Pay by Link for Merchants

Payment Links for Business: How Pay by Link Works, Costs and Security

Payment links give businesses a way to take an online payment without asking the customer to navigate through a traditional ecommerce checkout.

A business creates a secure payment request and sends the customer a link by channels such as:

• SMS
• Email
• Messaging service
• Invoice
• Customer portal

The customer opens the link, enters their own payment details on a hosted payment page and completes the transaction.

This sounds simple, and it can be.

But payment links become much more interesting when they are used to solve specific payment problems.

For example:

• A salesperson is speaking to a customer on the telephone but does not want to take card details verbally.
• A double-glazing company needs to collect a £2,000 deposit.
• A debt collection agency wants a customer to make an agreed payment while remaining on the telephone with an agent.
• A furniture company needs to collect the balance on a bespoke order.
• A travel company needs to take a remote booking payment.
• A healthcare business needs to collect a treatment balance.
• A B2B supplier needs to attach a payment request to an invoice.
• A recurring-payment business wants the first customer transaction to happen through a secure online journey.

For larger businesses, payment links can also become part of a much wider payment infrastructure involving APIs, automated payment requests, CRM integrations, reconciliation and different payment methods.

This guide explains how Pay by Link works, how it differs from MOTO and virtual terminals, what businesses should compare between providers and how high-volume merchants can use payment links more strategically.

Find Your New Processor

Quick answer: What is a payment link?

A payment link is a URL that directs the customer to a hosted online payment page.

Depending on the provider, the business may be able to pre-populate information such as:

• Amount
• Customer reference
• Invoice number
• Order number
• Description

The customer then completes the payment using the methods supported by that provider.

Payment links do not necessarily require the merchant to have an ecommerce website.

GOV.UK Pay, for example, describes payment links as payment pages that can be shared through emails, websites, letters and other channels, with the option to pre-fill the payment amount and reference. 

Commercial providers offer similar concepts, although functionality, pricing and accepted merchant types vary.

How does Pay by Link work?

A typical payment-link transaction looks like this:

1. The business creates the payment request

This could be done manually through:

• Payment-provider dashboard
• Virtual terminal
• Mobile application
• CRM
• Accounting software

or automatically through an API.

2. Information is attached to the payment

For example:

Amount: £2,500
Reference: JOB-18272
Description: Window installation deposit

3. The link is sent to the customer

This might be sent by:

• SMS
• Email
• Customer portal
• Invoice

Some businesses also generate QR codes that direct the customer to the payment page.

4. The customer opens the link

Instead of giving their card number to an employee, the customer enters the information directly into the provider's hosted checkout.

5. Authentication and fraud checks take place

Depending on the transaction and provider, this can include:

• 3D Secure
• Issuer authentication
• Fraud screening
• Address or device information

6. The transaction is authorised

The customer's bank either approves or declines the transaction.

7. The business receives confirmation

Depending on the integration, this can appear in:

• Merchant dashboard
• Email
• CRM
• Accounting system
• Order-management platform

8. The payment settles

The acquiring provider settles the transaction according to the merchant's agreed settlement terms.

Find Your New Processor

Payment link versus MOTO: what is the difference?

This is one of the most useful distinctions for businesses taking payments over the telephone.

MOTO payment

MOTO means Mail Order / Telephone Order.

A typical telephone payment looks like:

customer reads card details → employee enters them into a virtual terminal → transaction is submitted as MOTO

The customer is not completing an ecommerce checkout themselves.

Telephone-initiated MOTO payments are generally treated as outside the Strong Customer Authentication requirement because the payment is initiated through telephone rather than an electronic customer journey. 

Payment link

A payment-link journey can instead be:

employee agrees payment with customer → SMS sent → customer opens secure checkout → customer enters own card details → online payment completed

That creates an ecommerce transaction rather than a MOTO transaction.

3D Secure and other online authentication tools can therefore be used where applicable.

Example

A customer calls a travel company to make a £4,000 booking.

Rather than asking:

“Can you read me the long number on the front of your card?”

the agent can say:

“I'm sending you a secure payment link now. I'll stay on the line while you complete it.”

