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What a split payment is

A split payment is a single charge that divides between your platform and the account that earned it. The customer pays once, and Bachs moves the platform’s cut as part of settling the charge. There are two shapes. They differ in whose charge it is, which decides whose balance carries the risk of a refund or a lost dispute.

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Which shape you need

Both shapes decide the split at the charge itself: the difference is whose charge it is. Pick the shape first, then follow the build track for what you are building: Marketplaces and SaaS platforms or Creator and contractor payouts.

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Direct

A customer pays an account, which pays the platform its fee and Bachs its processing fee. The sale is the account’s. It is created by acting as that account with X-Account-Id, and your cut moves up to you. With this shape:
  • The charge lands in the account’s balance.
  • The platform fee moves from the account to your platform.
  • A refund debits the account’s balance.
  • A lost dispute debits the account’s balance.
  • The account needs the capability for whichever payment method the charge uses, for example card_collection or bank_transfer. See Capabilities.
See Direct charges.

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Destination

A customer pays the platform, which transfers a share to the account and pays Bachs its processing fee. The sale is your platform’s. It is created by naming the account in transfer_data.destination, and the seller’s share moves down to them. The split has to be stated one of two ways: platform_fee says what your platform keeps, transfer_data.amount says what the account receives. Exactly one is required on this shape; see Platform fees for how the two differ. With this shape:
  • The charge lands in your platform’s balance.
  • Your platform keeps its stated cut or its remainder after the account’s share, depending on which term you sent; the rest moves to the account.
  • A refund debits your platform’s balance.
  • A lost dispute debits your platform’s balance.
  • Your platform needs the capability for whichever payment method the charge uses, for example card_collection or bank_transfer. The named account is checked only for ownership and active status, not for the capability. See Capabilities.
See Destination charges.

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What you need before you start

Your account needs the connect capability to create accounts at all. See Become a platform. Direct needs the account to hold the capability for each payment method it accepts, for example card_collection, bank_transfer, mobile_money, crypto, or ngn_card_collection. Destination needs your platform to hold that same capability instead, since the sale is your platform’s; the account is checked only for ownership and active status. See Capabilities.

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Next steps