Guides and tools for platform payments. For UK software platforms and marketplaces.
Guides on moving your customers' payments to you, what those payments earn, who holds the money and what payments cost. They are written for the CEO, the finance director and the CTO. Each guide is dated and sourced, and links to a tool you can use with your own figures.
Guides
Each guide gives the answer first, then the detail behind it. Every figure is sourced.
Going direct to an acquirer, or a payments partner: which fits a UK platform?Going direct to an acquirer gives a platform the rails, documentation and account management, and usually asks for large existing volume and a processing commitment. The product, pricing, launch and support on top are your own work. A payments partner does that work with you on the same infrastructure. Direct fits when you have the volume and a payments team.3 November 2026 · 7 min readBest Stripe Connect alternatives for UK platformsFor a UK platform the main Stripe Connect alternatives are Mollie Connect, Checkout.com for platforms, GoCardless for Direct Debit, Ryft for marketplaces, and Synapto. Choose on four things: who holds the funds, how your platform earns, whether you need cards and Direct Debit together, and who moves your existing customers onto your payments.2 November 2026 · 6 min readCard machine contracts after the PSR remedies: what changed and when customers can switchSince 6 January 2023, card machine contracts from the UK's 14 largest acquirers and their resellers are capped at an 18-month initial term for businesses turning over up to £10 million on cards, then roll monthly, with cost-based exit fees. Since 6 July 2023 they must also give a price summary box and trigger messages before a minimum term ends.19 October 2026 · 6 min readDirect Debit for software platforms: built in or GoCardless?A software platform whose customers collect by Direct Debit can send them to a standalone provider such as GoCardless, where each customer pays published per-collection fees, or build Direct Debit into the product so collections run under the platform's own payments. The answer depends on how many collections its customers make a month and who should own the customer.19 October 2026 · 6 min readHow long does it take to add embedded payments to your software?A basic card integration against one provider is measured in weeks; a platform build with customer onboarding, reconciliation into your ledger, payouts and go-live checks is measured in months. The honest answer depends on your developer's scope and schedule, which is why no payments partner should give you a date for work it does not do.19 October 2026 · 6 min readMarketplace payouts in the UK: splits, onboarding and who holds the moneyIn a UK marketplace the buyer pays once, the payment is divided at that moment between the seller and the marketplace's fee, and each seller is paid out to their own bank account on a schedule. Between payment and payout the money is held by a regulated acquiring partner, never by the marketplace, which sets the rules and the fee.19 October 2026 · 7 min readMollie bought GoCardless: what platforms with Direct Debit customers should checkMollie announced an agreement to acquire GoCardless on 11 December 2025 and completed it on 1 September 2026. Both say there are no immediate changes to services, contracts or pricing, and that integration will be phased. A platform whose customers collect by Direct Debit through GoCardless should check its contract, integration and options now, not when a change is announced.19 October 2026 · 6 min readHow do you move existing customers onto your embedded payments?You move existing customers onto your payments by making your payments the default for every new customer, tying the features they want to taking payments through your product, asking at the moments when changing costs them nothing, and running planned campaigns to the groups that remain. Nobody is forced; each group moves for a reason.19 October 2026 · 7 min readCan you move Direct Debit mandates and saved cards without customers re-signing?Usually, yes, for both. Direct Debit mandates can be transferred under the Bacs bulk change process, with payers told in writing but not asked to sign again; it takes weeks and needs the sponsoring banks and the old provider to agree. Saved cards move by token transfer between providers where both support it. Neither is automatic or instant.19 October 2026 · 8 min readPayfac, payfac-as-a-service or referral: which model fits a UK platform?A platform can earn from payments four ways: become a payment facilitator and take on licences, funds and risk; rent that infrastructure as a service; refer customers to an acquirer for a share; or use a regulated-partner model, where the platform sets its price and a regulated acquiring partner holds the licences and funds. Most should not become a payfac.19 October 2026 · 7 min readPayment reconciliation for software platforms: writing settlement back to invoicesReconciliation is matching the money that reached a bank account to the invoices it paid, with the fees accounted for. For a software platform it works when three things are true: the invoice reference travels with the payment, each settlement batch is tied to the bank credit it produced, and fees are itemised per payment rather than netted off the total.19 October 2026 · 7 min readHow much can a UK software platform earn from payments?A UK software platform earns payments revenue equal to the payment volume its customers put through the product, multiplied by the share of that volume on the platform's own payments, multiplied by the margin the platform sets above its processing cost. The first is usually larger than the platform thinks, the second is the one that decides the answer.19 October 2026 · 6 min readWhat should a payments partner build, and what should your developers build?A payments partner should build the payment products with you: the onboarding, reconciliation and payout products that sit on top of the payment and keep customers on it. Your developers should build your own product's integration against one SDK, because only they know your product. A named payments engineer sits alongside them while they do.19 October 2026 · 7 min readWhy don't customers switch to your integrated payments?Customers do not switch to a platform's integrated payments because switching has a cost and the platform gave them no reason or moment. The UK regulator found merchants rarely switch acquirer because prices are hard to compare, contracts never end, and card terminals tie them in. A better rate alone does not beat those three.19 October 2026 · 6 min read
Tools
Pricing calculator
Enter how many of your customers take payments, their average takings, how much they collect by Direct Debit, what you earn today and the margin you pass back. You get a breakdown to share with finance.
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Line-by-line comparisons with other providers, each dated. Every comparison says when the other provider is the better choice.
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Check your rate →The UK Platform Payments Benchmark
How many of a platform's customers take payments through it, how many providers a typical platform's customers use, how long integrations really take. We are collecting the figures from UK software platforms and marketplaces, anonymised, for publication in 2027. Register your interest and you will get the report when it is out, and nothing else.
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Thirty minutes on your platform, your product and how your customers pay today. We talk through what you want to build, what would make customers use it and where you need our help.