The customer remains supported by the salesperson but completes the payment themselves.

That can be a very useful combination of human-assisted sale + digital payment.

Is Pay by Link safer than taking card details over the phone?

It can offer advantages, but businesses should avoid simplistic claims that payment links eliminate fraud or chargebacks.

A hosted payment page can mean that staff do not need to see or manually enter the customer's card details.

It may also allow:

• 3D Secure
• Provider fraud tools
• Customer authentication
• Digital transaction records

However, the security depends on:

• Payment provider
• How the link is generated
• How it is sent
• Checkout configuration
• Merchant account
• Customer authentication
• Internal processes

A payment link is not automatically fraud-proof.

Businesses should also protect customers against fake or altered payment links by using clear communications and recognisable payment pages.

Do payment links reduce PCI DSS requirements?

They can change the merchant's PCI DSS scope, depending on implementation.

Where the entire payment page is provided by a PCI DSS-compliant third-party provider and the merchant meets all the relevant eligibility requirements, the business may qualify for a simpler PCI DSS self-assessment route such as SAQ A.

The PCI Security Standards Council makes clear that this depends on the whole implementation: all payment-page elements must originate from compliant service providers and the merchant must meet the other SAQ eligibility requirements. 

So the correct statement is not:

“Payment links remove PCI compliance.”

They do not.

A better description is:

“A properly hosted payment-link solution can reduce the amount of cardholder data handled directly by the merchant and may simplify its PCI DSS environment.”

The business should confirm its individual PCI requirements with its payment provider or qualified adviser.

Payment links and 3D Secure

Payment-link transactions are normally online transactions.

Depending on the provider, acquirer and transaction, 3D Secure can therefore form part of the payment journey.

3D Secure can allow the customer's card issuer to authenticate the payment.

This is particularly useful for remote payments where the merchant might otherwise have taken the card through a virtual terminal as MOTO.

However:

payment link does not automatically mean every transaction receives a 3D Secure challenge.

The actual authentication flow depends on the transaction, provider, issuer and applicable SCA rules.

Find Your New Processor

Payment link versus virtual terminal

These terms are sometimes confused because payment-link functionality often sits inside a virtual-terminal portal.

They are not the same payment journey.

Virtual terminal

The merchant enters the customer's card information.

Useful for:

• MOTO
• Telephone orders
• Certain manual transactions

Payment link

The merchant creates the request but the customer enters the payment information.

Useful for:

• Telephone-assisted sales
• Remote deposits
• Invoice payments
• Final balances
• Customer self-service

A business may use both.

The question is which journey is appropriate for each type of transaction.

Payment links for telephone sales

I think this is one of the strongest use cases for Pay by Link.

Telephone sales businesses often assume they have only two choices:

take the card over the phone

or:

send the customer away to find the website

Payment links provide a third option.

The salesperson can remain involved in the transaction while the customer completes the payment securely.

For example:

sales conversation → price agreed → payment link texted → customer pays → agent receives confirmation → order continues

This can be useful for:

• Travel
• Home improvements
• Furniture
• Appliance cover
• Professional services
• Healthcare
• Debt collection
• B2B sales
• Reservations and bookings

Find Your New Processor

MAS insight: Moving the payment online does not mean moving the sale online

This is an important distinction.

A business may rely heavily on human interaction because the product is:

• Complicated
• Expensive
• Bespoke
• Sensitive
• Regulated

That does not mean the employee has to collect the customer's card details.

The customer can still speak to:

• Salesperson
• Adviser
• Collection agent
• Receptionist
• Account manager

while the payment itself happens through an online authenticated journey.

For some businesses, that is a much more realistic digital-payment strategy than building a full ecommerce checkout.

Taking deposits by payment link

Payment links can work particularly well for deposits.

For example:

Double glazing

Customer agrees the specification and receives a secure link for the contract deposit.

Bespoke furniture

Customer approves the design and receives a payment request for the production deposit.

Travel

Customer agrees the itinerary and receives a booking-payment link.

