FINIX PAYMENT SYSTEM

FairFate is a level 99 Robotic Supreme Overlord Wizard that processes payments with the precision of a thousand accountants and the speed of lightning strikes.

I built FairFate to be provider-agnostic from day one, meaning we can adapt and integrate additional payment methods as required, without needing to rebuild the entire system. After recent censorship concerns where traditional payment processors started to dictate what Steam, Itch, and others were allowed to sell, I needed a solution that prioritized creator freedom while maintaining compliance and reliability.

At launch, FairFate will use Finix’s infrastructure for card processing. Finix provides a “flexible payment orchestration platform” that allows us to process credit and debit card payments, while maintaining full control over the payment flow. The benefits of this approach include: rapid settlement, multi-currency support, robust KYC/compliance tools, and the flexibility to add alternative payment methods (such as USDC/Circle) in the future without disrupting existing operations.

For high-risk processing, we will be using Zen payments, once I get that set up, built, and integrated with this payment system.

THE PAYMENT FLOW

The process is straightforward for both customer and creator.

Customer Experience:

The customer selects their payment method during checkout (credit card, debit card, or ACH).
They complete the purchase using their chosen payment method.
They receive immediate confirmation of their purchase and access to their content.

Behind the Scenes:

The payment is processed through Finix’s secure payment gateway.
The transaction is validated and funds are captured from the customer’s payment method.
FairFate’s platform fee and processing fees are calculated and deducted.
The settlement to the creator’s merchant account is initiated.

Merchant Experience:

Creators complete a one-time KYC onboarding process to set up their merchant account.
Sales are tracked in real-time through the creator dashboard.
Settlements are processed automatically based on the payout schedule.
Money in da bank (with flexible payout options: daily, weekly, or monthly).

FEE STRUCTURE AND PAYOUTS

Now listing out the fee structure for transparency!

Platform Fee: A base platform fee of 7% is applied to each transaction.
Processing Fee: For credit/debit card payments, Finix’s processing fee of 2.5% + $0.20 is applied. For ACH payments, fees are 0.8% + $0.30.
Payouts: Creators can choose their payout schedule (daily, weekly, or monthly) with automatic ACH transfers to their linked bank account. No payout fees are charged by FairFate.

Settlement Timeline

Card payments: 2-3 business days
ACH payments: 3-5 business days
Instant payouts: This option is available for established merchants (subject to approval)

COMPLIANCE & ONBOARDING

To ensure your safety and security, as well as our regulatory compliance:

Payment Processing Onboarding:

All creators complete a secure and streamlined KYC (Know Your Customer) process through Finix’s merchant onboarding system. This is required for regulatory compliance and fraud prevention.
Each creator receives their own merchant account with Finix, providing transparency and direct settlement of funds.

Tax Compliance Onboarding:

Creators provide their tax information (TIN/EIN) during onboarding for 1099-K generation.
International creators provide necessary documentation for VAT/GST compliance in their jurisdictions.
FairFate automatically monitors sales activity across all jurisdictions to detect when nexus thresholds are met.

Record-Keeping & Reporting:

All transaction data is collected and processed through daily ETL jobs to maintain accurate records for reporting.
Tax forms (1099-K, etc.) are automatically generated for qualifying creators.
Transaction records are maintained in Quaderno’s compliance system for audit trails.
Fraud Prevention: Built-in fraud detection and prevention tools monitor transactions for suspicious activity and protect both creators and customers.

SALES TAX COMPLIANCE WITH QUADERNO

FairFate uses Quaderno’s sales tax automation platform to handle the complexity of multi-jurisdiction tax compliance. This ensures accurate tax collection and simplifies compliance for both the platform and creators.

Real-Time Tax Calculation:

At checkout, Quaderno calculates the exact tax amount based on the customer’s location, product type, and current tax rates.
Supports U.S. state sales tax, Canadian GST/HST/PST, EU VAT, and other international tax regimes.
Automatically handles exemptions for B2B transactions when valid tax IDs are provided.

