your product under your brand, then move your existing customers across. You earn on every payment, without holding anyone's money or becoming a payments company.
Every engagement starts with the same six-week discovery. After that, you decide how involved we are, and you can change it as your own team grows.
We design the payments product, the pricing and the plan for moving each customer group. Your own team runs it.
We run the campaigns, onboarding and chasing in your name, group by group. New customers start on your payments by default.
Everything in Run, plus we build the payment products with your developers, such as onboarding, reconciliation and payouts.
This works best for UK software platforms and marketplaces with an existing customer base that already takes payments, just not through the platform.
Your software runs their bookings, memberships or invoices, but the money goes through a card machine, a Direct Debit bureau or a gateway they picked themselves. The margin on that volume goes to whichever provider they happened to sign up with.
Deposits and balances, monthly subscriptions by Direct Debit, a card at the counter. Platforms like this have the most to gain, because one account can replace three providers. Sectors include sports and golf clubs, clinics, venues, accommodation, classes, self storage, lettings, trades and driving instructors.
You added a payment option, but only some customers switched. The rest stayed put because nobody was employed to price each one, write to them, onboard them and chase. That is the work we take on.
You set your own fee, and it is taken from each payment as it lands. There is nothing to invoice and nothing to chase.
We don't quote from a rate card. We ask for statements first, so any number we give you is based on your own customers and how they pay today.
The platforms that do this well never lead with 'you must use our payments'. They follow the same four steps, in the same order.
Card on file, auto-charge, retries, card fallback when a Direct Debit fails, one statement and reconciliation. These only work on your payments, and they are the reason customers move.
New customers start on your payments by default. Existing customers keep working as they are until they choose to move.
If uptake needs a nudge, a billing or gateway fee can apply to payments that run through someone else, waived on your own payments. It's never a fee on your customers' customers.
No mid-term changes to payment terms. Any change comes at renewal, with notice, so your customers are never caught out.
There are four common ways for a software platform to make money from payments. The right one depends on how much control you want and who does the work of moving customers.
| Route | What you get | What it leaves with you | Merchant Advice view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referral deal | A small fee, usually only on the customers you convert yourself. | All the pricing, persuading and onboarding. | Low effort, but most of your existing book never moves. |
| Self-serve embedded payments | The tools to take payments inside your product. | Pricing each customer group, writing to them, onboarding and chasing. | A good fit if you have the team to run the migration yourself. |
| Becoming a payment facilitator | The most control over pricing and onboarding. | Card scheme registration, underwriting, risk monitoring and settlement. | A large, long-term commitment. Only worth weighing once payments are a core business line. |
| Embedded payments with Merchant Advice | Payments in your product, under your name, with your fee on every payment. | Setting your pricing and choosing how much of the work you run. | Built for platforms with an existing book of customers to move. |
Want the detail behind each route, including PayFac, who holds the money and FCA authorisation? Read our guide to embedded payments for UK software platforms.
Launching payments is the easy part. Moving the customers is the work, and it is the part we take on.
Saved cards, Direct Debit mandates and statements move across for your customers. Switching cost is the real objection, so we remove it.
You never hold money and your customers are not sub-merchants of anyone. We walk your legal counsel through where every line sits before anything is signed.
Checks happen before a business goes live. If an account needs a closer look, a named person gives the reason and a timeline.
Each stage ends with something written down that belongs to you, whether or not you carry on with us.
A first call covers three questions. Is your platform the system of record for billing? Do your customers pay a percentage today, or pence per item? Who would feel a fee? Then we ask for statements, so any number we give you is about your own customers.