Rainforest requires your merchants be onboarded before they can collect payments. The merchant onboarding process at Rainforest is designed to quickly collect accurate data from your customers to complete required account verification and comply with rules and regulations prior to accepting payments.

The Rainforest ecosystem has two entities, Merchant and Merchant Applications, to represent your merchant and their status within Rainforest.

• A merchant is a business that your platform will enable to take payments. It represents a single legal entity, such as an LLC with a specific tax ID number.
• A merchant application represents information about the business that goes through the underwriting process by Rainforest. A merchant's information might change over time, such as phone number, address, or bank account, and changes would be approved through a new merchant application.

A merchant is identified by the merchant_id in the Rainforest ecosystem. The prefix for a merchant_id is mid_ on Production and sbx_mid_ on Sandbox.

A merchant application is identified by the merchant_application_id in the Rainforest ecosystem. The prefix for a merchant_application_id is app_ on Production and sbx_app_ on Sandbox.

Onboarding process

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The onboarding process consists of 3 phases:

1. Merchant creation and application submission: the merchant is created, the required information is collected in the merchant application, and the application is submitted for approval.
2. Account verification: the information provided is reviewed to ensure compliance with any application rules and regulations, Rainforest policy, and for accuracy. Rainforest may require additional verification before a decision can be made.
3. Decisioning: The merchant application is either approved or declined. If the application is approved, the merchant becomes Active and is immediately ready to process payments.

Application requirements

Once a merchant is created with their initial application, the merchant will be in the status of Pending and the application in the status of Created. The application will move to In Progress when the merchant begins entering their information into the application, indicating they've started the process.

Rainforest must collect certain information about your merchant in order to underwrite and approve your merchant for payment processing. Head over to the merchant onboarding requirements guide for details on all requirements per organization type.

Account verification

Once the merchant submits their application, the application status will move to Processing. Rainforest will review the application and determine next steps. If additional verification is required, the application will move to Needs Information or In Review. Head over to the additional verification for merchant onboarding guide for details on the additional verification process.

Decisioning

Once the application is submitted, or re-submitted after entering the Needs Information status, Rainforest will make a decision on your merchant.

If Rainforest approves the merchant application, the application will move to Completed and the merchant will move to Active. The merchant is now ready to process payments.

If Rainforest declines the merchant application, the application will move to Declined and the merchant will move to Canceled. The merchant will no longer appear in the Merchants report in the Rainforest Platform Portal.

Onboarding integrations

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Rainforest offers three options to onboard merchants:

1. Merchant Onboarding Component (Recommended): Integrate Rainforest's low-code embeddable component into your platform, allowing merchants to securely submit their information directly through your software.
2. Rainforest Platform Portal : Enter merchant information manually through the Rainforest Platform Portal, suitable for low-volume onboarding or administrative purposes.
3. Rainforest API : Utilize the API to programmatically submit merchant data, providing flexibility for custom workflows and integrations.

Each integration option ensures compliance with necessary verification and regulatory requirements before merchants can begin accepting payments.

Auto-cancelation of merchants

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Open applications of 120 days

Rainforest will automatically cancel merchants that are in the status of Pending or Onboarding for more than 120 days, based on the created date of the merchant.

The result of this process will move the merchant to the Canceled status and the associated open application to the Declined status.

You should listen to the merchant and merchant application webhooks to know when Rainforest automatically closes an application. The following webhooks will trigger:

• merchant.canceled
• merchant_application.declined

Once the application is closed, it will no longer appear in the Merchant report in the Platform Portal.

The platform can create a new merchant if the merchant would like to re-apply for payment processing. Because the previous application was closed and no longer appears in the Platform Portal, you will be able to use the merchant name again when creating a new merchant.

Statuses

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Merchant statuses

The merchant status is the descriptor of the current status in the life cycle of a merchant. Indicating if they are onboarded, can accept payments, and receive deposits.

Merchant application statuses

The merchant application status is the descriptor of the current status in the life cycle of a merchant application. Indicating the status of the merchant application through the onboarding and underwriting process.