Reefpay organizes accounts as clients. Each client has a type that determines its role in the hierarchy.
| Client type | Description | Can process transactions | Can manage sub-accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
reseller | An organization that onboards and manages merchants (ISOs, agents, acquirers, payment facilitators) | No (transactions flow through merchant children) | Yes |
merchant | A business that processes payments through Reefpay | Yes | No |
Every client has:
- A unique
id(for example,CLIENT-3MtwBwLkdIwHu7ix28a3tqPa) - A
parent_idthat links it to its parent in the hierarchy - A
dba(doing-business-as) name - Admin contact details
The hierarchy is a tree. Resellers sit above merchants and can have other resellers as children, enabling multi-level distribution models.
Each client's parent_id points to the client directly above it in the tree.
| Client | Type | parent_id |
|---|---|---|
| Reseller A | reseller | Platform root |
| Merchant 1 | merchant | Reseller A |
| Sub-reseller | reseller | Reseller A |
| Merchant 3 | merchant | Sub-reseller |
A reseller can view and manage all clients beneath it in the tree — including clients under its sub-resellers.
A merchant is a business entity that processes payment transactions. Each merchant has:
- One or more MIDs (Merchant Identification Numbers) assigned by the processor
- Integrations with payment processors (TSYS for cards, Vericheck for ACH)
- Users who can access the API and web portal
- Payment tokens scoped to that merchant
- Batches and transactions associated with their MIDs
Merchants are always leaf nodes in the hierarchy — they cannot have child accounts.
A reseller is an organization that onboards, manages, and supports merchants. Resellers can:
- Create merchant accounts under their hierarchy
- Create sub-resellers for multi-level distribution
- View transactions and reports across all merchants in their tree
- Manage users for their own account and child accounts
- Configure integrations for child merchants
Resellers do not process transactions directly. All payment processing happens at the merchant level.
Create a new client (merchant or reseller) with POST /v1/clients.
POST /v1/clients
{
"dba": "Acme Jewelry",
"parent_id": "CLIENT-01JMRSPCK7XVNP3KS8F2W4T6Y",
"type": "merchant",
"admin_contact_details": {
"first_name": "John",
"last_name": "Doe",
"email": "john.doe@example.com",
"phone": "+15551234567",
"time_zone": "America/New_York"
}
}| Field | Description |
|---|---|
dba | Business name (1–100 characters) |
parent_id | ID of the parent client (reseller) |
type | merchant or reseller |
admin_contact_details | Contact information including first_name, last_name, email, phone, time_zone |
Only reseller accounts (or platform administrators) can create child clients. A merchant cannot create sub-accounts.
| Operation | Endpoint | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Create | POST /v1/clients | Create a merchant or reseller |
| List | GET /v1/clients | List all clients in your hierarchy |
| Retrieve | GET /v1/clients/{id} | Get details for a specific client |
| Update | POST /v1/clients/{id} | Update client details (DBA name, contact info) |
Before a merchant can process transactions, it must have at least one integration with a payment processor.
| Processor | Integration type | Payment types |
|---|---|---|
| TSYS | Card processing | Credit/debit card sales, authorizations, captures, cancels, refunds |
| Vericheck | ACH processing | Bank account payments, payouts, cancels |
Integrations are created with POST /v1/integrations and are scoped to a specific client. Each integration provides the processor credentials (MID, terminal ID) needed for transaction routing.
For more information, see Supported processors.
Reefpay enforces strict data isolation between clients.
| Scope | Rule |
|---|---|
| Transactions | Visible only to the merchant that processed them and its parent resellers |
| Payment tokens | Scoped to the merchant MID — cannot be used across merchants |
| API keys | Authenticate to a specific client — cannot access other clients' data |
| Users | Belong to a single client; reseller users can access child client data |
| Batches | Contain only transactions from the associated merchant |
A PayFac registers as a reseller and onboards sub-merchants under its account. The PayFac manages compliance and settlement, while each sub-merchant has its own MID and transaction history.
An Independent Sales Organization (ISO) or agent registers as a reseller to manage a portfolio of merchants. The ISO can view aggregate reporting across all merchants and manage their integrations.
A merchant that integrates directly with Reefpay (no reseller) has its parent_id set to the platform root.