How B2B Platforms Can Embed Net Terms Without Building a Finance Stack

B2B platforms have a problem they don't always name out loud. They sit in the middle of every transaction on their network, but they can't actually close the deal.

The missing piece is almost always net terms. Manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors need to extend 30, 60, and 90-day payment terms to win orders. Buyers expect the option. And the platform, whether it's a marketplace or a procurement tool or a vertical SaaS product, has no way to offer it natively.

So deals leak. Merchants go find a factoring company. Buyers go find a supplier who makes it easier to pay. And the platform keeps facilitating relationships it can't fully monetize.

Resolve's partner solutions are built to solve that. They give B2B platforms a way to embed net terms, credit decisioning, invoicing, and payment collection directly into their product — powered by Resolve's credit engine and financing infrastructure, without the platform needing to build or fund any of it.

What "Embedded Net Terms" Means for a B2B Platform

Embedded net terms refers to a B2B platform's ability to offer trade credit — typically 30-, 60-, or 90-day payment terms — as a native feature within its own product, rather than directing merchants or buyers to a separate financing tool. The credit decisioning, invoicing, payment collection, and payouts all happen through an embedded integration, invisible to the end user.

This is different from a merchant simply using a factoring service or a standalone AR product. With embedded net terms, the buyer never leaves the platform, the merchant doesn't manage a separate tool, and the platform owns the experience end to end.

Why Net Terms Is a Platform Problem, Not Just a Merchant Problem

Net terms is a platform problem because platforms control the transaction layer. When a buyer places an order through a wholesale marketplace or procurement tool, the platform is already managing the workflow. Credit, invoicing, and payment decisions naturally belong there — but most platforms have no infrastructure to support them.

Historically, merchants have handled trade credit on their own: through manual paper processes, disconnected accounts receivable software, or expensive invoice factoring arrangements. That works poorly at scale, and it keeps the platform on the outside of a critical part of the transaction.

Building an embedded credit and AR capability from scratch is a significant undertaking. It requires underwriting infrastructure and access to business credit data, capital to fund invoice advances, a collections operation, regulatory compliance, and years of engineering investment. Most B2B platforms don't have all of that. Some have none of it. So the opportunity sits unrealized while merchants manage trade credit in spreadsheets and buyers abandon carts that don't offer terms at checkout.

How Embedded Net Terms Works in Practice

When a B2B platform embeds net terms via API, it becomes the place where trade credit happens rather than a passive transaction layer.

Here's what the buyer experience looks like. A buyer lands on a wholesale marketplace, adds products to their cart, and at checkout sees an option to apply for net terms. They submit a short form. The platform's integrated credit engine runs a business credit check, with no personal credit impact and no manual trade reference forms, and returns a decision typically within hours. The buyer completes their purchase on 30-, 60-, or 90-day terms. The merchant gets paid upfront. The platform captures an order that otherwise might have stalled.

None of that requires the merchant to manage a separate financing tool, the buyer to leave the platform, or the platform to have built a credit engine.

How Resolve's Partner API Works

Resolve's partner solutions include APIs, plug-ins, SDKs, and i-frames – all available to give our partners the flexibility they need to embed a great net terms experience for their customers. Our out-of-the-box plug-ins support common e-commerce checkout solutions, such as Shopify and BigCommerce, to reduce the time and effort it takes to go live with net terms. SDK and i-frame capabilities are available for platforms that need additional customization. Find more information at docs.resolvepay.com.

The core capabilities break down as follows:

Merchant onboarding: Platforms submit sub-merchants for underwriting programmatically. Resolve handles KYB, risk assessment, and approval without manual admin work on either side. Once a merchant is onboarded, they're available to create invoices and serve buyers through the platform immediately.

Buyer credit decisioning: Resolve underwrites buyers and sets credit limits. Platforms choose between two credit line structures depending on how their merchant-buyer relationships are organized. Most decisions return within one business day; many are instant.

Invoice creation and management: Resolve's solutions support the full invoice lifecycle, including creation, updates, sending to buyers, voiding, cancellation, and credit notes for returns or adjustments.

Payment collection: Resolve handles buyer payment collection via ACH, credit card, wire, or check. Partners can also create forwarded payments on behalf of sub-merchants directly through the API. Neither merchants nor platforms need to manage collections.

Configurable payouts: Funds can settle in batches to the platform or route directly to individual merchants, depending on how the platform structures its financials. Each payout is the sum of individual transactions — advances, customer payments, forwarded payments, fees — which are available at the transaction level through the API.

Webhooks: Real-time event notifications cover invoice changes, credit decisions, payout status, and merchant underwriting outcomes, keeping the platform's data current without polling.

Marketplace Mode vs. Dedicated Mode: How Credit Lines Are Structured

Resolve's partner solutions support two credit line structures for B2B platforms, and the choice between them has meaningful implications for the buyer experience.

Marketplace mode is designed for multi-vendor platforms where buyers transact across many merchants. A buyer applies once and receives a shared credit line usable with any merchant on the platform. This is the model common in wholesale marketplaces: a retailer applies once, gets approved, and can buy from any brand on the network without a separate application per merchant.