Events

Customer pays the agreed reservation deposit.

Professional services

Client pays an initial retainer or agreed invoice.

The merchant should still make sure:

• Deposit terms are clear
• Refund terms are clear
• The transaction is properly referenced
• The provider accepts the merchant's industry
• Future-delivery exposure has been disclosed

Using a payment link does not change the underlying acquiring risk.

Payment links for final balances

A second strong use case is collecting the remaining balance.

For example:

installation completed → invoice raised → customer receives payment link → payment completes → job automatically marked paid

This can be easier to reconcile than telling the customer:

“Please bank transfer the remaining £4,270 using your surname as the reference.”

A well-integrated payment link can carry a unique reference so the payment is automatically matched against:

• Customer
• Order
• Job
• Booking
• Invoice
• Account

Payment links for high-value transactions

Payment links can be used for high-value payments where the merchant account and provider support the transaction size.

However, a £10,000 online transaction may behave differently from a £30 ecommerce purchase.

Large payments can be declined because of:

• Available funds
• Credit limit
• Issuer fraud controls
• Authentication
• Unusual transaction value

The correct response is not necessarily to keep retrying the card.

The business may need to:

• Understand the decline
• Ask the customer to contact their issuer
• Offer another card
• Offer an appropriate bank-payment route
• Agree a genuine staged-payment structure where relevant

Businesses should not split one transaction into smaller card payments simply to bypass provider limits or issuer controls.

Find Your New Processor

Can a payment link offer card and Pay by Bank?

Potentially.

Payment link describes the way the customer reaches the payment page.

Pay by Bank describes a payment method.

They are therefore not competing concepts.

A payment page could potentially offer the customer choices such as:

• Debit card
• Credit card
• Digital wallet
• Bank payment

depending on the provider.

This can be particularly useful for large-value transactions.

A customer paying a £7,000 final balance might prefer a bank payment, while another may want to use a credit card.

Offering both through a structured payment request can improve choice and reconciliation.

Payment-initiation services used for account-to-account payments are regulated payment services in the UK. 

Payment links and digital wallets

Some payment-link providers can also support wallets such as:

• Apple Pay
• Google Pay

This can shorten the customer journey where the wallet is already configured on the customer's device.

However, wallet support varies between providers and acquiring arrangements.

Do not assume a payment link automatically includes every payment method.

Can you use a payment link without a website?

Yes.

This is one of the major benefits.

A business does not necessarily need:

• Ecommerce store
• Shopping basket
• Checkout page
• Web developer

to take an online payment.

The payment provider hosts the payment page.

For example, GOV.UK Pay explicitly allows organisations to create payment links without operating a separate digital service. 

This can make payment links useful for:

• Trades
• Consultants
• Professional services
• Telephone-sales businesses
• B2B invoicing
• Small businesses
• Businesses moving away from MOTO

Payment links and invoices

A payment link can be placed inside an invoice or invoice email.

For example:

Invoice total: £1,847.50
Reference: INV-38279
Pay securely online

The payment page can then carry the same reference.

This can significantly improve reconciliation where the provider or gateway passes that reference back into accounting software.

For larger businesses, payment-link integration can potentially automate:

invoice created → payment link generated → customer pays → transaction confirmed → invoice marked paid

rather than relying on manual checking.

Fixed-value versus open-value links

Different providers offer different payment-link models.

Fixed-value payment link

The merchant specifies the amount.

For example:

£750 deposit

The customer cannot alter the figure.

This is useful for:

• Deposits
• Invoices
• Agreed balances

Customer-entered amount

The customer chooses what to pay.

This can be useful where the customer knows the appropriate amount or is making a voluntary or variable payment.

Reusable payment link

Some providers allow a general payment page to be used repeatedly.

Single-use link

Others can generate unique links intended for one customer or transaction.

For businesses taking high volumes, unique references and controlled amounts can make reconciliation considerably easier.

Can payment links expire?

Depending on the provider, yes.

