Embedded payments for marketplaces. A platform fee on every sale.
Synapto is the embedded payments partner for UK marketplaces. We take you from concept to live payments: seller onboarding, splits, payouts, your platform fee, the go-to-market to your sellers and the support after launch, at competitive rates.
Marketplace or software platform?
Payment operations need to fit your marketplace.
How buyers pay, what sellers receive and how your marketplace earns all need to work together. We work through onboarding, pricing, refunds and payouts with you, then decide how to explain the offer and get new and existing sellers using it.
Going direct to an acquirer
A marketplace can contract with an acquirer directly for the rails. The question is what each route asks of your team, and what it gives back.
What going direct requires
Acquirers that serve marketplaces usually look for a large existing payment volume, and often a processing commitment up front. You get the rails, the documentation and an account manager. The marketplace product on top is your team's work.
- Seller onboarding, splits and payouts, designed by you
- Your platform fee and the seller pricing, set and defended by you
- Bringing sellers across, planned and run by your team
- Seller payment questions, refunds and disputes, handled by your support team
What Synapto adds on the same infrastructure
The same rails, with the payments team you would otherwise have to hire. We build the payment products agreed with you; your developer owns the connection to your marketplace.
- Seller onboarding, splits, payouts and reporting, built with you
- An account manager for your team, and for your sellers' payment questions
- Competitive rates, on terms sized to the volume you have today
- Settlement in GBP on UK rails, every seller paid to its own account
When going direct is the better call
We say which of these applies on the first call, and we say so if direct is the right answer.
- Very large payment volume, with the commitment that comes with it
- An in-house payments team to design, price, launch and support the product
- Sellers or buyers mostly outside the UK, or settlement in several currencies
Splits, seller onboarding and payouts, inside your marketplace
Splits defined for your model
Agree the seller share and platform fee at capture, with explicit treatment for refunds and disputes. Each party can see the records relevant to it.
Onboard your sellers in your own flow
Sellers complete verification inside your marketplace experience. We explain requirements to sellers and follow up incomplete applications. Ongoing checks may still be required.
Pay every seller to their own account
Payouts go to each seller's own bank account on a schedule you set, with a statement they can read and a record your finance team can reconcile.
Who holds the money?
Funds sit with our regulated acquiring partner, not your marketplace and not Synapto, from the moment a buyer pays until each seller is paid out. Your marketplace sets the rules and the fee. It never holds anyone's money, which means your marketplace does not need to be regulated to hold funds.
- Funds held by our regulated acquiring partner
- You set the split and your fee
- Every seller paid to their own account
- One record of every payment and payout
Work out the seller offer together
Start with how your marketplace works and what would make sellers use your payments.
Understand buyers and sellers
Understand the product, how money moves and the different types of seller. Find where sellers get stuck and where payments need attention.
Agree the offer
Work out what to charge sellers, what stays open and what comes with your payments. Make the benefits and payout arrangements clear.
Prepare and launch
Agree what to build, how to explain it to sellers and who helps them get started. Your developer owns the connection to your marketplace.
Adoption and payment performance
Look at which sellers are taking payments, where payments or payouts fail and what sellers need help with. Decide what to change together.
When another provider is the better choice
If you want a cheaper rail and plan to move your sellers yourself, a self-serve provider is built for that job. And if your sellers or buyers are mostly outside the UK, or you need settlement in several currencies, we settle in GBP on UK rails, and that UK focus is what we are built for.
- You only want a cheaper rail
- You will move your sellers yourself
- Settlement outside GBP
Questions from marketplaces
Look for split payments at capture, seller onboarding with checks built in, and payouts to each seller's own account, on the payment methods your buyers use. Our guide compares five Stripe Connect alternatives for UK platforms and marketplaces, including when each is the better choice.
The buyer makes one payment. Our regulated acquiring partner holds it, then splits it: each seller's share goes to that seller's balance and your platform fee goes to yours. Sellers are paid out to their own bank accounts on the schedule you set, and refunds and chargebacks follow the same split.
Our regulated acquiring partner, which holds the licences and the funds from the moment a buyer pays until each seller is paid out. Your marketplace never holds sellers' money, and neither does Synapto.
To each seller's own UK bank account, from its balance, on a schedule you set or on demand once its checks are complete. Our guide to marketplace payouts in the UK covers timing, holds and what sellers see.
No. Funds are held by our regulated acquiring partner, which holds the licences. Your marketplace sets the split and its fee, and never holds anyone's money.
No. New sellers start on your payments by default, and existing ones move in planned groups when there is a good moment for them. Nothing is forced.
We build the payment products with you, such as seller onboarding and payouts. Your developer owns your marketplace's own integration, with a named payments engineer here answering the payments questions while they build. We never put a date on your team's work.
Detail for your marketplace team
The pages your finance, operations and technology leads will want before a decision.
- How it works: Seller onboarding, splits and payouts
- Payouts: Paying sellers on your schedule
- Finance: Commercial model, including marketplaces
- Technology: Technical evaluation
Start with a payments review.
Thirty minutes on your marketplace, your sellers and how money moves today. We talk through what you want to build, how to get sellers using it and where you need our help.