# Merchants (https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/platforms/connect/merchants)



Merchants is your pipeline: every merchant you have invited or onboarded, and how their recovery is going.

## What you see [#what-you-see]

Each merchant carries a status and a performance summary.

| Status       | Meaning                                       |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------- |
| **Active**   | Onboarded, processor linked, disputes routing |
| **Pending**  | Invited, has not completed onboarding         |
| **Inactive** | Deactivated, no longer processing disputes    |

Performance per merchant covers disputes processing, disputes under review, disputes won, and recovery rate.

## Onboard a merchant [#onboard-a-merchant]

Two paths, chosen per merchant:

| Path                            | What happens                                                                                        | Use when                                                                                    |
| ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Invite to co-branded portal** | The merchant receives an invite and completes onboarding themselves in a portal carrying your brand | The merchant should own the connection and see their own disputes                           |
| **Instant activation**          | You activate the merchant directly, no action needed from them                                      | You already hold the processor relationship and the merchant should not have to do anything |

You can copy a **Magic Link** for a merchant and send it through your own channel instead of the built-in invite, which is useful when onboarding runs through your existing account managers.

Doing this over the API instead? See [Onboard a merchant](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/platforms/eaas/onboard-a-merchant) and the [Accounts API](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/api/2025-04-01/platforms/accounts).

## Manage the pipeline [#manage-the-pipeline]

* **Search, filter, sort, export.** Filter by status and processor; export for reporting.
* **Re-invite** merchants stuck in Pending.
* **Link a PSP account** to a merchant that onboarded before its processor was connected.
* **Open a merchant's dashboard** to see what they see.
* **Deactivate and reactivate** without losing history.

## Attribution matters more than it looks [#attribution-matters-more-than-it-looks]

A dispute arrives from a processor account, not from a merchant. Connect maps processor accounts to merchants so each dispute lands against the right one. If attribution is wrong, the dispute still gets fought but the reporting is wrong, and a merchant may see a dispute that is not theirs. Check mapping when you connect a processor, not after the first invoice. See [Integrations](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/platforms/connect/integrations).

## Next step [#next-step]

<Cards>
  <Card className="cf-card-outline" iconName="card-chip-1" title="Disputes" href="/docs/platforms/connect/disputes">
    Watch the disputes arrive and see where each one stands.
  </Card>
</Cards>