Paysera

Paysera is a Lithuanian electronic money institution that started in 2004 with three employees and now reports about 400,000 clients and a team of more than 700 spread over 30-plus countries. Its licensed company, Paysera LT, UAB, has held an e-money licence from the Bank of Lithuania since September 2012 under authorisation code LB000251, and offers services in other EU states without branches. Paysera calls itself the largest e-money institution in Lithuania.

For merchants the main product is Paysera Checkout, a hosted payment window for online shops. Buyers can pay by Visa, Mastercard or Maestro, with Apple Pay or Google Pay, from a Paysera wallet, or straight from their bank through payment initiation, where Baltic banks such as SEB, Swedbank, Luminor and Citadele appear next to Revolut. Cash at partner desks and bank transfers are also accepted. Free plug-ins cover about 20 platforms, including WooCommerce, PrestaShop, OpenCart, Magento and Shopify, and there is an API. Every merchant needs a Paysera account, which also works as a multi-currency business account with transfers and currency exchange, and there is a ticketing service for events.

Pricing is published and falls with volume. The gateway fee is 0.90% per payment, with a €0.10 minimum and €0.40 maximum, for up to 250 payments or €12,500 in 30 days, then 0.75% and 0.50%; beyond 750 payments terms are negotiated. Bank payments through the newer checkout carry no Paysera commission in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Shopify stores pay an extra 0.50%, and Georgia, Albania and Kosovo have their own rates.

Paysera suits small and mid-sized online shops in the Baltics and wider Europe that want a business account and an inexpensive bank-payment checkout in one place. Card acceptance is only open to businesses registered in the EU. Business accounts are offered in about 70 countries, but Paysera turns away clients linked to sanctioned states such as Russia and Belarus and applies extra checks to several others.