We don't just build websites.
We help small businesses get found, and get paid.
Most payment solutions serve one surface — a terminal, a link, an invoice. We give every Australian tradie one pay button that works everywhere their customer is: on the website, printed as a QR sticker on the ute, and in an SMS sent from the driveway. One Pinch rail underneath. Zero hardware.
The website is the wedge. Payments is the product.
Everyone builds websites. That's a commodity. Our insight is that a website is really an acquisition channel for a payments business. We auto-generate 3,568 sites for free — then wire a Pinch pay button into every one. The tradie gets found. The customer pays. We take a cut on every transaction, forever.
On the website
Every tradez.au site gets a "Pay Now" button auto-injected. Customer clicks → Pinch hosted checkout → pays by card or bank debit.
Via a printed QR
The tradie prints a QR sticker. Customer scans with their phone camera → pays in seconds. No app, no terminal, no hardware. Ever.
Via SMS
Tradie texts a payment link from their dashboard. Customer taps → pays → gets an SMS receipt back automatically. The "driveway close."
Australian tradies can't take payments easily.
EFTPOS terminals are expensive
$20–$60/month + $100–$500 hardware. A solo tradie doing 5 jobs a week shouldn't need to rent a terminal from a bank.
Bank transfer = friction = late payment
Customer must open their banking app, copy BSB and account number, type the amount. Every step is a chance to forget. Deposits arrive late or never.
Card fees on big deposits are brutal
A $5,000 bathroom reno deposit on a card costs ~$97 in fees. Pinch's BECS direct debit is capped at $5. That's a 95% saving on the tradie's biggest payments.
Most have no website at all
Of ~2.3 million trades businesses in Australia, the majority have no web presence — no way to be found, quoted, or paid online.
Three innovations that make this hard to copy.
Judges reward novelty. Ours is not one thing — it is the combination of three, and each one reinforces the others.
The Omnipresent Pay Button
The same Pinch Payment Link URL (pay.getpinch.com.au/pay/plk_XXX) surfaced three ways for the same tradie. The QR is the hero because it's the thing you can physically hand to a judge.
- Web button — auto-injected on every tradez.au customer site
- Printed QR — sticker for the ute, card for the invoice folder, stand for reception
- SMS link — texted to the customer's phone, tapped, paid
- Every existing payment method serves ONE surface. We serve all three with the same rail.
Managed Merchants for the little guy
Pinch's Managed Merchants (payfac-as-a-service) is an enterprise feature normally used by SaaS platforms onboarding software vendors. We are using it for plumbers.
- Each tradie becomes a sub-merchant under our master account
- Pinch handles KYC / AML / CTF compliance
- Funds settle to the tradie's bank account, not ours
- We take a platform fee via
applicationFeeon every transaction - Nobody at a hackathon will use payfac-as-a-service for trades. It's "too enterprise." We make it delightful.
The SMS receipt + payment-request loop
When a payment lands, the customer gets an SMS receipt automatically. When a tradie needs a deposit, they send an SMS payment request. This closes the loop end-to-end without the customer ever installing an app.
- Powered by httpSMS with a real SIM — a real mobile number
- The ACMA SMS Sender ID Register went live 1 July 2026 — but it only applies to alphanumeric sender IDs
- Because we send from a real phone number, we are fully exempt — no registration, no "Unverified" label
- Our architecture is accidentally optimal for compliance
🛠️ Prototype Station
Real surfaces, live on tradez.au right now. These aren't mockups — click through and use them. The interactive demo below mirrors the same flows client-side.
Everything below is live on tradez.au
The full Tradez Pay stack runs on a Cloudflare Worker routing *.tradez.au. Onboard a tradie, generate a QR-pay catalogue, take a payment, watch the dashboard. Sandbox mode — no real money moves, but the Pinch API calls are real.
POST /merchants/managed. Compliance docs uploaded next.🎮 Interactive demo — try the flows right here
Generate a QR, send a simulated SMS, and watch the webhook fire — all client-side, mirroring the real Worker + Pinch API flow above.
Open demo full-screen ↗ 📺 Feature coverage page (screen-record reference) →
🎬 Demo video
The submission video — problem, solution, live QR scan, webhook firing, the business model.
The QR is the terminal.
A tradie doesn't just get a website — they get a physical payment artifact: a QR code that encodes their Pinch Payment Link URL. Pinch's URLs are short and static (~45 chars, HTTPS, no query string) — perfect for clean QR encoding at ~25mm.
Where the tradie sticks it
Back of the ute
Customer sees it at the job site, scans, pays the deposit before work starts.
Invoice folder
Printed on every paper quote. Customer scans instead of typing BSB numbers.
