Payments services providers — the landscape and where BazPay fits.
This page explains the four provider types most merchants in the EU, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand meet — full-service, gateway-only, acquirer-only and specialists — and how BazPay sits inside the landscape as a direct regional payment service provider for e-commerce and subscription merchants.
Built for e-commerce sellers, subscription software firms, professional-services businesses and digital publishers. One contract covers gateway, acquirer, tokenisation vault and payouts.
Why merchants consolidate on one direct provider
Every additional PSP a merchant contracts adds an integration, a contract and a reporting silo. Four benefits below explain why a single direct provider tends to win once monthly volume is worth reconciling line by line.
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One provider, several roles
BazPay covers the roles that a merchant would otherwise buy from four different online payment providers: gateway, acquirer, tokenisation vault and payout rails. One contract, one API, one dashboard.
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Direct with the acquirer
No reseller layer between you and the card networks. Named MID per merchant, interchange++ reporting and per-scheme settlement into your own local settlement account.
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Regional-native compliance posture
PCI DSS Level 1, authentication with automatic exemption logic and GDPR-scoped data handling. Payments services providers registered in-region carry the compliance profile most merchants in the EU, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand need by default.
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Scope discipline
BazPay boards merchants in the EU, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand only. That focus is why approvals hold steady across the book, and why your account is not diluted by other people's chargebacks.
Four provider types you will meet on a shortlist
The market conflates \"gateway\", \"processor\", \"acquirer\" and \"PSP\" as if they named the same product. They do not. Below is the plain-English map, and where BazPay sits inside it.
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Full-stack
Full-service payment service provider
Combines gateway, acquirer, tokenisation and payouts under one contract. BazPay operates as this type for the regional book — the platform every merchant on-boards against, with one API surface across every role. Fewer vendors, one signature scheme, one ledger to reconcile.
- Gateway
- Acquirer
- Vault
- Payouts
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Gateway-only
Gateway providers
Software layer that moves authorisation traffic between a merchant and an acquiring bank the merchant contracts separately. Useful when a merchant already holds acquiring but wants richer APIs and dashboards.
- Software layer
- Bring-your-own-MID
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Acquirer-only
Acquirer-only providers
Bank-side provider that holds scheme membership and settles the merchant but leaves the software layer to a separate gateway. Often paired with a gateway provider in a two-vendor stack.
- Scheme membership
- Settlement
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Specialists
Tokenisation, hub and payouts specialists
Point-solution providers that supply a single primitive — payment tokenisation service, payment hub routing or push-to-card payouts — as an add-on to whichever gateway or acquirer a merchant already runs. Useful for very specific gaps.
- Tokenisation
- Hub routing
- Payouts
For the buyer's comparison table across processors specifically, see payment processors. For the BazPay-specific positioning page, see payment provider.
A quick catalogue of merchant payment providers
A one-line map of the categories most merchants in the EU, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand encounter, and what each category typically ships. Use it as the outline of your shortlist rather than a directory.
| Category | Examples | What they ship |
|---|---|---|
| Direct regional acquirer + gateway | BazPay | One contract, one API |
| Gateway-only providers | Third-party PSPs pairing with your acquirer | Add a gateway atop your bank |
| Acquirer-only providers | Regional acquiring banks | Add scheme membership under a gateway |
| Tokenisation providers | Payment tokenization service providers | Vault card credentials on your behalf |
| Hub providers | Payment hub providers | Route across several acquirers you already contract |
| Wallet providers | Apple Pay, Google Pay | Ride card rails; not merchant-facing PSPs |
| E-money providers | Regional EMIs | Issue e-money accounts; usually not merchant acquirers |
Adjacent surfaces: merchant acquiring, network payment gateway, payment infrastructure and payment gateway services.
From shortlist to steady-state — six-stage onboarding
Six stages describe how a merchant moves from evaluating payments services providers to operating on one. Each stage has a named owner on both sides.
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Scope
Confirm which provider roles you actually need. A merchant on a modern regional stack rarely benefits from stitching four separate PSPs together.
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Underwrite
KYC and merchant review. Documents, ownership and revenue model checked against underwriting policy for your vertical.
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Provision
Named MID with the schemes, sandbox and live API credentials, dashboard access for your product, engineering and finance teams.
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Integrate
One REST endpoint, one webhook signing secret and hosted fields for the checkout. Existing plugins cover the four common regional commerce stacks.
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Migrate
If you are consolidating from several providers, vault imports, mandate handovers and webhook cutover are planned before the go-live date.
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Operate
Live keys enabled. Real-time analytics show approval quality from the first hour; rule changes and payout schedules stay self-service.
Features BazPay ships across every provider role
The eight capabilities below are the primitives most merchants would otherwise buy from several providers. Every one is on the standard integration — no premium tier that unlocks tokenisation or signed webhooks.
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REST API across roles
One endpoint creates a charge, a refund, a payout or a webhook subscription. The response object shape does not change between roles.
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Named MID per merchant
Your own merchant identifier at each scheme. Chargeback ratios and settlement reporting attributed to your entity, never diluted across a pool.
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Gateway vault + network tokens
Payment tokenisation service inside our PCI DSS Level 1 scope, with automatic PAN refresh via Visa and Mastercard network tokens.
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3-D Secure 2.2 engine
Authentication with automatic exemption logic on every card charge — frictionless first, challenge only when the rules earn it.
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Signed webhooks
HMAC-signed, replay-protected events for every state change across every role — approval, refund, dispute, payout and maintenance.
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SEPA and SEPA Instant
Direct participation for merchant payouts in supported corridors; SWIFT and push-to-card options available on approved routes.
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Interchange++ reporting
Every settled transaction breaks out interchange, scheme fees and gateway margin — the transparent alternative to blended vendor pricing.
