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Split Payments

Split payment intents allow a primary merchant to split a transaction's settlement between themselves and a destination merchant at the transaction level. Rather than receiving the full settlement and manually on-settling destination merchants, the primary merchant instructs Stitch to settle a destination merchant a portion of the transaction value directly, reducing reconciliation errors and speeding up destination merchant payouts.

How It Works​

  1. The primary merchant includes a splitSettlements array on an initiateTransaction call or within a clientCollectionBatchCreate batch.
  2. The transaction or batch is submitted and processed.
  3. On successful payment, Stitch creates separate settlement intents for the primary merchant and the destination merchant.
  4. The primary merchant is settled net-of-fees. The destination merchant receives their designated portion as specified in the API request.

Use Cases​

  • Marketplace splits: A marketplace collects payment and splits settlement between itself and the seller.
  • Commission and platform fees: A platform retains a commission while settling the remainder to a service provider.
  • Franchise models: A franchisee collects on behalf of a franchisor and splits settlement accordingly.
  • Collections on behalf of destination merchants: A primary merchant collects funds and directs a portion to a destination merchant.

Key Concepts​

Primary Merchant​

The client initiating the payment. The primary merchant owns the payment request and is responsible for configuring the split. Fees are deducted from the primary merchant's settlement before final settlement is paid.

Destination Merchant​

A third-party recipient identified by a pre-registered merchantId. Stitch creates and provisions this identifier against your client.

Destination merchants must be registered with Stitch before they can receive split payments.

Split Types​

Each split instruction specifies a fixed rand amount to allocate to the destination merchant.

Net-of-Fees Settlement​

Transaction fees will apply to the primary merchant only, resulting in settlement being net of fees. Each destination merchant receives their full designated amount as per the API request.

Prerequisites​

note

Split payments require enablement by Stitch. Contact Stitch to enable split payments for your client and to register destination merchants with merchantId values.

Splitting Rules​

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Fixed amount splits: Specified up to 2 decimal places (cents). The amount must be greater than zero and cannot exceed the transaction amount.

Limitations​

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  • Single destination merchant per transaction: One destination merchant per transaction is supported.
  • ZAR only: Split payment is currently available for ZAR transactions only.