Software and embedded payments
What should a software company ask before embedding payments?
Direct answer
A software company should define who is the merchant, payment facilitator, acquirer, processor, and support owner; how users are underwritten and funded; and who manages disputes, fraud, PCI, complaints, reserves, and reporting. It should also test APIs, uptime, token ownership, data portability, reconciliation, pricing, revenue economics, contract exit, geographic coverage, and change-management responsibilities.
- Author
- AMP Payment Systems
- Review status
- Primary sources checked; no named AMP subject-matter reviewer is claimed.
- Published
- Modified
Key facts
- Embedded checkout creates operational duties beyond API work.
- Program structure determines risk and onboarding responsibilities.
- Token and merchant-data portability should be negotiated early.
Map the commercial and compliance model
Document contracting parties, fund flows, merchant-of-record status, onboarding, restricted businesses, reserves, tax reporting, complaints, and termination. Legal and payments counsel may be necessary.
Test the technical lifecycle
Prototype onboarding, authorization, capture, refund, dispute, payout, webhook retry, idempotency, reporting, outage, credential rotation, and migration. Clarify versioning and incident communication.
When the answer changes
- Marketplace, SaaS referral, payfac, and merchant-account models allocate duties differently.
- Countries and payment methods introduce different requirements.
Common mistakes
- Selecting on revenue share before risk allocation.
- Building against happy-path APIs only.
What to verify
- Complete technical, risk, legal, finance, operations, and support reviews.
- Document data ownership, exit rights, service levels, and escalation.
Primary sources
- PCI SSC Document LibraryPCI Security Standards Council
- Visa Core Rules and Product and Service RulesVisa
- Mastercard RulesMastercard
Apply the answer to your business
AMP can help organize your payment, POS, or statement questions. Any recommendation, availability, pricing, or approval depends on the final written configuration and provider terms.
Contact AMP