Marina Payment Processing: A Complete Guide to ValPay
Payment processing is one of the most critical — and most frustrating — aspects of marina management. Legacy systems force operators to manage separate merchant accounts, navigate complex fee structures, and reconcile payments across disconnected systems.
BluMarina embeds ValPay directly into the platform to offer flexible, modern payment processing with none of that overhead.
ValPay: PayFac-as-a-Service
ValPay is a payment facilitation platform designed specifically for SaaS applications. For marina operators, this means:
- Built-in merchant onboarding — no need to apply for a separate merchant account
- PCI-DSS Level 1 compliance handled — ValPay manages all security and compliance requirements
- 99.999% uptime SLA — payment processing that doesn't go down during peak season
- Omnichannel processing — accept payments online and at the point of sale
Because ValPay is embedded, every transaction lands against the right customer and invoice in BluMarina automatically — there's no separate gateway dashboard to reconcile against.
Payment Methods
With BluMarina, your customers can pay using:
- Credit and debit cards — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover
- ACH direct debit — lower processing fees for larger transactions
- Digital wallets — fast, modern checkout from any device
- Payment links — shareable URLs sent by email or SMS that customers can pay from any device
- Customer portal — self-service payment through the branded portal
And for customers who still pay at the desk, cash and check payments are recorded manually in the same ledger, so your transaction history stays complete.
Configuring Fees and Surcharges
BluMarina gives you full control over fee configuration:
- Convenience fees — pass processing costs to customers for credit card or ACH payments
- Maximum payment limits — set caps on credit card transaction amounts
- Multiple deposit types — configure different payment rules for work orders, reservations, invoices, and special orders
3D Secure Authentication
All card payments support 3D Secure (3DS) authentication, which provides an extra layer of fraud protection. When a payment triggers 3DS, the cardholder verifies their identity through their bank's authentication flow before the charge is processed.
Refunds and Reminders
Refunds for online payments are processed directly from the transaction detail page in BluMarina. For outstanding invoices, automated payment reminders go out by email or SMS with a one-click payment link — so collections happen without your staff chasing checks.
Keeping the Books in Sync
If you use QuickBooks Online, BluMarina syncs payments and refunds automatically, with a transaction log that matches each payment to its QuickBooks record. No double entry, no month-end surprises.
Getting Started
Payment processing in BluMarina requires no separate merchant account applications. Our team configures your payment settings during onboarding, and you can start accepting payments immediately.
Request a demo to see BluMarina's payment processing in action.
