Airwallex payment gateway overview
Airwallex payment gateway, or Airwallex as acquirer solution allows you as a platform to build an ideal end-to-end payment experience in your ecosystems. Platforms include marketplaces, SaaS platforms, on-demand service providers, etc.
With Airwallex payment gateway, you can enjoy the following benefits:
- Easily connect your sellers, service providers, or sub-merchants to your platform
- Provide multiple financial products to your connected accounts while staying compliant with the existing local regulations (like PSD2 in Europe)
- Reconcile fund flows between you and your connected account at the transaction level in an easy way with reports generated by Airwallex
Airwallex payment gateway has no restriction on integration methods -- you could select the one that best suits your needs from all available options that Airwallex supports. See integration options.
To explore the full feature set for payments acceptance, see Payments.
Term definitions
Here are the definitions of some commonly used terms used in the context of Airwallex payment gateway for platforms.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Platform | Grouping entity extending payment services provided by Airwallex to its connected sub-entities. |
| Connected Account (CA) | Sub-entity who has a relationship with the platform |
| Master Merchant | When connected accounts are acting as Merchant of Record (MoR) then Master Merchant settings would be used for settlement. |
| Merchant-of-Record (MoR) | Merchant identifier used in messages exchanged with providers (Schemes - VISA & MC) |
| Funds split | Split the funds from platform account to connected accounts. |
| Resource owner | Entity which has complete ownership of different resources being offered by Airwallex (Transaction, Refund, Transfer etc.,) |
| Resource lodger | Airwallex payment gateway for platforms always has two entities: platform and connected account. If platform owns the resource then Connected Account becomes the lodger and vice versa. |
| Payments owned by | The entity that owns the integration with Airwallex |
Choose your Airwallex payment gateway model
We understand that each platform is different and there are many factors to consider when choosing the right model to integrate with. The table below provides a summary view of the currently supported models and how those behave in regards to the platform and connected account. Depending on your operational needs your account will be configured accordingly.
| Collect payments directly | Collect payments on behalf of connected accounts | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | The platform owns each payment and responsible for payment fees, disputes, and subsequent transactions such as captures, refunds, etc. The fund will be split from the platform account to one or many connected accounts. | The connected account owns each payment and responsible for payment fees, disputes, and subsequent transactions such as captures, refunds, etc. The fund will be split from a connected account to a platform account. |
| Suitable for | Platforms who directly interact with end customers and manage daily transactions. Typical cases include marketplaces or on-demand service platforms. | Connected accounts who directly interact with end customers and manage daily transactions, while the platform has limited engagement in every transaction. Typical case includes SaaS platforms. |
| Payments owned by | Platform account | Connected account |
| Principal amount of payment received by | Platform account | Connected account |
| Resource lodger | Connected account | Platform account |
| Fees and costs | Platform account | Connected account |
| Transaction viewing | Platform account | Connected account |
| Dispute handling | Platform account | Connected account |
| Split funds flow | Platform account -> Connected account(s) | Connected account -> Platform account |
| Reserves | Platform account | Connected account |
| API Request | Request body parameter: connected_account_id | Request header: x-on-behalf-of |
| Can payment methods differ per Connected Account | No | Yes |
When using Airwallex payment gateway, the platform will need to provide in addition to the regular payment details (included in the PaymentIntent and PaymentAttempts) several indicators that allow identifying on behalf of who or to whom a transaction belongs.
In most situations, you will require to split funds from transactions between connected accounts and yourself. Our solution FundsSplit enables you to disburse funds to the appropriate party as needed. FundsSplit represents a bilateral agreement that part of the collected funds (i.e. PaymentIntent) will be divided between multiple destinations (yourself and the other accounts) before settling to the account that owns the original payment. You may create and add multiple FundsSplit to a PaymentIntent.
See step-by-step integration guide for your chosen payment gateway model.