BNPL (buy now, pay later)
The shopper pays in instalments; the store is paid upfront, minus a fee.
What it is
Buy now, pay later lets a shopper split a purchase into instalments, usually four, while the provider (Klarna, Afterpay or Clearpay, Affirm, Zip, PayPal) pays the store upfront and carries the credit risk. Which providers you can offer depends on the market and on the country of your payment account.
Why it costs you money
The merchant fee is typically higher than a card fee, so it pays only where it lifts conversion or order value enough to cover the difference. In the UK, pay-later lending has been regulated by the FCA since 15 July 2026, which changes what checkout copy may say about it.
How to check it yourself
Start from your average order value and your main markets, not from a provider's pitch. Load the provider's messaging widget only on product and cart pages, and compare INP in field data before and after: those widgets are scripts like any other.