Businesses should ask:

• Does the link expire?
• Can the merchant choose the expiry time?
• Can an expired link be reactivated?
• What happens if the invoice amount changes?
• Can a paid link be reused?
• Can the merchant cancel a link?

This becomes especially important where payment links are sent for time-sensitive:

• Bookings
• Deposits
• Reservations
• Settlement offers
• Quotes

Find Your New Processor

Can payment links be used for recurring payments?

This needs an important distinction.

A payment link itself is not the recurring payment.

However, some providers can use an initial online transaction to securely establish a stored-card credential or token that can subsequently support an agreed recurring-payment arrangement.

A possible journey is:

customer receives link → completes first authenticated payment → agrees recurring authority → card token stored by provider → later payments processed according to agreement

This can be useful for:

• Memberships
• Subscriptions
• Appliance cover
• Treatment plans
• Service agreements

But the provider must support the recurring-payment model and the merchant must obtain appropriate customer consent.

The FCA states that recurring card-payment consent should be clear, specific and informed, including enough information about the amount and frequency for the customer to understand what they are agreeing to. 

Businesses should not assume that because they have taken one payment by link they automatically have permission to continue charging the card.

MAS insight: The first payment can be the foundation of a better recurring-payment journey

This is particularly relevant to businesses currently taking the initial customer payment by telephone.

Instead of:

customer gives card number → employee enters MOTO payment → card details manually handled again later

a better setup might be:

customer receives secure link → first online payment completed → card token created where appropriate → future authorised recurring payments use the stored credential

This can potentially improve:

• Customer experience
• Card-data handling
• Authentication
• Payment records
• Recurring-payment administration

The exact implementation depends on the provider and merchant model.

Failed payments and retries

Payment links can also form part of a failed-payment recovery strategy.

For example, if a recurring payment fails because the customer needs to update their card:

recurring payment declines → customer receives secure update/payment link → new card entered → customer completes payment → token updated where supported

This is preferable to repeatedly attempting a payment that is unlikely to succeed.

Businesses should distinguish between:

• Recoverable declines
• Hard declines
• Expired cards
• Authentication-required responses
• Cancelled authority

rather than applying one blanket retry rule.

Pay by Link and chargebacks

Payment links do not remove chargeback risk.

Customers may still dispute payments because of:

• Transaction not recognised
• Goods not received
• Services not provided
• Refund dispute
• Cancellation
• Alleged fraud
• Product not as described

However, a well-designed online payment journey can give the merchant useful transaction evidence such as:

• Payment timestamp
• Customer reference
• Authentication information
• Order reference
• Confirmation communications

That evidence may be useful in a dispute, but it does not guarantee that a chargeback will be successfully defended.

Good fulfilment and customer service remain essential.

Fraud risks with payment links

Businesses should also understand that payment links introduce their own risks.

Fraudsters can create fake links or impersonate legitimate businesses.

A merchant should therefore consider:

• Recognisable sender details
• Branded payment page
• HTTPS
• Clear transaction description
• Customer reference
• Confirmation message
• Staff controls over who can create links

Customers should never be encouraged to ignore warnings from their bank simply because a business sent them a payment URL.

Who should be allowed to create payment links?

For a small company, one owner may control the payment portal.

For a large organisation, different employees may need access.

Useful controls can include:

• Individual user accounts
• Role-based permissions
• Maximum transaction amounts
• Audit trail
• Approval for refunds
• Link cancellation
• Reporting by employee or team

This can be particularly relevant in:

• Call centres
• Multi-site businesses
• Sales teams
• Debt collection
• Travel
• Professional services

Integrating payment links into a CRM

Payment links become considerably more powerful when they are not created manually.

For example:

salesperson clicks “request payment” in CRM → amount and customer reference populated → link automatically sent → customer pays → CRM updates to paid

This can reduce:

• Manual data entry
• Payment errors
• Unmatched transactions
• Staff administration

The payment provider may support this through:

• API
• Webhooks
• Existing CRM plugin
• Automation platform

GOV.UK Pay, as one public example, supports both payment-link reporting and API-based payment integration. 

