Merchant Onboarding Enhancements

Rainforest has released a set of improvements to the Merchant onboarding experience that reduce friction, improve data quality, and give platforms more flexibility over the onboarding experience.

Address Verification

When a merchant enters their business or owner address during onboarding, the address is now validated in real time against Google's Address Validation API. If the submitted address does not match a verified address, the merchant is shown a suggested correction proceeding.

This feature in action: Once enabled, merchants will see a new step after entering their business address and after entering each owner's address. If the address passes validation, they proceed normally. If a suggestion is returned, they are prompted to confirm or override.

"No Website" Checkbox

Platforms can now enable a checkbox in the onboarding component that allows a merchant to indicate their business does not have a website. When checked, the website field is disabled and website validation is bypassed for that application.

No Owner Over 25% Ownership

Some businesses are structured such that no single owner holds more than 25% ownership. Previously, this caused friction or blocked submission because the onboarding form required at least one owner to declare 25%+ ownership.

This feature in action: When enabled, a checkbox labeled "No owner has more than 25% ownership" appears on each owner entry step. Checking it on any owner page applies across all owners.

Preview feature

Rainforest will automatically update merchant onboarding on June 1, 2026 to utilize the new onboarding features. You can also utilize these features early by sending a request to your Platform Success Manager or sending an email to [email protected].