Buy-now-pay-later is available through several South African checkout providers, but “BNPL” is a commercial label rather than one legal or pricing structure. Some products create new credit, some use an existing credit-card limit and some are revolving accounts. Settlement, recourse, fees and which party carries non-payment risk depend on the merchant and consumer agreements. This guide compares published merchant prices and the questions to verify.
Which BNPL providers operate in South Africa?
Six names matter, and they structure the customer’s side differently:
| Provider | The customer pays | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Payflex | 4 interest-free instalments over 6 weeks, 25% upfront | Check current merchant availability, agreement and consumer terms |
| PayJustNow | 3 interest-free instalments over 3 months | Check current merchant availability, agreement and consumer terms |
| Happy Pay | 2–3 instalments, no-deposit options | Newer Cape Town fintech, available through Stitch Express |
| Float | Up to 24 instalments against their existing credit-card limit | Uses an existing credit-card limit; verify eligibility and issuer treatment |
| Mobicred | A revolving credit account, interest-bearing | The long-standing incumbent, available through several gateways |
| MoreTyme | TymeBank’s pay-in-3 | Available through PayFast |
Two of these are not classic pay-in-N products: Mobicred is revolving credit and Float rides the customer’s existing card limit. They matter anyway, because they answer the same customer question, “can I spread this?”, and because they are the routes with the most transparent merchant pricing.
What does BNPL cost a merchant?
Direct merchant pricing may still be quote-based, but gateway rate cards now publish several routed BNPL prices. A routed price is not proof of the direct provider’s own price, and every route must be compared on its full fixed, transaction, monthly and VAT basis.
What is published, and verified, is what BNPL costs when routed through a gateway, and it draws a clear band:
| Route | Merchant fee | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| PayJustNow via Peach Payments | 5.35% + R4.80, plus R1.50/txn and R199/month | PayJustNow BNPL via Peach Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked this month, on 01 Aug 2026. www.peachpayments.com/fees |
| Payflex via Peach Payments | 5.25% + R4.00 + R1.50/transaction | Payflex BNPL via Peach Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked this month, on 01 Aug 2026. www.peachpayments.com/fees |
| Float via Peach Payments | 5.10% + R4.00/transaction | Float via Peach Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked this month, on 01 Aug 2026. www.peachpayments.com/fees |
| Happy Pay via Peach Payments | 4.99% + R4.00 + R1.50/transaction | Happy Pay via Peach Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked this month, on 01 Aug 2026. www.peachpayments.com/fees |
| ZeroPay via Peach Payments | 4.75% + R2.00 + R1.50/transaction | ZeroPay via Peach Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked this month, on 01 Aug 2026. www.peachpayments.com/fees |
| Pay Later (Split) via Stitch Express | 5.7% | Stitch native BNPL rate Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 20 Jul 2026. stitch.money/express |
| MoreTyme via PayFast | 5.5% + R2.00 | MoreTyme via PayFast Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 20 Jul 2026. payfast.io/fees |
| Buy now, pay later via Ozow | 4.99% + R4.00 | Ozow BNPL rail Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 20 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Mobicred via PayFast | 3.2%, no fixed fee | Mobicred via PayFast Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 20 Jul 2026. payfast.io/fees |
Rates shown ex VAT and read from the cited gateway pages. Confirm whether each fixed amount is cumulative, what plan/monthly charges apply, and whether the provider offers a direct quote. These are gateway routes, not a market-wide price range or a promise of eligibility.
On the cited gateway pages, the displayed pay-in-N routes sit roughly around 4.75% to 5.7% before all fixed and monthly charges, while the cited Mobicred routes use different pricing. That observation is limited to these routes and dates; it does not explain the cause of the price or establish a direct-provider rate.
Is the fee worth it?
Put rand on the trade. On a R1,000 basket through Peach, PayJustNow costs about R60 against R31 for a card: call it 2.9 percentage points of margin. That is pure loss on a sale that would have happened anyway, which is why BNPL earns its keep only on the sales that would not have happened, the abandoned cart, or the R700 basket that becomes R1,100 because the customer is paying in thirds.
The decision is whether demonstrable incremental margin exceeds the complete fee difference. Model switched sales separately from genuinely incremental sales, and confirm settlement timing, reserves, refunds, disputes, fraud, recourse and non-payment allocation in the merchant agreement. Do not assume the provider carries every risk merely because the product is marketed as BNPL.
Category, basket, margin, returns and customer demand affect the outcome. Test against your own orders rather than relying on an uncited market-wide adoption claim.
How do you add BNPL without a new contract?
The quickest route is the one your gateway already carries:
- PayFast ships Mobicred and MoreTyme as checkout methods you switch on.
- Peach Payments carries PayJustNow, priced on its published fee page.
- Ozow and Stitch each run their own BNPL rail alongside cards and pay-by-bank.
Going direct to Payflex or another provider gets you their brand at your checkout and a negotiated rate, at the cost of another integration and another reconciliation stream. Either way, get the quote in writing with the full fee schedule, the same discipline as verifying any gateway’s fees.
For a controlled test, compare one contractually understood BNPL option with cards and instant EFT, disclose the customer terms clearly, and measure complete cost, incremental sales, refunds and margin before expanding it.