Payment links and accounting reconciliation

For finance teams, the important question is not only:

“Did we receive the payment?”

It is:

“Which invoice, customer or job does this £1,487 belong to?”

A good payment-link implementation should therefore allow the business to pass useful references.

These might include:

• Invoice number
• Order ID
• Customer ID
• Booking reference
• Case number
• Property/job reference

That information can potentially flow into:

• Accounting software
• CRM
• ERP
• Booking system
• Case-management platform

At scale, that can save much more than a small difference in transaction pricing.

Find Your New Processor

Which businesses can benefit from payment links?

Payment links can be particularly useful where a business has a customer ready to pay but no conventional ecommerce checkout.

Examples include:

Double glazing and home improvement

For:

• Deposits
• Staged payments
• Final balances

Debt collection

For:

• Agent-assisted payments
• One-off settlements
• Failed recurring-payment recovery

Travel

For:

• Booking deposits
• Balances
• Telephone-assisted bookings

Furniture and bespoke goods

For:

• Production deposits
• Made-to-order balances

Healthcare

For:

• Treatment balances
• Remote payments

Legal and professional services

For:

• Invoices
• Retainers
• Account payments

Funeral services

For:

• Family payments
• Balances
• Sensitive remote transactions

Appliance cover and warranty

For:

• Initial payments
• Customer card updates
• Recurring-payment setup

B2B suppliers

For:

• Invoice payments
• Remote card transactions
• Account balances

High-turnover businesses: payment links become infrastructure

For a business sending a few payment links each month, a simple dashboard may be enough.

For a business sending thousands, the questions change.

A high-volume merchant should understand:

• How many links are generated
• How many are opened
• How many result in payment
• Payment authorisation rate
• Decline reasons
• Average transaction value
• Time from link to payment
• Expired links
• Duplicate payment risk
• Card versus alternative payment method use
• Payment cost
• Settlement
• Refunds
• Chargebacks
• Reconciliation

The business may also need:

• Automated link creation
• CRM integration
• Customer-specific links
• API access
• Webhooks
• Multiple merchant IDs
• Multiple currencies
• Payment routing
• Advanced reporting

At this point, Pay by Link becomes part of the merchant's payment architecture, not simply a convenient button inside a virtual terminal.

Find Your New Processor

MAS insight: Measure payment-link completion, not just transactions processed

A business may send 10,000 payment links during a month.

If 6,000 result in successful payments, the useful question is:

What happened to the other 4,000?

Some customers may:

• Never open the link
• Open but abandon
• Experience a decline
• Fail authentication
• Use another payment method
• Require follow-up

For high-volume merchants, understanding this funnel can identify operational problems.

A cheaper gateway does not necessarily save money if the payment journey completes less successfully.

Processing high volumes through payment links?

This is where MAS can look beyond simply finding a provider offering Pay by Link.

For established merchants, we can consider:

Cost

• Acquiring pricing
• Gateway charges
• Fixed transaction fees
• International-card costs

Payment performance

• Authorisation rates
• Decline reasons
• 3D Secure performance
• Failed-payment recovery

Customer journey

• SMS versus email
• Hosted checkout
• Digital wallets
• Alternative payment methods

Integration

• CRM
• Booking systems
• Accounting software
• ERP
• Case-management software

Reconciliation

• Invoice references
• Customer references
• Job IDs
• Automated payment matching

Settlement

• Settlement period
• Currencies
• Reserve

Recurring payments

• Initial customer authentication
• Tokenisation
• Stored credentials
• Card updating
• Failed-payment journeys

High-volume Pay by Link user? Ask MAS to review the setup

If your business already processes significant payment-link volumes, send MAS:

• Three recent merchant statements
• Current gateway/provider
• Monthly payment-link volume
• Successful payment volume
• Average transaction value
• Current processing costs
• Gateway costs
• Authorisation rate, if available
• Main decline reasons
• Current settlement period
• Payment methods offered
• CRM or accounting system
• Recurring-payment requirements
• Customer countries and currencies

We can then look at:

cost + payment completion + authentication + recurring payments + integration + reconciliation

rather than simply comparing one transaction rate with another.

