What to Know Before You Sign
A platform signs a payments agreement in March, onboards 400 sub-merchants by September, and opens the termination section for the first time in December. The residual math still works. The 36-month term and the token custody clause were never part of the original modelling. Payment deals are settled in the paperwork, and the paperwork is easier to get right when the platform knows what it wants from it.
Finix sells payment facilitation as a service to software platforms that want to own pricing and keep the margin above wholesale. It handles onboarding, underwriting, compliance and money movement, and leaves the commercial calls with the platform. That division suits platforms with a view on how they intend to price and how fast they expect to grow. Preparation before signature is largely a matter of writing that view into the agreement.
What the $250 Starter Plan Buys
Pricing starts with a subscription. The Starter plan sits near $250 per month and is built for businesses under $1 million in annual volume. PCI compliance support and base fraud tooling are included at that level. Card-present transactions are quoted from roughly interchange plus $0.08. Card-not-present and keyed transactions run higher, near interchange plus $0.15 to $0.25. A flat-rate option near 2.75% plus $0.30 is available for platforms that prefer a single number over a variable one. Published Finix reviews on Capterra show a 4.7 rating across 42 responses, 4.8 for customer service, and roughly 95% positive sentiment.
The subscription and the per-transaction rate move against each other, so the figure to model is blended cost at the volume the platform expects to reach. At $50,000 a month the subscription accounts for 0.5% of volume before a single transaction settles. At $2 million a month it rounds to nothing and the interchange-plus saving carries the economics. Run both numbers against the current run rate and the rate planned for year 2. Platforms above the published tiers move to dynamic or custom pricing set against committed volume, so ask what volume opens that conversation and how the terms read if volume lands under the commitment.
Where the Markup Sits Once Sub-Merchants Are Involved
Under payment facilitation as a service the platform sets pricing to its sub-merchants and keeps the difference between that price and the wholesale rate. Finix does not fix the wholesale rate. It rests on interchange, which is revised on a published schedule. Finix registered as a payment processor in its own right in 2023 and connects directly to Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. Direct acquiring removes a layer of intermediary markup, though network cost remains.
Request the wholesale schedule in writing. Confirm how interchange changes pass through, on what notice, and if the platform markup is stated as a fixed component or a floating one. A repricing clause with 30 days written notice gives both sides a predictable process. The underlying rates are set by the card networks and move on their own timetable, so agreeing the pass-through wording early keeps the margin model stable across a multi-year term.
Term Length, Renewal, and Token Handover
Term length is negotiable. Establish the initial term, the auto-renewal period, the notice window for non-renewal, and any early termination charge. Confirm how pricing is set once the initial term ends.
Token handling belongs in the same conversation. The 2025 feature releases include Account Updater and Network Tokens, both of which cut declines on stored credentials. Network tokens are issued per acquirer, which is standard across the industry, so the portability path is best agreed at the start. Write the export terms into the contract. Specify the file format, the delivery timeline, the cost, and the compliant transfer path for underlying card data.
Loss Allocation, Reserves, and Settlement Timing
Liability splits are written into the agreement rather than assumed. Under this model the platform carries commercial exposure to sub-merchant losses, the same exposure that comes with setting sub-merchant pricing. That covers chargebacks, refunds owed after a sub-merchant stops trading, and fraud losses beyond the reserve held. Consumer-facing fraud liability rules cap what a cardholder pays on a disputed charge, and the platform side of that split is set separately in the contract.
Reserve terms shape working capital as much as headline pricing does. Confirm the rolling reserve percentage, the hold period, the conditions that adjust it, and the release mechanics at the end of the relationship. Reserves held for 180 days after termination are common across the sector and belong in the financing model from the start.
Settlement timing deserves the same treatment. Ask for standard funding speed, the daily cutoff time, weekend and holiday behaviour, and the cost of faster payout if one applies. Sub-merchants judge a platform on funding speed, so the platform benefits from knowing those numbers before it publishes its own promises.
Coverage, Support, and Merchant Ownership
Finix operates across the United States and Canada, and the product is built for platforms whose sub-merchants trade in those two markets. Domestic card economics, compliance and support are handled end to end there, and a platform maps its processor coverage around that footprint.
Capterra respondents rate customer service at 4.8, the highest of the individual scores. Put response times, escalation paths and named contacts into the agreement so the service record has a contractual floor behind it.
Ownership of the merchant relationship is worth settling in plain terms. Establish who holds the sub-merchant agreement, who is named on statements, who receives network correspondence, and who may contact those merchants directly. Confirm the platform receives settlement claim notices and network policy updates that affect its book.
Acceptance control sits in the same clause. Recent network settlements give merchants more room to decide which cards it accepts and more latitude on surcharging. A platform that prices for its own sub-merchants should confirm which of those choices it can exercise directly.
The 10 Terms to Settle Before Signature
Finix raised $75 million in a Series C in October 2024, led by Acrew Capital with participation from Citi Ventures and Lightspeed, bringing total funding above $208 million. The company reports 99.999% availability and more than 400 million transactions daily.
The usual comparison set is Stripe Connect, Adyen for Platforms, Braintree and Payrix. Feature lists across that group converge, so the terms carry the difference. Price per transaction, monthly subscription, term, renewal treatment, token handover, reserve terms, settlement speed, coverage, support commitments, and merchant ownership are the 10 items that set what the agreement is worth over 3 years. Agree all 10 in writing, and the contract matches the plan the platform built it for.
Edited by Ben VanderVeen · About Moss & Fog
