Payment facilitator

Also called PayFac

A company that contracts with an acquirer on behalf of many smaller sellers, called sponsored merchants, so they can accept cards without an acquiring agreement of their own.

Visa’s rules define a payment facilitator as “an entity that contracts with an Acquirer to deposit Transactions, receive settlement from, or contract with an Acquirer on behalf of a Sponsored Merchant” (Visa Core Rules, 18 April 2026). The sponsored merchant is still a merchant in Visa’s sense. It accepts the card for its own sale, and its own name goes on the player’s statement.

For a studio, a facilitator speeds up onboarding because you sit under its acquiring agreement in place of negotiating your own. It does not take over the sale. VAT, sales tax, disputes and consumer law stay with the studio, as with any payment service provider. A merchant of record, by contrast, is the seller.

The acquirer is on the hook for the arrangement. Visa makes an acquirer that contracts with a payment facilitator “liable for all acts, omissions, and other adverse conditions” caused by the facilitator and its sponsored merchants. The MoR vs PSP guide sets out who carries what under each model.