Payment Service Provider (PSP)

A payment service provider, or PSP as they are oftentimes called, is a company that accepts electronic payments for making purchases or money transfers. The PSP will connect to a bank, credit card company or a payment network and facilitate the transfer. The PSP might handle everything so that the merchant and the financial institution don’t have to worry about the connection.

Some people refer to the PSP as a payment gateway but the better definition is payment service provider. Some of the PSP companies will go beyond the basics and also offer other services like fraud protection, risk management, prepaid cards, etc.

You may not even realize that there are more than 900 payment service providers around the world. There are more than 300 that offer services for North America and Europe. Two of the most well known payment service providers are Neteller and Skill. They have been providing online payment methods for their customers for more than a decade.

The next time you transfer money online there is a very good chance you will be using a payment service provider. It might be one that has been around for a long time like Neteller or it might be one of the newer ones like ecoPayz or Ukash. Whatever your choice, it is nice to know that payment service providers allow customers to send and receive money online in a matter of moments.