FastSpring

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You cannot build a merchant of record, and this entry exists to explain why that matters more than the software.

**A merchant of record is a legal position, not a feature.** When FastSpring sells your software, it is the seller: it registers for VAT and sales tax in every jurisdiction, collects and files, carries the fraud liability, and handles chargebacks. Replacing it with your own checkout means **you** take on all of that.

What you would be accepting:
- VAT registration for digital services sold into the EU, and the returns that follow
- Sales tax nexus thresholds across many US states, monitored continuously
- The same again for the UK, and for a growing list of other countries
- Fraud losses and chargeback fees, which for software are not small
- Refund obligations under consumer law in each of those places

The percentage a merchant of record charges is not a payment fee. **It is the price of somebody else carrying that**, and for a small software business it is usually good value.

WHAT TO DO INSTEAD
- **Use a merchant of record.** Paddle, Lemon Squeezy and FastSpring are all in this category; compare their rates rather than replacing the model
- Or use a payment processor directly and accept the obligations knowingly, with an accountant who has said yes in writing

WHAT IS WORTH BUILDING AROUND IT
- **Own the licensing and entitlement layer.** That is the part you should never rent: which customer has which licence, on how many machines, until when. Your product should ask your own service, not the seller's
- licenses: id, order_ref, product, seats, issued_at, expires_at, revoked_at
- activations: id, license_id, machine_hash, activated_at, last_seen_at — with a limit and a deactivation path
- Signed licence tokens your application verifies offline, with a public key in the binary. **Software that cannot start without reaching a server is software that stops working when that server does**
- Order events consumed from the seller by webhook, verified by signature, processed idempotently

AND OWN THE CUSTOMER RECORD
- Email addresses, purchase history and support context in your own database. **A merchant of record owns the transaction; do not let it own the relationship**
- Export orders regularly, so switching seller is a migration and not a rebuild

WHAT MATTERS MOST
Keep the merchant of record and own the licensing and the customer record. That way the expensive obligation stays with them and the valuable data stays with you.