A marketplace is a platform that connects several independent sellers to buyers. There are mainly two types of marketplace models: the platform-led model and the seller-led model.

In the platform-led model, the buyer pays your platform. That payment is owed to more than one party: the seller who fulfills the order, your platform for its fee, and sometimes a third party such as a delivery partner. You divide each payment between those parties and pay them out. Because the buyer is buying from your platform, your platform is the merchant of record, which means refunds, chargebacks and VAT liabilities on those sales sit with you.

In the seller-led model, the buyer pays the seller. Your platform provides the place to sell and the means to collect payment, and takes its fee from each sale. Each seller is their own merchant of record, so refunds, chargebacks and VAT liabilities on their sales sit with them rather than with you.

Mamo’s marketplace solution currently runs on the platform-led model. A seller-led model is in development.

For every payment collected, you tell Mamo which seller it belongs to and what share they get. When the buyer pays, Mamo splits the money, and records each seller's share against them. The rest stays with you as the fee you charge the sellers to provide them the service , while each seller's share is kept in a separate pot, which is then transferred to their bank account on a schedule set by you.

In the platform-led model, sellers don't need their own Mamo account. You add them as a recipient once with their bank details, and we transfer their funds from there.

Building a payout integration for the platform-led model? Send your developers to the Marketplace integration guide.

The seller-led model isn't live yet and we can't share a launch date. However, if it sounds like a better fit for your platform, contact our support team via the chat widget on the Mamo website or email us at [email protected].

A marketplace solution applies when the money from a payment is owed to someone other than your platform, either in part or in full. For example:

Some businesses do both, selling their own products alongside other sellers'. In that case, use the marketplace solution for the orders that involve another seller, and regular Mamo payments for your own.

If you sell only your own products or services, there's nothing to divide, so a marketplace solution doesn't apply. Regular Mamo payments cover that use case.

1. You add the seller as a recipient. Give us their first and last names, and their UAE IBAN (international payouts via API is available upon request) as a standard. Although optional, it is recommended to also pass on their date of birth and nationality to cover for occasional KYC (know your customer) requests. Note that the process of adding the seller as a recipient is only completed once.

2. The buyer pays, and the money splits. During the integration process, you set each seller's share to split from the rest of the payment upon creation. The moment the buyer pays, the seller's share moves into a separate pot that holds the balance until the payout is initiated.

3. The seller's balance grows. Every payment made by the buyer adds to the seller’s balance, and you can check what each seller is owed at any time through the API.

4. Payout day. Each seller’s balance is transferred on the schedule you've set through the API.

5. Your platform receives updates. We send you an update whenever a payment succeeds, a payout is sent, or something fails, so your systems and your sellers can be kept current.

A buyer orders a AED 500 cake from a baker on your platform. The baker's share is 90%.

A buyer orders AED 500 cake from one baker and AED 150 cupcakes from another, and pays an AED 25 delivery fee. Both bakers are on a 90% split, and the delivery partner keeps the full delivery fee.

Note: the above examples are illustrative only and do not represent the distribution of Mamo’s processing fees.

Before a seller can receive a share of the payments, you need to add them to Mamo as a recipient. You only do this once per seller.

With the platform-led model, your sellers don't need to go through Mamo's business verification process, so a seller can be added and start receiving their share of payments straight away. This is because your platform is the merchant of record..

You only need to add the seller’s details once, and the payout runs automatically. Three things to keep in mind:

Payouts can also be sent outside the schedule you set via the API. If a seller needs to be paid outside the usual schedule for whatever reasons, you can initiate the payout yourself from your Mamo dashboard. From the dashboard > click Payouts on the side menu > click Bank payouts > create payouts and follow the subsequent steps to initiate a payout to that seller.

A payout can fail or be delayed for two main reasons: a rejection by the seller’s bank after the payout has been initiated by Mamo, or a KYC (Know your customer) request from Mamo.

A bank rejection can happen for several reasons, such as an incorrect recipient name, a closed or inactive IBAN, or an issue at the recipient’s bank.

A KYC request may occasionally be required to ensure the payout meets compliance requirements before it can be processed. Once KYC has been completed for a seller, their details are retained for future reviews, helping to avoid potential delays if another review is required.

Mamo notifies you if either occurs and lets you know what’s needed to proceed.

The merchant of record is the business legally responsible for the transaction, including receiving the buyer’s payment and handling responsibilities such as refunds, chargebacks, and VAT compliance.

With the platform-led model, you’re the Merchant of Record. While your sellers provide the goods or services, your platform is legally responsible for the payment transaction with the buyer. That’s why we verify your business, and not each of your sellers, and it's also why:

A refund or chargeback can arrive weeks after a seller has been paid, and their share has already left Mamo. Some recommendations to reduce that exposure:

The hold function allows the platform to reserve money on the buyer's card for a short period of time without immediately taking it. The bank checks the funds are there and sets them aside, so the buyer can't spend that amount elsewhere.

Holds are useful when the final amount isn't settled at checkout, for example when a booking has to be confirmed, or buyer has to validate the quality of their purchase, or a service has to be completed first. Once you know where you stand, you can:

A hold lasts 7 days. If you haven't taken or cancelled it by then, the funds automatically get released and the buyer isn't charged.