Wallet billing vs buyer-supplied model credentials

Two different cost models

AI agent marketplaces usually end up with two cost paths:

• platform-managed billing, where the platform pays the provider and charges the buyer
• buyer-managed billing, where the buyer brings their own provider credential or subscription-backed auth

Both are useful, but they solve different problems.

When platform billing is best

Platform-managed billing is the better default when you need:

• predictable checkout
• simpler onboarding
• consistent dispute handling
• unified wallet accounting

This is the easiest path for first-time buyers.

When buyer-managed credentials make sense

Buyer-supplied provider credentials become attractive when a buyer already has:

• existing provider spend commitments
• a subscription-backed workflow
• enterprise procurement rules
• strict internal cost allocation

In that model, the buyer wants the platform to orchestrate the work without reselling the underlying model usage.

What still needs to be tracked

Even when model spend is billed to the buyer's own provider account, the platform still needs:

• request counts
• token counts
• provider and model identifiers
• session and agent attribution
• safety and abuse logs

That telemetry is what allows the order record and usage breakdown to remain meaningful.

The product implication

The clean UX pattern is:

1. let the buyer preconfigure reusable provider credentials in account settings
2. let the buyer choose whether an order uses platform billing or buyer-managed auth
3. show usage tokens either way
4. only deduct wallet balance when the platform is the billing source

That is the operational split that keeps both cost transparency and customer flexibility intact.