Reception stand
A4 stand on the showroom counter. Walk-in customers pay without queuing.
How it compares
| Option | Cost | Online | In-person | SMS | BECS debit | Platform cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EFTPOS terminal | $20–60/mo + hardware | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Square QR | Free QR, Square fees | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Invoice + bank transfer | Free | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Tradez QR (ours) | Free (with site) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ ($5 cap) | ✓ |
"Tradez Text" — compliant by design.
📋 Spam Act 2003 — 3 conditions
Consent — captured at booking (express/inferred for B2B).
Identification — "Alex / tradez.au" + real number in every message.
Unsubscribe — "Reply STOP to opt out" on every commercial SMS, honoured within 5 working days.
⏰ Quiet hours + record-keeping
Sending window: 08:00–19:00 Sydney, no Sunday (hard-coded). DNC cross-check on every send. Full audit trail in outreach_log.csv + do_not_contact.csv.
Message templates (≤320 chars)
The QR is the wedge. The platform is the prize.
Pinch has no terminal/POS hardware and no card-present (tap) API. Our QR partially solves the in-person gap (scan-to-pay is "card-not-present but in-person"). But there's a bigger play: becoming the full payment surface for AU trades.
Hackathon
Web + QR + SMS. The omnipresent pay button. Now
+3 months
Virtual terminal — keyed card entry via CaptureJS (PCI-safe). Next
+6 months
Tap-to-pay partnership (Stripe Tap / Tyro Go). Future
+12 months
Full tradez.au payment platform. Vision
How we score against every judging criterion.
The T&Cs (§4.1) list six criteria. Here's how we beat the field on each.
💡 Innovation
Strong💰 Commercial viability
Strong⚙️ Technical execution
Strong🔌 Use of Pinch
Eligible🎤 Presentation
Strong🌍 Market impact
StrongFrom a $250 website to a payments-revenue business.
Tradie gets a free demo site
We have 1,655 already generated
Tradie goes live ($250 setup)
We onboard them as a Pinch Managed Merchant
Site + QR + SMS carry a LIVE Pay button
Three surfaces, one Payment Link
Customers pay deposits/invoices
Money settles to the TRADIE's bank
We earn ~1.5% on every transaction
Recurring revenue — not just hosting
Tradies onboarded (year-1 goal)
Avg monthly GMV per tradie
Platform fee revenue at scale (1.5%)
Why Pinch, not Stripe.
Managed Merchants
True payfac-as-a-service. Each tradie becomes a sub-merchant via API. Pinch handles KYC/AML/CTF. Funds settle to their bank. We take applicationFee. Deeper AU compliance than Stripe Connect.
Payment Links
Hosted checkout at pay.getpinch.com.au/pay/plk_XXX. Short, static, QR-friendly URLs. No checkout UI to build — we just generate a link.
BECS Direct Debit
First-class AU bank debit at 1% + 30c, capped at $5. A $5,000 reno deposit costs $5 (vs ~$97 on card). Critical for trades. Stripe's AU debit is an afterthought.
Webhooks
HMAC-SHA256 signed events: realtime-payment, bank-results, transfer, compliance-updated. One endpoint routes by merchant.
Surcharging + applicationFee
Pass fees to the customer (surcharging) AND take a platform cut (applicationFee) on every transaction. Shows as an ApplicationFee transfer line item to us.
Xero / MYOB / QBO sync
Native two-way accounting reconciliation. Tradies live in Xero/MYOB. Stripe only does Xero well; surcharges don't fully reconcile.
Why we switched from Stripe to Pinch.
We originally specced this whole project on Stripe. Here's the honest reasoning behind the pivot — and where Stripe would still win.