Dedicated mode is designed for platforms where each merchant maintains its own buyer relationships, such as procurement tools and vertical SaaS platforms serving independent distributors. In dedicated mode, each merchant has a separate buyer credit line, and buyers apply per merchant.

Both modes run through the same APIs. For most multi-vendor marketplaces, marketplace mode delivers a significantly better buyer experience. For platforms with independent merchant-buyer relationships, dedicated mode preserves the appropriate separation.

The Risk Model: Non-Recourse Financing for Platform Integrations

Resolve's financing is non-recourse, which means once Resolve approves a buyer and advances payment on an invoice, the credit risk transfers entirely to Resolve. If a buyer defaults, the merchant is not liable and neither is the platform. Resolve's credit engine and collections team handle recovery.

For B2B platforms, this distinction matters a great deal. Taking on trade credit risk is not a product decision — it's a balance sheet one, with regulatory and capital implications that most platforms aren't structured to absorb. Non-recourse financing removes that constraint. A platform can offer net terms as a growth feature without assuming any of the underlying credit exposure.

Business Outcomes for Platforms That Embed Net Terms

Platforms that embed net terms through Resolve's partner solutions typically see impact across four areas.

GMV growth. Buyers who can pay on terms tend to purchase more, purchase more frequently, and carry larger average order values. Trade credit is one of the more direct conversion levers in B2B commerce, particularly for first-time or larger orders where upfront payment creates friction.

Merchant retention. When the platform is where merchants manage credit, invoicing, and collections — rather than a third-party tool they log into separately — switching costs increase meaningfully. The platform becomes harder to leave.

Operational scale without proportional headcount growth. Merchant onboarding, credit decisioning, and collections all happen through the embedded infrastructure. There is no operations team to hire and no manual underwriting process to staff.

Which Platforms Is the Resolve Partner Solutions Built For

The Resolve partner solutions are built for B2B platforms that already sit between suppliers and buyers: wholesale marketplaces, B2B procurement platforms, vertical SaaS tools with embedded payment ambitions, and commerce enablers serving manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers.

The clearest signal of fit is that a platform's merchants are already asking for net terms, or are already losing deals to competitors who offer them. If that's happening, the infrastructure to solve it is available now through a standard API integration, plug-ins, SDKs, and/or i-frames.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are embedded net terms APIs for B2B platforms?
Embedded net terms APIs let a B2B platform offer trade credit — 30-, 60-, or 90-day payment terms — as a native feature within its own product. The APIs handle credit decisioning, invoicing, payment collection, and payouts, so the platform owns the buyer experience without building or funding the underlying financial infrastructure. Resolve's Partner APIs are purpose-built for this use case.

How long does integration take?
Most partners complete their integration in two to four weeks. Resolve provides a sandbox environment for testing, OAuth 2.0 authentication via standard access keys, and full documentation at docs.resolvepay.com/partners-api/openapi. The APIs follow REST conventions, so the technical lift is manageable for any team with prior integration experience.

Could we build this ourselves instead of integrating with Resolve?
Building a credit and AR stack in-house typically takes 12 to 18 months and requires dedicated engineering resources, a credit team, balance sheet capital to fund invoice advances, and ongoing work to manage regulatory requirements. Resolve delivers the same capability through a standard API integration that most partners complete in two to four weeks, and Resolve carries all of the financing risk. For most platforms, building this internally isn't a realistic path given the cost and the timeline.

What if our merchants already have financing relationships with other providers?
Our partner solutions are not designed to replace a merchant's existing financing arrangements. It gives buyers a native net terms experience inside the platform, so they don't have to navigate a separate tool or apply to a third party mid-purchase. The value for the platform is in owning that experience, not in displacing what merchants do outside of it.

Who takes the loss if a buyer doesn't pay?
Resolve does. The financing is non-recourse: once Resolve approves a buyer and advances payment on an invoice, the credit risk transfers entirely to Resolve. If a buyer defaults, the merchant is not liable and neither is the platform. Resolve's credit engine and collections team manage recovery.

How does Resolve make money, and does the platform share in that?
Resolve charges a fee on each invoice, paid by the merchant rather than the buyer. Partners can negotiate a revenue share arrangement tied to volume processed through the platform, which creates a monetization path that scales with GMV.

What is the difference between marketplace mode and dedicated mode?
Marketplace mode gives buyers a shared credit line usable with any merchant on the platform after a single application. Dedicated mode keeps credit lines separate per merchant, with buyers applying independently for each merchant relationship. Marketplace mode is generally the better fit for multi-vendor platforms where buyers transact across multiple suppliers. Dedicated mode fits platforms where merchants operate more independently of one another.

How does Resolve handle buyer-facing communications?
Resolve manages payment reminders and collections on behalf of merchants, but the buyer-facing experience is co-branded and designed to reflect well on the merchant rather than surface Resolve as a third party. Buyers interact with a branded payment portal tied to the merchant. For partner-originated transactions specifically, Resolve is refining its email notification logic to better match the platform context.

If you're exploring what embedded net terms could look like for your platform, reach out to our partnerships team or review the Partner API documentation to see what's available today.