Can you accept international payments without a registered business? Rules, limits and payouts for individuals

Yes. On KukoPay, an individual aged 18 or over with no business licence can open a live account with their own identity document, and uses the same checkout, API and settlement as a company.

The differences are risk rules: individual accounts have payment limits, can only be paid out to a personal account in their own name, and cannot sell digital goods or online games. Each rule is spelled out below so you can tell whether an individual account is enough for you.

Individual, sole proprietorship or company?

The account type follows the document you are verified with. It decides what you need to provide; it does not describe whether you sell abroad — a mainland Chinese company selling overseas is a "mainland company".

If you already hold a sole-proprietorship licence, choose that type: it is reviewed like a company and has no payment limits by default.

What does an individual need to provide?

You verify your login email first, and give separate consent to the platform processing sensitive personal information such as your identity document.

One identity document can open only one individual account.

What restrictions apply to individuals?

• Excluded categories: digital goods / virtual content and online games. Every merchant is also bound by the Acceptable Use Policy, which rules out gambling, crypto-asset trading, adult content and more.
• Payment methods: approval enables cards by default; more methods can be requested one by one in the dashboard.
• Payouts: only to a personal account in your own name; the account holder's name must match your verified name. It is checked when you add the account and on every payout.
• Payment limits: see the next section.

What are the payment limits for individuals?

Live payments on an individual account are limited by default:

Details worth understanding:

• The windows roll. They are not calendar days or months: "last 24 hours" means the 24 hours before now, so nothing resets at midnight.
• Pending orders count too. What counts is live orders created in the window that are paid (including ones refunded since) or still awaiting payment with an open checkout link. Expired and closed orders do not count.
• An order over any limit is refused with 400 payment_limit_exceeded and is not created; on a payment link over the limit, the buyer sees that the merchant cannot take payments right now.
• After approval, the Business verification page shows your limits and how much of the 24-hour and 30-day windows you have used.
• Limits can be raised on request, but not removed. If your volume regularly approaches the ceiling, registering a sole proprietorship or company and applying under that type is the better route.
• The sandbox has no limits.

What happens when your ID document expires?

An individual's verification is only as good as the document, so its expiry date matters:

• 30 days before expiry: an email reminder, and the Business verification page shows the days remaining.
• After it expires: live payouts are paused automatically; taking payments, refunds and answering chargebacks continue.
• Renewing: choose "Update document" on the Business verification page, enter the new expiry date and upload the document photos and the photo holding it; an operator reviews it. Once approved the record is updated, and payouts paused for the expiry resume automatically.
• If the document was reissued with a new number (a new passport, say), tick that the document was reissued and enter the new document's details. It must be your own and not already used by another individual account.

How is my ID number stored?

Document numbers are stored encrypted; the dashboard and the API only ever show a masked number. A platform reviewer who needs the full number must state why, and every view is recorded. After an account is closed, identity records are kept for 5 years as anti-money-laundering rules require, then deleted.

Start in the sandbox

The sandbox needs no verification at all: register, request a kuko_test_ key and rehearse orders, payments, webhooks, refunds and payouts with test cards. Get the integration working first and submit your documents after — that is the recommended order.

• Documents and review: merchant onboarding
• Payout rules and settlement account review: payouts
• Test cards and sandbox scenarios: sandbox testing