Paddleauth-payments

Paddle Billing Integration for B2B SaaS | SpeedMVPs

Paddle operates as Merchant of Record for B2B SaaS products that need more than a simple checkout link. Where Lemon Squeezy targets indie SaaS and low-ACV products, Paddle is built for companies selling to businesses: enterprise invoicing with PO number support, BACS and wire transfer payment options, multi-seat licensing, and a subscription management model that handles the complexity of annual contracts, mid-cycle upgrades, and prorated billing. SpeedMVPs integrates Paddle into B2B SaaS products for founders who expect to sell contracts above GBP 500 per month or who need to close deals with procurement teams that require a formal invoice process. Combined with Paddle's EU VAT and UK VAT handling as Merchant of Record, it keeps your finance operations clean from the first paying customer. For UK founders selling into EU markets post-Brexit, Paddle handles the VAT OSS obligation on your behalf and presents EU B2B customers with the option to supply their VAT number at checkout for zero-rated invoicing under the reverse-charge mechanism. Paddle also provides a UK entity on supplier invoices, which removes your obligation to register for UK VAT purely on digital goods sales until you reach the threshold through other trading activity. SpeedMVPs, based in Hemel Hempstead and delivering B2B SaaS MVPs in 2-3 weeks at a fixed GBP 8,000 price, delivers the full Paddle integration including checkout, webhooks, seat tracking, and admin tooling, with complete code ownership transferred on delivery.

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Paddle as Merchant of Record for B2B

The Merchant of Record model matters differently in B2B than in B2C. In B2B, your customers' finance teams are often the bottleneck. They require a proper invoice with supplier VAT number, payment terms, and an option to pay by bank transfer rather than card. Paddle handles all of this. When you sell through Paddle, Paddle is the legal seller. Paddle's UK and EU entity details appear on invoices. Paddle collects and remits VAT in every applicable jurisdiction. Your customer's finance team receives a compliant invoice from Paddle, and you receive the net amount after Paddle's fees. This is a significant operational simplification for an early-stage B2B product. You do not need to register for UK VAT until you hit the UK threshold organically, and you do not need to manage EU VAT OSS registration separately. SpeedMVPs integrates Paddle's billing APIs and webhooks into your SaaS backend, mapping each subscription event to the correct state in your application database.

Subscription Plans, Seats, and Usage-Based Billing

Paddle's billing model supports flat-rate subscriptions, per-seat pricing, and usage-based components within a single subscription. For an AI SaaS product, this is practically useful. You might charge a flat monthly fee for the base product plus a per-seat fee for team members plus a consumption charge for AI tokens used above a threshold. Paddle's newer Billing API (as opposed to the legacy Classic platform) supports these composite plans natively. SpeedMVPs configures your product catalogue, pricing model, and proration rules in Paddle and builds the integration layer between Paddle events and your application. When a company adds five seats to their subscription, the webhook fires, your backend increments the seat count for that account, and the correct access is provisioned immediately. Proration when seats are added mid-cycle is handled by Paddle automatically.

Enterprise Invoicing and Payment Terms

Paddle supports invoice payment, which allows B2B customers to receive an invoice and pay within agreed payment terms (net 30 is common) rather than requiring an immediate card payment. This is essential for selling to mid-market and enterprise companies in the UK and EU, where card-on-file subscriptions are often not accepted by procurement teams. SpeedMVPs configures the payment method options in your Paddle checkout and builds the backend logic to handle the subscription-pending state that exists between invoice issuance and payment. During this state, the account may need limited access or a sales-team-controlled grace period. We also build the admin tooling to view outstanding invoices and manually adjust access when a payment is confirmed outside the automated flow.

Paddle Checkout Integration in Next.js

Paddle provides a JavaScript SDK that renders either an inline checkout or an overlay checkout. SpeedMVPs integrates this into your Next.js application across the pricing page, the in-app upgrade flow, and any feature gate upgrade prompts. The checkout is pre-populated with the customer's email from your authentication system, reducing friction for logged-in users. We configure the checkout to display the correct currency based on the customer's location, handle EU VAT number collection and validation for B2B customers (who can provide a VAT number to have VAT zero-rated on their invoice), and redirect to a success page that triggers your post-purchase onboarding flow. The entire checkout-to-onboarding path is tested end-to-end before delivery.

Regulatory Fit for UK and EU B2B SaaS

Paddle's Merchant of Record model provides a clean answer to several regulatory questions UK founders face. For UK VAT, Paddle's UK entity is the seller, so your company's VAT obligations are limited to your other business activities. For EU VAT, Paddle handles OSS filings. For GDPR, Paddle operates as a data processor and provides a Data Processing Agreement compatible with ICO requirements. If your SaaS product serves customers in regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, or legal, Paddle's enterprise invoicing and payment terms capabilities also make it easier for those customers to complete their own vendor due diligence, since Paddle is a well-known entity with published security certifications. SpeedMVPs can supply a GDPR data flow diagram for your Paddle integration on request.

Implementation and What Gets Delivered

The Paddle integration on a B2B SaaS MVP typically takes five to seven days of engineering time within a broader 2-3 week build. SpeedMVPs delivers: Paddle product and plan configuration matching your pricing model, Paddle.js checkout integration in Next.js with pre-filled customer data, webhook handler with signature verification and idempotent event processing, subscription state sync to your database with seat count and plan tier tracking, feature access middleware reading from the subscription table, customer portal link for self-service subscription management, admin views for manual subscription management and invoice status, and documentation covering plan changes, adding new pricing tiers, and reading Paddle's reporting. Full code ownership is transferred on delivery.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Paddle and Paddle Classic?+

Paddle Classic is the original Paddle platform with a slightly different API model and checkout experience. Paddle Billing is the newer platform with a more flexible API that supports complex subscription models including per-seat and usage-based pricing. SpeedMVPs builds on Paddle Billing for new projects unless a client has a specific reason to use Classic. If you are migrating from Classic, we can advise on the migration path.

Can B2B customers pay by BACS bank transfer through Paddle?+

Paddle supports invoice-based payment, which allows customers to pay by bank transfer within agreed payment terms. This is separate from BACS Direct Debit. For recurring monthly contracts, most B2B customers pay by credit card or invoice. For annual contracts, bank transfer on invoice is common and Paddle supports this flow natively.

How does Paddle handle EU VAT for B2B customers?+

B2B customers in the EU can provide their VAT number at checkout. Paddle validates the VAT number via the EU VIES system and zero-rates the transaction if valid, which is the correct treatment for B2B cross-border EU sales (the reverse-charge mechanism applies). This removes VAT from the invoice, which is what EU B2B customers expect. SpeedMVPs configures the checkout to enable VAT number collection.

Is Paddle suitable for SaaS products with usage-based AI billing?+

Paddle Billing supports usage-based components alongside flat subscription fees. This works for AI products that charge a base fee plus a per-token or per-call consumption charge. However, if your billing model is purely consumption-based with no base fee, Stripe's metered billing has more flexibility and better tooling for managing usage records. SpeedMVPs will recommend the right tool based on your specific billing model during scoping.

Can we offer trials through Paddle?+

Yes. Paddle supports trial periods on subscriptions with either card-required or no-card-required trial options. Card-required trials convert at a higher rate but have a higher drop-off during trial signup. The right choice depends on your sales motion. SpeedMVPs configures the trial logic and builds the in-app trial expiry notification so users are prompted to convert before access is removed.

Launching a B2B SaaS product and need enterprise billing working from day one? Get a free consultation at speedmvps.co.uk

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