This article provides a comprehensive, illustrated guide to third‑party payment institutions, covering their product ecosystem, system layers, the five core business processes of collection, payment, refund, clearing and settlement, and the management of reserve‑fund centralized custody.
This article provides a comprehensive technical overview of payment system evolution, explains first‑, second‑, third‑, and fourth‑party payment models, details the roles, account structures, and transaction flows such as recharge, withdrawal, and transfer, and breaks down the core domains and interactions within modern third‑party payment platforms.
The article surveys the evolution from first‑ to fourth‑party payments and explains third‑party payment platforms’ architecture, including user, merchant, and reserve‑fund accounts, core operations such as recharge, withdrawal, transfer, payment, refund, settlement, and the domain‑level decomposition that enables complex transaction flows.
This article outlines the various payment channels—In‑App Purchase, third‑party, H5, and mini‑program—across iOS, Android, and WeChat environments, detailing their flow diagrams, required API interactions, code examples, and best‑practice recommendations to help developers implement seamless mobile payments.
