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Kelviq operates as your Merchant of Record (MoR). This means we are the legal reseller of your products to the end customer. We handle the taxes, compliance, and payment liability so you don’t have to.

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What is a Merchant of Record (MoR)?

The “Merchant of Record” is the most important concept to understand when using Kelviq. It’s the engine that enables you to sell globally without handling the legal and financial complexity yourself. A Merchant of Record is the entity that is legally responsible for selling a product to an end customer. When a customer buys your product, their financial transaction is with the MoR (Kelviq), not with your company. We take on the responsibility for that sale, handling all the complex financial and legal requirements that come with it. You build your product. Kelviq handles checkout, tax, and compliance.

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The Core Responsibilities of an MoR

As your MoR, Kelviq does three jobs for you:
  • Global tax and compliance Kelviq calculates, collects, and files sales taxes like VAT (EU and UK), GST (India, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand), GST/HST (Canada), JCT (Japan), and state-level sales tax in the U.S.
  • Fraud and disputes Kelviq screens payments for fraud and handles every dispute with the bank. Each dispute costs $15, whatever the outcome. See Fees.
  • Payment regulations The MoR ensures that every part of the checkout and payment process is compliant with global regulations, such as PCI-DSS and PSD2/SCA.

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How it Works: A Real-World Example

To understand exactly where the money goes, let’s look at a specific transaction.
  1. The Sale: A customer in Germany visits your site and buys your product. You have set the price at €50.00.
  2. The Calculation: Kelviq automatically detects the customer is in Germany and adds the 19% German VAT (€9.50). The customer pays a total of €59.50.
  3. The Legal Transaction: The customer’s €59.50 transaction is legally with Kelviq. We are the “seller” on their invoice.
  4. Tax remittance: At the end of the quarter, our finance team takes that €9.50 and files the VAT return with the German authorities. The tax never enters your balance, so there’s nothing for you to file.
  5. Your Payout: We take our fee from the full €59.50 the customer paid, send the €9.50 VAT to the German tax authority, and pay the rest out to your bank account. See Fees.
You get your expected revenue. We handle the legal and tax complexity of the extra €9.50.

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MoR vs. Payment Service Provider (PSP)

A PSP (like Stripe or PayPal) gives you the tools to process a payment, but you are still the seller of record.

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Prefer to stay the merchant of record yourself?

Kelviq also offers BYOA (bring your own account). Email hi@kelviq.com to set it up.