Nexus Monitoring:

FairFate automatically tracks sales volume across all jurisdictions to monitor when economic nexus thresholds are reached.
When a jurisdiction’s threshold is met (typically $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions), the system flags it for tax registration.
Creators are notified when their sales activity triggers nexus requirements in new jurisdictions.

Tax Remittance:

For U.S. states where FairFate has established nexus, the platform acts as the Marketplace Facilitator and handles all sales tax collection and remittance.
Tax collected is filed and remitted directly to the appropriate tax authorities on the required schedule.
Creators receive detailed reports showing taxes collected and remitted on their behalf.

Phased Rollout:

As a new marketplace, FairFate is not yet authorized to collect or remit sales tax in all jurisdictions.
Sales tax collection is enabled on a state-by-state basis as the platform achieves nexus status and completes registration.
This phased approach ensures the system is reliable and compliant before scaling to additional jurisdictions.

International Tax Compliance:

For international sales, Quaderno handles VAT, GST, and other consumption taxes based on the buyer’s location.
Supports reverse charge mechanism for B2B transactions within the EU.
Automatically applies reduced rates for digital services where applicable (e.g., EU Digital Services).

Why Quaderno?

Tax compliance is incredibly complex, especially for a multi-jurisdiction marketplace. Quaderno provides real-time tax calculation, automatic nexus monitoring, and compliance reporting in one integrated system. This means creators don’t need to worry about tracking sales thresholds or filing in multiple jurisdictions - FairFate handles it all through the Quaderno integration.

PHASED OUT SYSTEMS

The following systems have been phased out as we upgraded our platform capabilities. We keep this documentation here for transparency and historical reference.

SALES TAX COMPLIANCE WITH ANROK

FairFate uses Anrok’s sales tax automation platform to handle the complexity of multi-jurisdiction tax compliance. This ensures accurate tax collection and simplifies compliance for both the platform and creators.

Real-Time Tax Calculation:

At checkout, Anrok calculates the exact tax amount based on the customer’s location, product type, and current tax rates.
Supports U.S. state sales tax, Canadian GST/HST/PST, EU VAT, and other international tax regimes.
Automatically handles exemptions for B2B transactions when valid tax IDs are provided.

Nexus Monitoring:

FairFate automatically tracks sales volume across all jurisdictions to monitor when economic nexus thresholds are reached.
When a jurisdiction’s threshold is met (typically $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions), the system flags it for tax registration.
Creators are notified when their sales activity triggers nexus requirements in new jurisdictions.

Tax Remittance:

For U.S. states where FairFate has established nexus, the platform acts as the Marketplace Facilitator and handles all sales tax collection and remittance.
Tax collected is filed and remitted directly to the appropriate tax authorities on the required schedule.
Creators receive detailed reports showing taxes collected and remitted on their behalf.

Phased Rollout:

As a new marketplace, FairFate is not yet authorized to collect or remit sales tax in all jurisdictions.
Sales tax collection is enabled on a state-by-state basis as the platform achieves nexus status and completes registration.
This phased approach ensures the system is reliable and compliant before scaling to additional jurisdictions.

International Tax Compliance:

For international sales, Anrok handles VAT, GST, and other consumption taxes based on the buyer’s location.
Supports reverse charge mechanism for B2B transactions within the EU.
Automatically applies reduced rates for digital services where applicable (e.g., EU Digital Services).

Why Anrok?

Tax compliance is incredibly complex, especially for a multi-jurisdiction marketplace. Anrok provides real-time tax calculation, automatic nexus monitoring, and compliance reporting in one integrated system. This means creators don’t need to worry about tracking sales thresholds or filing in multiple jurisdictions - FairFate handles it all through the Anrok integration.

CIRCLE PAYMENT SYSTEM - POSTPONED

Will revisit this when we reach 1 million in sales (The restriction applied by Circle Mint)

FairFate is a level 99 Robotic Supreme Overlord Wizard which can receive and disburse money fairly and transparently.

