Paysera Review

Paysera is a Lithuanian electronic money institution, run from Vilnius, that combines a business payment account with online payment collection (Paysera Checkout), in-store card acceptance through its Paysera POS cash register, and an event ticketing platform. Its contracting company, Paysera LT, UAB, has held electronic money institution licence No. 1 from the Bank of Lithuania since 27 September 2012; the company says its story began in 2004. Pricing is published in full on its Lithuanian fees pages, in euros. As of October 2026, online card payments with EU-issued consumer cards cost 1.45% falling to 1.25% with volume, with a €0.15 minimum. Bank payments through Checkout Modern carry no Paysera commission in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and Checkout Classic bank-link payments cost 0.50% to 0.90% with a cap per payment. A business account costs €5 a month in most SEPA countries. There is no fixed contract, but card income is held in full for three days and 5% is kept for three months. Card processing is resold through a partner acquirer (the current terms name Adyen as an example). The Bank of Lithuania lists eight sanctions against Paysera LT, including a €370,000 anti-money-laundering fine from 2020 that Lithuania's top administrative court upheld in March 2026, a €400,000 fine in September 2025 and a €362,000 periodic fine in June 2026.

Estimated annual cost at three realistic processing volumes, using Paysera’s published online rate plus monthly fees. Real costs vary with average transaction size, chargeback rate, and any negotiated terms.

What Paysera is

Paysera is a Lithuanian fintech group whose main company, Paysera LT, UAB, is an electronic money institution supervised by the Bank of Lithuania. The company says its story began in Vilnius in 2004 with a three-person team, and the global LEI register (GLEIF) records the legal entity's creation on 13 October 2004, and that in 2012 it became the first e-money institution licensed in Lithuania. The Bank of Lithuania's register confirms licence No. 1, valid from 27 September 2012, and gives the address as Pilaitės pr. 16, Vilnius. As of October 2026, Justina Šidlauskienė is chief executive. Paysera is privately held, and we found no outside investor in it.

Paysera's own scale figures do not agree with each other. Its About page says it has about 400,000 clients and over 700 employees, and that clients made more than 10.6 million transfers worth over €12.1 billion in 2024. A July 2026 press release mentions more than 1.5 million active customers. Its Checkout page claims more than 14,500 e-commerce merchants, €35.5 billion in total processed volume and €1.52 billion collected through Checkout. We report these as the company's claims.

The group has been building its own infrastructure. In 2025 it bought Contis, the Lithuanian e-money institution that issued its Visa cards, after Contis said it would stop operating; that purchase led to a regulatory fine, described below. Contis became a direct Visa principal member in February 2026, and Paysera LT became a direct Visa issuing principal member in July 2026.

Why we list Paysera as a payment facilitator

For bank payments, Paysera runs its own payment-initiation service. For cards, it does not acquire in its own right. Its card-collection terms describe the service as card processing 'resold by Paysera' through an Acquirer, naming Adyen N.V. as an example, and the Paysera POS agreement names Adyen as its partner. The merchant signs Paysera's general agreement and its card supplement, not a separate acquirer contract. Paysera onboards the merchant, sets the published price, holds the reserve and pays funds into the merchant's Paysera account. A merchant that reaches €1,000,000 a year on one card brand may be asked to sign directly with the acquirer. That is how a payment facilitator works. We considered bank_payments, given the 0% bank-link offer and the account, but card acceptance is where the merchant agreement matters most, and there Paysera is the facilitator.

What it costs

Paysera publishes its pricing on a country site, and the figures here come from the Lithuanian English-language pages (paysera.lt, en-LT), in euros, as read in October 2026. Other Paysera countries have their own price lists, and the international paysera.com site blocked our requests. Business-account, POS and terminal prices are shown 'plus VAT'. The transaction fee tables do not mention VAT.

• Online cards: EU consumer cards 1.45% falling to 1.25%, EU business cards 2.40% to 2.20%, non-EU cards 2.90% to 2.50%, non-EU business cards 2.90% to 2.70%, with a €0.15 minimum. Tiers are based on the last 30 days, and above 750 payments or €37,500 a special offer applies.
• Bank payments: 0% Paysera commission through Checkout Modern in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (bank fees still apply); Checkout Modern is open only to businesses registered in those three countries. Checkout Classic costs 0.90% with a €0.10 minimum and €0.40 maximum, falling to 0.50% with a €0.30 maximum.
• Shopify: an extra 0.50% on top of the card or bank fee. Paysera Tickets: an extra 2% platform fee.
• Card extras: no activation fee; refunds free the same day, €0.50 the next day; €30 per chargeback; €18 for 'collaboration processing'.
• In store (Paysera POS): EEA cards 0.95% + €0.02 falling to 0.70% + €0.02, non-EEA cards 2% to 1.9% + €0.02, business cards 2.15% to 2.45% + €0.02. Basic plan €20/month, Smart €35/month, terminal rental €12/month, all + VAT.
• Business account: free to open for SEPA-registered companies; €5 a month in most SEPA countries, including 30 transfers; €0.30 per SEPA transfer after that, €0.35 from 1 January 2027.