The head-to-head
| Capability | Pinch | Stripe | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| BECS Direct Debit (AU bank debit) | First-class. 1% + 30c, capped at $5. | Afterthought. ~0.9% + 30c, no cap. | Pinch |
| Fee on a $5,000 reno deposit | ~$5 (debit) or ~$97 (card) | ~$97 (card) — debit path weaker | Pinch |
| Managed Merchants / Payfac-as-a-Service | Native, deep AU KYC/AML/CTF/UBO | Stripe Connect — battle-tested but US-centric compliance | Pinch (for AU) |
| Accounting reconciliation | Native 2-way: Xero, MYOB, QBO, Cin7 | Xero only; surcharges don't fully reconcile | Pinch |
| Payment plans / instalments | Built in ("pay your reno in 4") | Requires Stripe Billing (more setup) | Pinch |
| Surcharge pass-through | Full fee (%, fixed, per-customer) | Percentage only | Pinch |
| Card rates (Visa/MC) | 1.95% + 30c | 1.75% + 30c | Stripe (slightly) |
| Apple Pay / Google Pay | ⚠️ Not documented (GAP to confirm) | Mature, ubiquitous — mobile conversion win | Stripe |
| Developer ecosystem / docs | Smaller, but ships llms.txt + MCP server | 10× the docs, Stack Overflow, SDKs | Stripe |
| Brand trust at checkout | Less recognised by consumers | "Powered by Stripe" = trust | Stripe |
| AU settlement speed | 1 business day (card), AUD-native | 2-7 days to AU banks | Pinch |
| Hackathon eligibility | ✓ Required (it's the Pinch hackathon) | ✗ Disqualifies us | Pinch |
✅ Where Pinch wins (the real differentiators)
1. Native BECS Direct Debit — the killer feature for trades. Customers pay big deposits ($5k reno) from their bank at $5 capped instead of ~$97 on card. Stripe's AU debit is an afterthought.
2. Managed Merchants — deeper AU compliance (KYC/AML/CTF/UBO/biometrics) than Stripe Connect. Funds settle to the tradie's bank; we take a fee.
3. Accounting sync — native two-way Xero/MYOB/QBO. Tradies live in Xero/MYOB. Stripe only does Xero well.
4. AU-made, AUD settlement — 1-business-day card settlement. Local support.
⚠️ Where Stripe would be better (honest)
1. Apple Pay / Google Pay — Stripe's wallet integration is mature and ubiquitous. A real mobile conversion win. (We're verifying whether Pinch's hosted Payment Link offers wallet buttons — if yes, this advantage vanishes.)
2. Developer ecosystem — 10× the docs, Stack Overflow answers, SDKs. Pinch has llms.txt + an MCP server (great for AI building now) but a smaller community for edge cases.
3. Brand trust — "Powered by Stripe" reduces checkout abandonment. Pinch is less recognised by consumers.
4. Connect at scale — more battle-tested at 10k+ merchants. Irrelevant at our scale, but worth noting.
_alternatives/ if Pinch blocks us.
Two things to verify before fully committed: (1) does Pinch's hosted Payment Link offer Apple Pay / Google Pay? (2) get Managed Merchants enabled on the sandbox account. If both check out, the Stripe advantages shrink to "docs and brand" only.
Components & coverage.
Every moving part of Tradez Pay, grouped by pillar. Use this as the screen-record checklist for the demo video — every ✅ is spoken in the 60s script; every ⚠️ is shown on screen; every 📋 lives in this wiki.
🌐 Get Found — website + SEO (the acquisition channel)
slug.tradez.au) for zero-friction acquisition; custom-domain upsell for SEO + brand ownership.💳 Get Paid — the omnipresent pay button (the product)
/onboard form → POST /merchants/managed + document upload. Shown on screen.realtime-payment, bank-results, transfer, compliance-updated. Implied by "receipt by text."💬 The SMS Loop — compliant messaging (the differentiator)
📊 The Platform — our revenue + ops (the business)
applicationFee on every transaction. Recurring revenue. Turns a one-off $250 website into a payments business./dashboard: merchants onboarded, payments collected, fees earned. Shown on screen (fees ticking up).From scraper to payments platform in 48 hours.
The scraper + 3,568 websites
A lead-discovery scraper and 3,568 auto-generated static tradie websites deployed on Cloudflare Pages. A basic Worker for subdomain routing. No payment functionality.
Full Pinch payments integration
OAuth flow, payment links, Managed Merchants, webhook receiver with signature verification. Onboarding form, Pay Now flow, platform dashboard — all live.
QR-pay catalogue + auto-injected Pay Now
Every customer site gets a Pay Now button. QR catalogue with auto-generated QR codes per product. The omnipresent pay button across web + QR + SMS.
SMS service + site-creation rebuild
httpSMS integration for payment requests and automated receipts. Rebuilt the site-creation automation (style navigation, demo banner, purchase pathway).
Submission showcase
Hackathon hub on tradez.au, full strategy wiki, screen-record coverage page, interactive demo, and the 60-second demo video.
Go live with real tradies
Onboard the first 10–20 real businesses from our existing pipeline. Switch from sandbox to live Pinch payments. Add tap-to-pay (Phase 2).
Alexei & Ashley — Sydney.
👨💻 Alexei
Builder. Runs tradez.au, biz.sydney, x10.au — a platform to get Australian tradies online. Cloudflare Workers + Pages, vanilla JS/HTML, Python. Static-first, edge-deployed, fast.
👩 Ashley
Co-founder. Bringing the omnipresent pay button to life for the hackathon.