I built the FairFate payment pipeline using Circle’s infrastructure and USDC. While many people, myself included, are hesitant about cryptocurrency, but the recently-signed Genius Act means that USDC is backed 1-to-1 by the US dollar, providing a stable foundation on which to build. . My motivation was to create a system free of the issues associated with traditional providers, such as the recent censorship-by-proxy stunt that Stripe pulled on Steam and Itch.

For this system, the crypto layer is completely abstracted away from both customers and creators. The process is as follows:

A user pays with a credit card in their own currency.
FairFate receives the payment and converts it to USDC
FairFate deducts the platform share and the processing fee.FairFate converts the net payment back to a traditional currency

This means that the customer pays exactly what they expect, and the creator receives the listed price minus (transparent) fees.

Note that if the value of USDC fluctuates during the transaction, the platform absorbs the difference. This shields creators from dealing with the complexities and risks of cryptocurrency.

The benefits of this approach are significant: instant payouts on a global scale, no foreign transaction fees for customers, and no multi-currency conversions for creators. We have confirmed the above with taxation specialists.

While Circle is our primary partner, they don’t process payments for some high-risk transactions. The entire payment system was built to be provider-agnostic, a flexible design which means that I can easily integrate other providers as needed, and that all transactions are entered correctly and cohesively into our tax and reporting records.

Circle Payment Flow

The process is straightforward for both the customer and the creator.

Customer Experience:

The customer chooses Circle as their payment method during checkout.
They complete the purchase using their preferred funding source (credit or debit card, e-wallet, etc.).
The customer receives an immediate confirmation of their purchase.

Behind the Scenes:

The payment is automatically converted to USDC.
The USDC payment is transferred into the FairFate platform’s wallet.
The USDC payment is immediately converted back to fiat currency for the amount the merchant is owed, i.e. the list price minus relevant fees. See Fee Structure below.
An ACH transfer is initiated to send the funds to the creator’s linked bank account in the appropriate currency.

Creator (Merchant) Experience:

Payments are made directly to the creator’s bank account.

Circle Fee Structure and Payouts

Now listing out the fee structure for transparency!

Fee Structure:
1. Platform Fee: A base platform fee of 7% is applied to each transaction.
2. Payment Processing Fee: For payments made via credit card, a standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 is applied.
3. USDC Conversion Fee: No fee. FairFate pays for the conversion to and from USDC and fiat currency.
4. Payout Fee: No fee. There are no fees for payout via ACH.
Payouts: Funds are sent automatically to a creator’s bank account.

Circle Compliance & Onboarding

To ensure your safety and security, as well as our regulatory compliance:

Creator Onboarding: All creators complete a secure and streamlined KYC (Know Your Customer) process, which is required by Circle.
Tax Record-Keeping: FairFate compiles tax record-keeping data. All transaction data is collected and processed through daily ETL jobs to maintain accurate records for reporting.

Notes

As a general note for the following section, complying with relevant national and international regulations on monetary transactions is complicated and difficult, and requires a great deal of background reading, detailed research, careful programming, and consultation with relevant tax authorities and/or experts.

Taxes and Marketplace Facilitator Laws:

For U.S. Sales Taxes Laws: As a new marketplace, FairFate is not yet authorized to collect or remit sales tax in U.S. states. This function will be enabled on a state-by-state basis as the platform achieves Nexus status.

On International Marketplace Facilitator Laws, this varies greatly, ranging from definitions such as EDP (Electronics Distribution Platform) as defined by Australia operations, EI (Electronic Interface) as defined by the European Union, E-commerce Platforms as defined by the UK. Each comes with its own set of tax laws, VAT, GST, HST etc.

I knew building out something like this would be a massive undertaking, but I got principles, so here we are. The ultimate goal is to create this marketplace to the benefits of Creators. This includes being unburdened by these new fears propagated by Stripe and other financial institutions censoring what material we can now buy. For that I am doing my due diligence and trying to find solutions with meaningful impact, like this one.
I have other things in the pipeline that I’m waiting to see if they pan out or not, but I will continuously update everyone here!

OVERLORD'S HOARD - PAYMENT SYSTEM