As an illustration, take a Lithuanian e-shop with €10,000 a month in sales: 100 payments averaging €50 by EU consumer cards and 100 averaging €50 by bank. We assume the card tier counts card payments only (the price list does not say whether card and bank volumes are combined), which puts the shop at 1.40%, so card fees come to €70. Bank payments through Checkout Modern cost nothing in Paysera commission. Through Checkout Classic, the same 100 payments at 0.90% would come to €0.45 each, but the €0.40 cap brings that down to €40. Add the €5 account fee, and the shop pays Paysera about €75 a month through Checkout Modern, or €115 through Classic, before any bank fees. The saving depends on persuading buyers to pay by bank.

How payouts and reserves work

Every payment lands in your Paysera account rather than an outside bank, and you then move it out yourself, by SEPA Instant if you need it quickly. The Paysera POS agreement says in-store card payments are credited within one calendar day of confirmation, although Paysera may keep a security deposit against chargebacks. For online card payments, the fees page says each payment is reserved in full for three days and 5% for three months, and that a different term and percentage may apply depending on the project. The card terms allow longer holds: up to 5 business days when a transaction needs verification, up to 180 days when a refund claim is made or threatened, and, with no time limit stated, where money laundering is suspected (clauses 17.1–17.3). The card supplement in force from 1 September 2026 also allows a variable reserve, set with the acquirer, that may be released over about six months after you leave, or kept until all potential liabilities are settled. For bank-link payments, the 2020 online-collection supplement lets Paysera set an individual reserve, apply temporary holds, and freeze collected payments for up to 180 days. A business that needs card income paid out within a day or two should plan around this.

Contract terms

There is no fixed term or termination fee in the general business agreement, which has been in force since 12 September 2025. You can leave on 30 days' written notice. Paysera can end the agreement without giving a reason on 60 days' notice, and it must give 60 days' notice of changes to the agreement. The card supplement is stricter than most. It sets a 0.5% chargeback threshold, makes the merchant indemnify Paysera against card-scheme fines 'irrelevant whether the penalty charge is justified', and imposes a contractual penalty of up to €25,000 for each material breach. A rented POS terminal cannot be returned in its first six months. Card acceptance is open only to businesses registered in the EU.

Regulatory record

The Bank of Lithuania's register lists eight sanctions against Paysera LT. The earliest are a warning in 2014, an €11,674 fine in 2015 and, in 2017, a suspension of the manager. In November 2020 the bank fined Paysera €370,000 after an inspection found anti-money-laundering failings. Lithuanian broadcaster LRT reports that a lower court cut the fine to €200,000 and that the Supreme Administrative Court restored the full €370,000 in March 2026, in a final ruling. In July 2026 Paysera filed an individual complaint with Lithuania's Constitutional Court, arguing that the law does not say clearly how fines for several breaches found in one inspection should be combined. In September 2022 a €100,000 fine followed for not fully fixing the 2020 findings.

In September 2025 the bank fined Paysera €400,000 for buying 100% of the card issuer Finansinės paslaugos Contis before the legal assessment period ended and without the bank's approval, and for filing annual financial statements and other reports late. Paysera said it bought Contis to keep about 165,000 clients' Visa cards working after Contis announced it would stop operating, called the fine disproportionate and said it would appeal. In November 2025 the bank fined it a further €25,000 for not meeting the resulting orders. In June 2026 it added a €362,000 periodic fine, counted for each day from 7 November 2025 until Paysera filed its 2024 annual reports on 6 May 2026. Paysera blamed an accounting-system migration and again said it would go to court. LRT also reports that in May 2026 the bank found Paysera had taken excessive risk investing client funds and ordered it to adopt a lower-risk strategy by the end of the year. None of these actions shut the business, but the pattern is long and recent.

Reputation

As of 29 October 2026, Paysera's Trustpilot profile shows a TrustScore of 4.3 from 6,439 reviews. The distribution is more divided than the score suggests: 66% five-star and 25% one-star. The profile is claimed, and Paysera replies to 98% of negative reviews. The most recent one-star reviews, from October 2026, describe accounts restricted or closed during verification, restrictions lasting a week or more, and repeated document requests. That fits the regulatory history: a company under pressure from its supervisor is likely to be strict with compliance reviews, and merchants pay for it in frozen balances.

Who should use Paysera

Paysera suits a small EU-registered business, especially in the Baltics, that wants low published rates, an account that doubles as its business bank, and a checkout that can push customers to free bank payments. It also suits a Lithuanian shop that needs an i.EKA-compliant cash register with card acceptance at a modest monthly price. It is a weaker fit for a business that needs fast card payouts, sells across borders to many non-EU cardholders, or works in a sector that attracts enhanced due diligence. Paysera's terms and recent reviews show that compliance holds can last weeks. If you do sign up, keep a second account elsewhere so a review does not stop your business.