A seller who enables every financing option on every offer isn't being generous to buyers — they're creating a confusing quotation with four unrelated payment mechanisms bolted together, several of which may not even apply to that buyer's situation. Each of the four financing types SolarMarket supports was built for a specific kind of transaction. Knowing which one fits which buyer is a genuine skill, not a checkbox exercise.

FI: for buyers who need a real lender behind the deal

FI makes sense when the purchase is large enough, or the buyer's situation formal enough, that a bank or MFI reviewing and backing the loan actually matters — larger systems, business buyers, or buyers who specifically need a credit product with a lender's name on it. Because FI requires your own partnership approval first, it is not something you can turn on reactively when a buyer asks; it has to already be set up. If you frequently get buyers asking about bank financing and you don't yet have an approved FI partnership, that is the clearest signal to go complete the application rather than improvising with Hire Purchase instead.

Hire Purchase: for buyers you're willing to carry yourself

HP fits when you are comfortable being the lender — collecting a down payment and then monthly instalments directly, with no bank involved, and taking on the collection risk yourself. This suits smaller, higher-trust relationships: repeat customers, smaller ticket sizes where the risk of a missed instalment is manageable, or buyers who don't qualify for or don't want to go through a formal FI application. Because you control the interest rate and schedule entirely, HP is also the most flexible option — but that flexibility only helps if the schedule is actually calculated correctly (see the "how it works" guide for the reducing-balance math).

PayGo: for small, recurring, metered payments

PayGo fits situations closer to a utility bill than a loan: a smaller solar home system where the buyer pays an initial activation amount and then a recurring daily/weekly/monthly amount, often tied to token-based activation or mobile money auto-debit. It is the right fit when the ticket size is modest and the buyer's cash flow is naturally periodic (daily market income, weekly wages) rather than a single lump-sum capacity to pay a large deposit. It is the wrong fit for a large, one-off system purchase where a structured HP or FI plan would represent the actual repayment capacity better.

RBF: only where an actual subsidy programme exists

RBF is not a general financing option you can offer at will — it only applies where your shop has been linked to a specific, admin-approved subsidy programme (for example UECCC or EASP), and only while that plan remains active. When it does apply, it directly reduces the buyer's price rather than restructuring how they pay it — which makes it the strongest single tool for winning a price-sensitive buyer, but only within whatever programme and region it is scoped to. Sellers who qualify for a regional programme and don't check should specifically ask: is my shop actually linked to an active plan right now, since expiry is silent.

Example: matching financing to two different buyers

Consider two buyers, both illustrative: one is a small shopkeeper who wants a compact solar home system to keep lights and a phone charger running, with income that comes in daily. A PayGo structure — small deposit, small daily collection — matches how they actually receive money. The other buyer is a mid-sized business installing a much larger system, who wants a documented, bank-backed financing arrangement for their own accounting purposes. That buyer needs FI, not PayGo or HP — and if the seller hasn't completed an FI partnership application, that deal simply cannot be structured the way the buyer needs it, regardless of how good the seller's HP terms are.

What not to do

• Do not enable every financing type on every offer by default. A buyer comparing FI, HP, and PayGo options that don't actually fit their situation just sees a confusing quotation, not a generous one.
• Do not offer Hire Purchase to a buyer who is really asking for bank-backed financing. If they specifically want a lender's name behind the deal, HP does not substitute for FI, no matter how good your terms are.
• Do not assume RBF applies just because you've heard of the programme. It only works if your shop is actually linked to an active plan — check before promising a subsidised price.

Ready to review your own setup? See the financing overview guide or go straight to Financing Eligibility to check your FI partnership status.