Zai

Zai: Payment Gateway And Marketplace Payments Overview

Zai is a payments platform designed for online platforms and marketplaces that need to accept and route payments while supporting multi-party transactions. It combines card acceptance with bank-based payment options commonly used in Australia, and it provides API-driven building blocks plus hosted payment interfaces to reduce payment data exposure.

What Zai Is And Who It Serves

Zai focuses on platform-style payment use cases where a business needs to facilitate payments between buyers and multiple sellers, suppliers, or service providers. Common examples include marketplaces, platforms, and embedded payments models that require:

• Multi-party fund flows (for example, splitting and routing payments)
• A platform-controlled payment experience
• Programmatic control of onboarding, users, and transactions via API
• Operational tooling for disputes and risk workflows

Zai also supports more conventional online card payments for Australian merchants through prebuilt plugin options and hosted payment experiences.

Payment Acceptance Channels

Zai is positioned primarily for online payment acceptance. The core channels supported are:

• Online (Web) via API integration
• Hosted payment forms for collecting card payments without directly handling sensitive card data
• Secure field-level iframes (hosted fields) for embedding card entry in a merchant checkout while keeping card data out of the merchant environment
• Plugin-based acceptance for supported ecommerce platforms (for example, WooCommerce)

Supported Payment Methods And Schemes

Zai supports a mix of card and bank-based payment methods, with a strong emphasis on Australia-specific rails.

Cards

For card payments, Zai supports major card schemes for Australian merchants, including:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• American Express

Card payments can be implemented via hosted checkout components that reduce the merchant’s exposure to cardholder data.

Bank Payments And Local Methods (Australia)

Zai also supports several bank-based and local methods, including:

• Real-time bank transfers via the New Payments Platform (NPP)
• PayID
• PayTo (Australia)
• BPAY
• Direct debit (Australia)

These rails are often used for account-to-account payments, recurring billing, or lower-cost collection in specific business models.

Checkout And Billing Flows

Zai supports multiple collection and billing patterns that are commonly relevant for merchants and platforms.

Marketplace And Split Payments

Zai supports multi-party payment orchestration, including workflows where a platform facilitates payment collection and routes funds to one or more counterparties. This is typically used for marketplace split payments, managed payouts, and platform fee collection.

Hosted Checkout And Embedded Fields

For card acceptance, Zai provides multiple implementation patterns:

• Hosted payment forms for a checkout experience hosted by Zai
• Hosted fields implemented as secure iframes, enabling merchants to design their own UI while keeping card entry secure and segregated from the merchant environment

This model can reduce the scope of PCI compliance for merchants by limiting their exposure to card data.

Recurring Billing

Zai supports recurring collections through bank rails commonly used for recurring payments in Australia, including direct debit and PayTo. This is relevant for subscriptions, invoicing-based recurring billing, and installment-style payment collection where card-based recurring billing is not preferred.

Invoicing And Bill Payment Use Cases

Zai supports methods that can be used for invoice-style payments, including BPAY and bank transfer workflows, depending on the platform configuration and product setup.

Settlement, Payouts, And Timing

Settlement time is program-specific and depends on the payment method used.

• Card settlement can be described in business-day terms for some Zai merchant offerings (for example, T+2 business days is referenced in certain ecommerce plugin contexts).
• Direct debit settlement is typically measured in business days and can be described as a multi-day clearing process.
• Real-time rails such as NPP and PayTo are positioned for near real-time payment initiation and confirmation, but end-to-end availability to a merchant or platform wallet can still depend on configuration and operational controls.

For platform models, timing can also be influenced by how funds are held, routed, and released to sellers or service providers.

Security And Compliance Posture

Zai positions security and compliance as part of its value proposition for platforms that want to reduce operational overhead.

Key controls and claims include:

• PCI DSS Level 1 service provider posture
• ISO/IEC 27001 certification referenced in security messaging for the payment gateway
• Tokenisation for card handling in the payment gateway model
• Hosted payment interfaces intended to keep sensitive card data off a merchant’s systems and reduce PCI compliance burden in common integration patterns
• Risk controls and fraud checks described as part of secure payment processing
• KYC and compliance workflows for onboarding and operational screening, consistent with platform-style payment models
• Program and region compliance constraints, including policies on prohibited countries and territories

Zai also references operational alignment with card scheme requirements and audits in its compliance positioning.

Pricing Model

Zai publishes indicative card pricing for its payment gateway in Australia and also indicates that pricing can vary based on business model and volume.

Commonly referenced elements include:

• A blended card pricing model expressed as a percentage plus a fixed fee per transaction for domestic and international cards in Australia
• The availability of tailored pricing such as custom packages, volume-based considerations, and interchange pricing depending on merchant profile

In addition to per-transaction pricing, payment platforms may apply program fees and minimums depending on the commercial agreement and services enabled.

Developer Experience And Integration Options

Zai provides API documentation and an API reference for integrating payments into platform workflows. Integration options include:

• Web services API for programmatic management of users, items, transactions, and payments
• Webhook APIs for event-driven status updates
• OAuth-based authentication referenced for specific API areas
• Hosted payment interfaces (hosted forms and hosted fields via iframe-based components)
• Prebuilt plugin support for ecommerce use cases (for example, WooCommerce)

The developer portal provides structured endpoint references and examples across common languages used for API requests.

Reporting And Operational Tooling

Zai provides reporting capabilities oriented to platform operations, including:

• A reporting API to retrieve and analyze payment and transaction data
• A dashboard-style portal for managing payments and operational workflows
• Transaction retrieval endpoints in the API reference for programmatic reporting

For marketplaces and platforms, these capabilities support reconciliation, customer support operations, dispute handling, and finance workflows.

Practical Fit Considerations

When evaluating Zai for a merchant or platform environment, the following fit factors tend to matter:

• Geography and rails: Many of the highlighted bank payment methods are Australia-specific (NPP, PayID, PayTo, BPAY, and local direct debit).
• Channel focus: Zai’s materials emphasize online and platform payments rather than in-person POS terminal acceptance.
• Payment mix: Zai supports card payments and a range of bank-based methods, enabling a blended strategy for cost, settlement timing, and customer preferences.
• Platform complexity: Zai is most relevant where split payments, routing, and platform-managed fund flows are required.
• Compliance and data handling: Hosted payment interfaces and tokenisation can reduce payment data exposure for merchants integrating card payments.

Conclusion

Zai is structured for online platforms and marketplaces that need to accept payments and manage multi-party fund flows. It supports card payments through hosted and embedded collection models and offers a set of Australia-centric bank rails including NPP, PayID, PayTo, BPAY, and direct debit. Its integration approach centers on APIs, webhooks, and hosted checkout components, with operational support for reporting and dispute workflows.