# PSP (payment service provider)

https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/psp/

*Last updated: 2026-08-03*

An umbrella term for any company in the chain between a shopper and a merchant’s bank account — acquirers, gateways, aggregators and resellers all get called one. Because it covers all of them, it tells a merchant almost nothing on its own.

## Why it matters to a merchant

A useful umbrella and a useless answer. "We use a PSP" tells you nothing about who is licensed, who settles and who is on the hook when a payment goes wrong — those are three questions with three possible different answers, and the term covers all of them without distinguishing any. Treat it the way you would treat "software company" on a contract: fine as a category, not enough to sign against.

## Related terms

*Who does what*

- [Acquirer](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/acquirer/)
- [Issuer](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/issuer/)
- [Payment gateway](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/payment-gateway/)
- [Card scheme](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/card-scheme/)
- [Aggregator](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/aggregator/)
- [Reseller](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/reseller/)
- [Payment facilitator (PayFac)](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/payment-facilitator/)
- [Payment orchestration](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/payment-orchestration/)

- [All 74 terms](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/)

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