Terms of Service
Last updated: 15 August 2026
These Terms describe what Paytena does and, just as importantly, what it does not do: it never touches your money, never sees a card number, and does not decide whether a payment provider accepts you. Section 3 explains build mode, which is how the platform runs today.
Written in plain language against the product as built. It has not yet been through external counsel; the counsel-reviewed version is issued with the commercial agreement before a workspace goes live.
1.Agreement
By accessing or using Paytena (the “Service”) you agree to these Terms. If you use the Service on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you have authority to bind it.
These Terms cover everyone who uses the platform: merchants and their team members, payment service providers (PSPs) using the partner portal, and visitors to this site. Where you have signed an order form or commercial agreement with us, that document prevails over these Terms if the two conflict.
2.What the Service does
Paytena is a payment orchestration and provider connectivity layer. It routes payment authorisation traffic across the payment providers you have connected, retries declines on a backup provider, gives you one view of payments, fees and reconciliation, and carries your provider applications and onboarding documents to the PSPs you choose.
Equally, what it is not:
- Paytena does not hold, move or take custody of funds. Settlement happens directly between you and your providers under your own agreements with them.
- Paytena is not an acquirer, a payment institution, an e-money issuer or a party to your provider agreements, and does not provide regulated payment services.
- Paytena does not decide whether a PSP accepts you. See section 7.
3.Build mode and simulated outcomes
The platform currently runs in build mode. The routing engine, payment lifecycle, APIs, analytics and portals are fully functional, but unless a live provider connection has been activated for your workspace, payment outcomes - approvals, declines, captures, refunds - are produced by a built-in simulator. No money moves and no real card is charged.
Simulated activity is labelled as such in the product, and the hosted payment page used in this mode is a clearly marked sandbox. You must not present simulated results to your own customers, investors or regulators as real transactions, and you must not rely on them as evidence that a payment has been taken.
Live processing requires a provider connection to be activated explicitly for your workspace. We will confirm that in writing before it happens.
4.Authentication, SCA and card data
Paytena does not perform 3-D Secure or Strong Customer Authentication. Where a payment requires cardholder authentication, that step is carried out by your payment provider on its own hosted page, which is where the redirect flow sends the payer. Making sure your checkout meets SCA, PSD2 and card-scheme requirements is your responsibility, not ours.
No Paytena surface collects card details, so we do not store, process or transmit cardholder data and we are not part of your PCI DSS cardholder data environment. If you handle card data in your own systems, PCI compliance for those systems remains yours.
5.Accounts, keys and environments
- You are responsible for everything that happens under your workspace, including the actions of the team members you invite and the roles you grant them.
- API keys are shown once, at creation. Keep them secret, use the sandbox key for testing and the production key only for live traffic, and rotate a key immediately if it may have been exposed. Tell us as soon as you suspect a compromise.
- You are responsible for maintaining your own provider relationships and the credentials you enter for them.
6.Acceptable use
You may not use the Service for unlawful activity, to process payments you are not authorised to process, to process on behalf of an undisclosed third party, to probe or breach security without our written permission, or in a way that degrades the Service for others. You must also observe the restrictions your own providers and the card schemes place on your business category.
7.PSP applications and decisions
When you apply to a PSP through the platform, Paytena transmits your application and the documents you explicitly choose to share, and tracks the status. That is the whole of our role.
Acceptance, rejection, pricing, limits and any later risk decision are made solely by that PSP under its own criteria and regulatory duties. We do not underwrite applicants, do not guarantee that any application will be approved or how long a review will take, and do not act as agent for either side.
PSPs using the partner portal agree to use merchant data and shared documents only to assess and service that application, and to handle them as controller under their own privacy policy and applicable law.
8.Your data and documents
- Your data stays yours. You grant us the licence needed to store and process it in order to run the Service for you.
- Uploading a document, and attaching it to an application, is your instruction to us to hold it and to pass it on. You confirm you may lawfully share the personal data it contains, including data about directors and beneficial owners.
- Export what you need before you delete a workspace: deletion is permanent and cascades to payments, documents, business records and audit entries.
- How we handle personal data is set out in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.
9.Fees
Fees, and the mix of subscription, per-transaction and volume components, are those stated in your order form. Usage is measured by the Service and billed in arrears. Amounts are exclusive of VAT and other applicable taxes, which you pay in addition.
10.Availability and changes
The Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We may update, suspend or discontinue features, and will make reasonable efforts to give notice of material changes. No service level or uptime commitment applies unless one is set out in your order form; in build mode, none does.
11.Suspension and termination
You may stop using the Service and delete your workspace at any time. We may suspend or terminate access for non-payment, unlawful or prohibited use, or a security risk to the platform or its other users, and will tell you why unless we are legally prevented from doing so. Where circumstances allow, we will give you a reasonable opportunity to export your data first.
12.Warranties and liability
To the extent permitted by law we disclaim implied warranties, including fitness for a particular purpose. We do not warrant that routing will improve your approval rates or reduce your costs in any specific case, and we are not responsible for the acts, decisions, outages or fees of your payment providers.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Paytena is not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential damages, or for lost profits, revenue or data. Our total liability arising from the Service is capped at the fees you paid us in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
13.Governing law and changes to these Terms
These Terms are governed by the law and subject to the courts stated in your order form or commercial agreement with us. Where no such agreement is in place, the parties will first try in good faith to resolve any dispute between themselves.
We may update these Terms; the date at the top of this page always reflects the current version, and we will notify workspace owners of material changes.
Questions about these Terms? Use the contact form on our home page.