The right payment gateway decides how many customers can actually pay, and how smoothly you can pay your vendors. This guide covers common choices for marketplaces in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and India. Availability, fees and onboarding rules change, so confirm everything with each provider before you commit. Also check which gateways your marketplace script supports or can integrate.
What a marketplace needs from a gateway
- The payment methods your customers actually use
- Reliable settlement to your business account
- Support for refunds and disputes
- A way to pay vendors, either through the gateway's split-payment features or from your own balance (see how marketplaces pay vendors)
- Reasonable onboarding requirements for your company type
Why marketplace payments are different
A normal store takes money for its own goods. A marketplace takes money that partly belongs to vendors. Some providers offer marketplace-specific products that split each payment, onboard vendors and handle their identity checks for you. Using one can reduce your compliance work, because holding other people's money yourself may carry licensing or regulatory requirements in some countries. Ask each provider how its marketplace product works and speak to a professional about your own setup.
United States and Canada
- Stripe: widely used by marketplaces, and Stripe Connect is built for splitting payments between a platform and its sellers.
- PayPal: familiar to shoppers, with products aimed at marketplaces and platforms.
- Square: available in both countries and popular with smaller merchants.
- Adyen: a platform option typically aimed at larger marketplaces.
- Buy-now-pay-later: options such as Klarna and Afterpay can lift order values in some categories.
United Kingdom
- Stripe and PayPal: both operate in the UK and support marketplace use cases.
- Adyen and Checkout.com: often considered as a marketplace grows.
- Wallets and bank payments: Apple Pay, Google Pay and open-banking payments are increasingly common at checkout.
- Buy-now-pay-later: Klarna and Clearpay are well known to UK shoppers.
Australia
- Stripe and PayPal: available, with marketplace features.
- Square: available for smaller merchants.
- Afterpay and Zip: buy-now-pay-later is very popular with Australian shoppers.
United Arab Emirates
- Stripe: available in the UAE, and often used for international cards.
- Telr: a long-standing regional gateway for online stores and payment links.
- PayTabs: a regional gateway popular in the Gulf.
- Network International: one of the largest processors in the UAE, usually aimed at larger merchants, and approval can take longer.
- Tap and Amazon Payment Services: other options regional guides mention.
- Cash on delivery: still common for delivery marketplaces.
Onboarding speed varies: some providers approve small businesses within days, while others take weeks and expect trading history or minimum volumes.
India
UPI, cards, net banking, wallets and cash on delivery are all widely used, so a gateway that covers several of them matters.
- Razorpay: popular with Indian businesses, with features for splitting payments between a platform and sellers.
- Cashfree and PayU: other widely used gateways, some with split-settlement options.
- CCAvenue: a long-established option many merchants know.
- UPI: a must-have method for most Indian customers.
- Cash on delivery: still important for delivery marketplaces. It needs rider cash tracking, as in the delivery rider app.
Whether international gateways accept new Indian business accounts has changed over time, so check each provider's current availability before you plan around it.
How to choose
- List the payment methods your customers use most.
- Check which gateways accept your company type and country.
- Compare fees, settlement times, refund handling and marketplace or split-payment features.
- Confirm integration with your marketplace script, and test on a sandbox.
- Start with two methods, such as cards plus a local wallet or cash on delivery, then add more.
Gateway setup in VendMart
Payment gateway setup is part of the Basic plan of the installation service, and you can see how checkout works in the live demo. For a full launch plan, read how to start a multi-vendor marketplace and the complete buyer's guide.
