Onboarding
Learn about the available ways to onboard merchants with Tapaya.
Before a merchant can process payments, they must complete KYB (Know Your Business) onboarding. Tapaya verifies the merchant's identity and business details to meet payment processor and regional regulatory requirements.
Choose an Onboarding Flow
Choose the flow based on who should enter the merchant's details and how you want to distribute onboarding. Every flow is available from the Tapaya Platform UI. If you want to automate it, use the corresponding API described in the API Integration guide.
Tapaya Platform UI
An administrator enters the merchant's information and completes onboarding on their behalf in the Tapaya Platform. This is suitable for assisted onboarding, smaller merchant portfolios, or cases where your operations team already has the required information.
How to start it: Create or select the merchant in the Tapaya Platform and open their onboarding. The same flow can be initiated through the API when you need automation.
Your Own UI
Collect the merchant's information in your own product and submit it to Tapaya. This gives you full control over the experience and lets you combine onboarding with your existing signup or account-management flow.
This option requires you to keep your form and validation aligned with current onboarding requirements. The Tapaya Platform UI remains available for reviewing the merchant and completing follow-up actions.
How to start it: Use the detailed API onboarding flow and examples.
Email Invite
You can onboard a merchant by inviting them directly from the Tapaya Platform. Enter the merchant's email address and Tapaya sends them an invitation with a secure link to complete onboarding; no SDK integration is required on their side.
The merchant opens the link and completes the same guided KYB flow, then returns to your app once verified. This is useful for onboarding merchants ahead of app installation or when you prefer a fully hosted flow.
Use this for individual invitations, especially when you know who the merchant is but want them to provide and confirm their own information. Each invitation is intended for one recipient and expires if it is not used.
Regardless of whether a merchant onboards through the SDK or an email invitation, their account follows the same verification lifecycle shown above.
How to start it: Send and manage the invitation from the Tapaya Platform UI, or automate invitations through the API.
Campaign Link
Create one reusable registration link and share it through your website, a partner portal, a newsletter, or another channel. Multiple merchants can use the link to register and complete onboarding in the Tapaya-hosted UI.
Use this when the recipients are not known in advance or when you want a scalable self-service acquisition flow. You control when the link expires and can revoke it when the campaign ends.
How to start it: Create and manage the campaign link from the Tapaya Platform UI, or automate it through the API.
Verification Status
After the merchant submits the form, their account enters a review state. The payment processor reviews the submission; this typically completes within minutes but may take longer in some cases.
A merchant will not be able to process transactions until their account is verified. You can check their status at any time in the Tapaya Platform UI. Integrations can also use the SDK identity module or API and prompt the merchant to resubmit if details are missing or rejected.