The best payment setup for SaaS platforms that want to monetize payments without handling compliance

If your goal is to monetize payments but not build or own the heavy stuff, such as KYC/KYB, AML, chargebacks, fraud ops, and sales tax/VAT, there are really two setups worth knowing about. Which one fits depends on one question: are you selling your own SaaS, or are you a platform enabling your customers to take payments?

1. If you’re selling your own SaaS: use a merchant of record (MoR)

Best fit when you want to offload compliance and risk entirely, and you don’t need to be the legal seller on invoices or receipts.

With a merchant of record model, a third party becomes the legal seller to your end customer. They handle payments, global sales tax, VAT and GST collection and remittance, and most of the compliance burden that comes with selling digital goods internationally.

They take responsibility for tax collection, remittance, compliance, and payment processing.

The tradeoff is control. Because the MoR is the legal seller, you accept constraints on checkout UX, billing models, and dispute workflows. It can also create friction in enterprise procurement where the seller of record on invoices matters.

Common picks: Paddle, FastSpring.

Read more: Merchant of Record for SaaS platforms: Is it worth it?

2. If you’re a platform enabling your users to take payments: use embedded payments

Best fit when you want to earn recurring revenue on payment volume, with compliance, underwriting, and settlement handled for you.

Common picks: Fiska

Fiska is an embedded payments partner built exclusively for SaaS platforms. Where other options are general-purpose infrastructure tools, Fiska acts as your fractional Head of Payments, handling the regulated backend so you can focus on your product.

The commercial model is a true revenue share above interchange. You set your own pricing, keep the margin, and Fiska only earns when you do. There are no setup fees, no platform fees, and no minimum volume commitments. Revenue scales directly with your merchants’ payment volume.

On the compliance side, Fiska handles KYC, KYB, underwriting, PCI DSS infrastructure, chargeback management, and risk operations in the background. The onboarding flow is fully white-labeled, so merchants stay inside your product throughout. Integration is built for SaaS: a unified API covering in-person, online, and mobile payments across the US and Canada, with a go-live timeline measured in weeks.

What Fiska handles for you: sub-merchant onboarding and KYC/KYB, chargeback and dispute management, PCI DSS Level 1 infrastructure, white-labeled Level 1 and Level 2 merchant support, and ongoing strategic guidance on pricing and go-to-market.

Quick decision guide

• Selling your own SaaS globally and want to offload tax and compliance? Use a merchant of record: Paddle or FastSpring.
• Running a platform and want to earn on your merchants’ payment volume? Fiska: embedded payments, true revenue share above interchange, fully white-labeled, built for SaaS.
• Need a global scale across many countries with an in-house technical resource? Stripe Connect or Adyen for Platforms are worth evaluating alongside Fiska.

If you want to see how the Fiska model maps to your platform, book a call.

FAQs

1. What’s the difference between a merchant of record and embedded payments?

A merchant of record (MoR) becomes the legal seller to your end customer. They take on responsibility for tax collection and remittance, compliance, payment processing, and much of the regulatory burden. You get simplicity, but less control.

Embedded payments, on the other hand, are designed for platforms that enable their own users to accept payments. Your users (sub-merchants) remain the sellers of record, while your payments partner handles compliance, underwriting, and processing behind the scenes. You maintain ownership of the user experience and can monetize payment volume directly.

2. Do I need to handle KYC, AML, PCI, or chargebacks myself with embedded payments?

Not if you choose the right partner. In a properly structured embedded payments model, your payments provider handles regulated responsibilities such as KYC/KYB, underwriting, PCI DSS infrastructure, chargeback management, fraud monitoring, and risk operations.

Your platform controls the user experience and pricing, while compliance and operational risk are managed in the background.

3. How do platforms actually make money from embedded payments?

Platforms typically monetize payments by marking up above interchange (the base card network cost). You set your pricing to merchants, and your payments partner earns a share of that revenue.

In a true revenue-share model, your payments partner only earns when you do — meaning revenue scales with your merchants’ payment volume. This creates recurring, high-margin revenue that grows as your platform grows, without requiring you to build or operate regulated payments infrastructure yourself.