Find Your New Processor

How much does Pay by Link cost?

There is no universal Pay by Link fee.

Costs can include:

• Merchant acquiring charge
• Fixed transaction fee
• Gateway fee
• Monthly platform fee
• International-card charges
• Currency-conversion costs
• Refund fees
• Chargeback fees

Some providers include payment links within their standard gateway package.

Others have different pricing structures.

Businesses should therefore compare total cost, not simply whether the provider advertises payment links as “free”.

Choosing a payment-link provider

Rather than asking:

“Who has Pay by Link?”

ask:

“Whose payment-link setup fits how our customers actually pay?”

Compare:

Merchant sector

Will the underlying acquirer accept your business?

Payment methods

Does the link support the methods you need?

3D Secure

How is authentication handled?

Branding

Can customers clearly recognise who they are paying?

Link controls

Can you:

• Set amounts
• Set references
• Cancel links
• Set expiry
• Prevent reuse

Integrations

Is there:

• API
• Webhook
• CRM integration
• Accounting integration

Recurring payments

Can the initial transaction establish a stored credential where appropriate?

Reporting

Can payments be traced back to:

• Customer
• Invoice
• Job
• Booking

Settlement

How quickly do funds arrive?

Pricing

What is the true cost across the merchant's real transaction mix?

Payment link versus ecommerce checkout

Businesses sometimes ask whether a payment link can replace an ecommerce website.

Sometimes it can.

A merchant selling a small number of services may not need a shopping cart at all.

For example:

consultation booked → invoice raised → link sent → payment completed

For a retailer with:

• Hundreds of products
• Stock management
• Basket
• Shipping options
• Customer accounts

a normal ecommerce checkout will probably make much more sense.

Payment links are best thought of as another payment channel, not automatically a replacement for ecommerce.

Find Your New Processor

Payment links versus QR codes

A QR code can simply be another way of delivering the link.

Instead of clicking an SMS or email, the customer scans the QR code and opens the hosted payment page.

This can work for:

• Printed invoices
• Bills
• Events
• Reception desks
• Posters
• Face-to-face service businesses

The underlying payment is still an online transaction.

What should you send MAS with a Pay by Link enquiry?

A useful initial enquiry includes:

• Company name
• Website
• Business sector
• Monthly card turnover
• Number of transactions
• Average transaction value
• Maximum transaction value
• How customers currently pay
• Current provider
• Current gateway
• Whether payments are taken by telephone
• Number of payment links expected each month
• Whether recurring payments are required
• CRM/accounting platform
• Customer countries
• Currencies
• Any previous payment-provider decline or termination

The more complex the setup, the more important it is to understand the complete payment journey before approaching providers.

How Merchant Advice Service helps with payment links

Merchant Advice Service helps businesses identify payment providers and gateways that match their actual requirements.

MAS may help with:

Moving telephone payments online

For businesses looking to reduce reliance on MOTO and allow customers to enter card details themselves.

Remote deposits and balances

Including businesses taking:

• Deposits
• Large balances
• Invoice payments

Recurring-payment journeys

Where the initial customer payment needs to support an appropriate future recurring-payment arrangement.

High-volume Pay by Link

For businesses that need:

• APIs
• CRM integration
• Automated link creation
• Reporting
• Reconciliation

Complex or higher-risk merchants

The payment-link technology is only useful where the underlying acquiring provider accepts the business sector.

MAS can consider the merchant's:

• Activity
• Risk
• Transaction profile
• Technology

before identifying possible routes.

Switching existing providers

Established merchants can also compare their current payment-link arrangement with alternatives where:

• Costs have increased
• Technology is limiting growth
• Authorisation performance is weak
• Reporting is poor
• Recurring payments are difficult
• Reconciliation is too manual

Final underwriting, technical availability and pricing remain with the payment provider.

This article provides general payments information rather than legal, PCI DSS or regulatory advice. Payment-link functionality, authentication and compliance requirements vary according to the provider, merchant model and transaction.