Get paid
No gateway, no revenue. This guide covers connecting one, what a fee does, and the handful of things that quietly stop customers paying.
What a gateway is
A payment gateway is the provider that actually takes the customer's money. Your customer leaves your storefront, pays on the provider's own page, and comes back.
Your platform operator grants you gateways — you cannot add one yourself. Each is one of two kinds:
| Shared | Dedicated | |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant account | The platform's | Yours |
| Setup needed from you | None | Enter your credentials |
| Depends on your wallet balance | No | Yes |
Open Payment Gateways and they appear in two labelled sections.
Step 1 — Get every gateway to "Ready"
A dedicated gateway shows Credentials required until you complete it. In that state customers cannot pay through it.
- Open Payment Gateways.
- A banner at the top counts gateways still missing credentials.
- On a gateway card, choose Enter credentials.
- Paste each value from your provider's own dashboard.
- Choose Save credentials.
Once saved, values are stored securely and never displayed back to you. To change them, use Replace credentials — which replaces every value for that gateway, not just the one you want to edit. Have all of them to hand.
Each card also lists the services that gateway is allowed to take payment for. A card saying no service has been allowed yet cannot take payments; that allowance comes from your platform operator.
Step 2 — Fund your wallet if you use a dedicated gateway
This is the part that surprises people.
A dedicated gateway is removed from checkout whenever your platform wallet balance cannot cover the payment and its fee. Payments already under way through your dedicated gateways are held against the balance. Nothing tells the customer why; the option simply is not there.
The gateways screen shows your Platform wallet balance for exactly this reason. Keep it comfortably above your largest typical booking.
The cover is real money, not only a check. The customer's payment lands in your own merchant account, so once it is confirmed, the same amount moves from your platform wallet to that customer's wallet on your store to pay for the booking. The fee comes back to you.
Step 3 — Decide on a gateway fee
Each dedicated gateway can carry a fee you set: a percentage plus a fixed amount in the gateway's own currency.
- It is added on top of every payment through that gateway.
- The customer pays it, and you keep it. Checkout shows it next to the gateway and in the payment summary.
- Until you set one, the platform default is shown and used. Once you save one, saving 0 and 0 means no fee at all; there is no way back to the default.
Use Set fee on the gateway card.
A fee is not a markup. A markup raises the product price for everyone; a gateway fee is a surcharge attached to a payment method.
How a customer payment runs
The customer sees a secure checkout carrying your store name, your refund policy, your privacy policy and a support link. Card details are entered on the provider's page, never on your site.
What customers see when something is wrong
Knowing these messages makes support calls much shorter.
| The customer sees | What it means | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| No payment provider available | No gateway is enabled for that currency and booking type, or none can cover the amount | Check your gateways are Ready, and check your wallet balance |
| This provider can't take this payment | A dedicated gateway ran short mid-payment | Top up your wallet |
| Another payment is being processed | A brief lock; they can retry straight away | Nothing |
| This provider is no longer available | The gateway stopped being available to you | Check the gateways screen; the list refreshes itself |
| This provider can't be used for this payment | The gateway is no longer allowed for the service being paid for | Check the services on its card; your platform operator sets them. The list refreshes itself |
| We couldn't hold this booking | The booking could not be reserved, so payment never started. Nothing charged. | Ask them to start over |
In all of these, nothing has been charged.
When a payment succeeds but the booking does not
This is the case worth understanding properly, because it looks alarming and is not.
If the money is taken and the supplier then fails to complete the booking, the customer's payment lands in their own wallet on your storefront. They are shown a page explaining this, with their balance and a button to book again. On the next attempt the balance is applied automatically — they are not sent to a gateway and not charged twice.
Nothing is required from you. If a customer says their balance is not showing, the page they saw carries a reference; ask for it.
Where the money shows up
| Screen | Shows |
|---|---|
| Receipts | The money record for each booking, with line items |
| Incoming Payments | Payments made against your payment links |
| Transactions | Movements in your platform wallet, including your profit on each booking once its order settles |
Common questions
Can I add a gateway myself? No. Gateways are granted by your platform operator. Ask them.
Why does one gateway appear for hotels but not flights? Each gateway is allowed a set of services. The card lists them.
Can I see the credentials I entered? No. They are never displayed again. Replacing them requires all values, not just one.
Do I need a wallet balance for shared gateways? No. Only dedicated ones draw on it.
A customer paid but there is no order. Look for their payment in their own wallet — see the section above. If the payment was for a payment link rather than a booking, check Incoming Payments.
Related
- Payment Gateways · Incoming Payments · Receipts
- Move your money — getting it out again
- Charge without a booking — payment links