PayShare adds one option to a checkout you already run: Split with others. The customer who books becomes the host of a group session. They share a link, each person pays their own share, and the order is paid once everyone has paid. Your existing Pay now option stays exactly as it is.
How PayShare works
A split moves through your checkout, PayShare and your payment provider in this order.
- Your checkout
The customer selects Split with others
The button sits next to Pay now. Your checkout still owns the order, the price and the customer.
- Your server
You prove the order to PayShare
Your server creates an unpaid order on your payment provider and sends PayShare a reference to it. PayShare reads the amount and currency from the provider, never from the browser.
- PayShare
PayShare hosts the group session
The host invites people with a link or QR code, chooses how to split, and everyone sees progress and time remaining.
- Payment provider
Each person pays their share
Every share is a real payment on your own provider account. Shares are authorised first and captured together once the full amount is covered.
- Your system
You confirm the order
The customer returns to your site. You mark the order paid from your payment provider’s records, not from the browser return.
Who owns what
You keep
- Your checkout, pricing, availability and order records
- Your payment provider account and your relationship with it
- Pay now, unchanged
- Confirming the order and fulfilling it
- Your customer relationship and support
PayShare runs
- The Split with others button and group session
- Inviting, joining and choosing how to split
- Creating each person’s share payment on your provider account
- Waiting until the full amount is covered, then capturing together
- Releasing authorised shares if the group does not finish in time
What moves the money
Your payment provider moves the money. Each share is charged on your own provider account and settles to you the way your normal payments do. PayShare coordinates the group and tells your provider when to authorise, capture or release each share.
PayShare is not:
- a merchant of record, so the sale stays yours;
- a wallet or a bank, and it never holds customer funds;
- a payment method inside your provider’s own checkout.
PayShare charges its fee on completed splits only. See pricing.
Payment providers
Choose the payment provider your checkout already uses.
Merchants and platforms
Each payment provider guide has two paths. Pick the one that describes who controls the checkout.
| You are | You control | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| A merchant | Your own website or booking checkout, and the server behind it. | Stripe merchant guide |
| A platform | A booking engine, property system or commerce platform that runs checkout for many merchants. | Stripe platform guide |
If a platform runs your checkout for you, you are still a merchant. You install PayShare, then connect it to your platform. You do not add code to a checkout you do not control.
Core concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Session | One group payment for one order. It has a total, a currency and an expiry time. |
| Host | The customer who selected the split. They invite others and choose how to split. |
| Participant | Anyone paying a share, including the host. |
| Order proof | An unpaid order your server creates on your payment provider. It is how PayShare knows the order is real and what it costs. |
| Authorise, then capture | Each share is held on the payer’s card first. Nothing is taken until the whole order is covered. |
| Checkout hold | How long your checkout keeps the order. The session ends before your hold does. |
| Session status | pending, active, completed, expired or cancelled. |
API reference
These guides cover every request you need. The machine-readable OpenAPI description is at /openapi.json. If you build with an AI coding assistant, start from PayShare for AI assistants.