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Mobile SDKs
iOS and Android SDKs render hosted fields, Apple Pay and Google Pay natively, sharing the web integration's charge object.
One API across every provider role
The charge object is the unit of work. One endpoint reaches acceptance, tokenisation and payouts. Idempotency keys make retries safe across every role, and signed webhooks confirm state changes across acceptance, billing and payouts on the same envelope.
POST /v1/charges
Idempotency-Key: 8f1c-2b3a-9e4d
{
"amount": 4990,
"currency": "EUR",
"payment_method": "card",
"capture": "auto",
"three_d_secure": "required_if_needed",
"descriptor": "ACME EU LTD",
"metadata": { "order_id": "ORD-10842" }
}The response returns a canonical charge object with the authorisation code, the MID it posted against, the interchange bucket and any exemption applied. Read the schema in the API reference.
Who BazPay underwrites as a payment services provider
Underwriting is scoped to four regional merchant profiles with predictable chargeback ratios and clean AML posture. If your model fits, boarding takes days.
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E-commerce sellers
DTC brands and multi-country storefronts running Shopware, Magento 2, WooCommerce or PrestaShop. One provider across every regional market.
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Subscription software
SaaS teams billing monthly and annual plans with card-on-file renewals, MIT exemptions and dunning-aware retries.
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Professional services
Agencies, consultancies and B2B service firms invoicing higher tickets with named-payer allow lists and enforced 3-D Secure 2.
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Digital publishers
Ebooks, courses, streaming and paywall unlocks reconciled per SKU on one MID.
Out of scope for BazPay: adult, gambling, CBD, nutraceutical, forex, CFD, crypto-exchange, debt-collection and MLM. BazPay is not a merchant of record, not a marketplace of third-party PSPs and not a cryptocurrency payment provider.
Security and compliance signals
The platform runs inside a PCI DSS Level 1 environment assessed each year. Hosted fields and gateway-side vaulting keep your annual return at merchant SAQ A. Authentication runs on every card charge with automatic exemption logic where the rules allow.
- PCI DSS Level 1
- Annual assessment on the acquiring and gateway environment
- Merchant SAQ A
- Hosted fields and gateway vault keep card data out of your stack
- Authentication
- 3-D Secure 2.2 with automatic exemption logic on every card charge
- GDPR
- In-region data residency; DPA on request
- SEPA / SEPA Instant
- Direct participation for merchant payouts in supported corridors
- Scheme registrations
- Visa VIRP and Mastercard SPoC/PCI-CP where required
Questions merchants ask about payments services providers
What is a payment service provider, and how many types are there?
A payment service provider is any regulated party that helps a merchant accept, hold or move funds. In practice, most merchants meet four flavours: full-service providers (gateway + acquirer + vault + payouts on one contract), gateway-only providers, acquirer-only providers and specialists (tokenisation, hub routing, payouts). BazPay operates as a full-service regional payment service provider for the book.
How do payments services providers differ from payment processors?
The terms overlap. A payment processor is the entity that moves an authorisation between merchant, scheme and issuer. A payment service provider is the broader wrapper that also handles onboarding, contracts, dashboards and reporting. BazPay is both — a direct processor and the payment services provider its merchants contract with — so there is no additional layer between the software and the scheme.
Where do card payment providers, e payment providers and electronic payment providers overlap?
Those terms are marketing labels for overlapping categories. "Card payment providers" typically means gateway + acquirer for card acceptance. "E payment" and "electronic payment providers" usually widen the scope to include APMs and bank rails. BazPay covers all three — one contract accepts cards, local payment methods, wallets and SEPA Instant account-to-account.
Does BazPay work as a payment tokenization service provider on its own?
Tokenisation ships inside the platform, not as a standalone service. Card credentials stored through BazPay are vaulted inside our PCI DSS Level 1 scope, refreshed via Visa and Mastercard network tokens and portable if you migrate. Merchants that need a tokenisation-only vendor decoupled from acquiring should look at a specialist provider.
Are you one of the payment hub providers?
No. Payment hub providers route traffic across several acquirers a merchant already contracts. BazPay is the acquirer for its regional book, so there is nothing above the processor to route around. That said, if a merchant runs BazPay for regional acquiring and another PSP elsewhere, our signed webhook stream and REST API integrate cleanly with any orchestrator on top.
Do you support cryptocurrency payment providers, freight audit and payment providers, or bill payment providers?
Cryptocurrency payment providers and freight-audit / freight-payment providers fall outside BazPay's scope — we do not board crypto-exchange merchants and we do not act as a merchant of record for freight settlement. Bill-payment models that fit regional underwriting — utility subscriptions, recurring invoices for services — are supported through recurring billing on the same platform.
Are mobile payment providers Denmark-specific corridors supported?
BazPay is a regional payment service provider and accepts card and wallet traffic across the SEPA Instant region, which includes Denmark. Apple Pay and Google Pay ride card rails through our iOS and Android SDKs. We do not board country-specific mobile carrier billing or make Denmark-specific approval-rate claims — the underwriting scope and rate structure are the same as for any regional merchant.
Which merchant profiles is BazPay for, as a payment services provider?
Merchants across the EU, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand only: e-commerce sellers, subscription software firms, professional-services businesses and digital publishers. Not in scope: adult, gambling, CBD, nutraceutical, forex, CFD, crypto-exchange, debt-collection or MLM. BazPay is not a merchant of record and not a marketplace of third-party PSPs.
Add BazPay to your provider shortlist
Share your business model, volumes and current provider stack. An integration manager will confirm boarding fit and rate structure within one working day. See also payment processors, merchant acquiring, payment fraud prevention and pricing.