What is a Payment Service Provider?
A Payment Service Provider (PSP) is a company that enables merchants to accept electronic payments including credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers, and digital wallets. PSPs typically bundle payment gateway, processing, and merchant account services into a single platform.
What PSPs Do
A PSP provides everything a business needs to accept electronic payments. Instead of setting up separate relationships with acquiring banks, payment processors, and gateway providers, a merchant can work with a single PSP that handles all of these functions.
Common PSP services include:
- Payment gateway for capturing card details
- Transaction processing and routing
- Merchant account for receiving funds
- Fraud detection and prevention
- Reporting and reconciliation tools
- Multi-currency support
PSP vs Payment Processor
A payment processor handles the technical routing of transactions. A PSP is broader — it provides the processor, the gateway, the merchant account, and often additional services like fraud tools and reporting. Think of a PSP as a one-stop shop for payments.
Types of PSP
Aggregators
Companies like Stripe and PayPal act as payment aggregators. They process transactions under their own merchant account, meaning businesses can start accepting payments immediately without setting up a dedicated merchant account.
Full-Service PSPs
Companies like Worldpay and Adyen provide dedicated merchant accounts along with processing, gateway, and value-added services. These are typically used by larger businesses with higher transaction volumes.
Paytia integrates with all major PSPs to add secure phone payment capability to existing payment setups. Whether a business uses Stripe, Worldpay, Adyen, or any other PSP, Paytia's DTMF suppression and channel separation technology can be layered on top to secure the telephone payment channel without changing the underlying PSP relationship.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a PSP and a payment gateway?
A payment gateway is one component of what a PSP offers. A PSP bundles the gateway with processing, merchant accounts, fraud tools, and reporting into a single service. A gateway alone only captures and encrypts payment data.
Do I need a PSP and Paytia?
Yes — they serve different purposes. Your PSP handles the payment processing (authorising and settling transactions). Paytia secures the phone payment channel by preventing card data from entering your contact centre. Paytia integrates with your existing PSP.
Which PSPs does Paytia work with?
Paytia integrates with over 30 PSPs and payment gateways including Stripe, Worldpay, Barclaycard, Adyen, PayPal, and many others. The integration is gateway-agnostic, so switching PSPs does not require changing your Paytia setup.
See how Paytia handles payment service provider (psp)
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