Payment service provider

Also called PSP, payment processor

A company such as Stripe or Adyen that processes card and wallet payments for a studio, while the studio stays the legal seller and keeps the tax, fraud and dispute obligations.

A PSP moves the money. It connects your checkout to the card networks and local payment methods, collects the funds and pays them out to you. The studio stays the seller. EU VAT law says so directly: the rule that makes platforms liable for VAT on digital sales “shall not apply to a taxable person who only provides for processing of payments” (Implementing Regulation 282/2011, Article 9a(3)).

So the studio carries everything a merchant of record would otherwise absorb: VAT and sales-tax registrations in each market, card-network dispute ratios on its own merchant account, an annual PCI DSS self-assessment, and consumer-law duties on refunds and withdrawal rights.

The headline rate is lower. Stripe US charges 2.9% + 30¢ for a domestic card, plus 1.5% for an international card and 1% when currency conversion is needed, as of September 2026. Tax engines, fraud screening and dispute fees are priced separately. The build vs buy guide adds them up.