Buy now, pay later (BNPL)
Third-party checkout financing that lets the customer split a purchase into installments while the provider handles repayment.
See it
What it is
Buy now, pay later is installment financing offered by a third party inside checkout. The provider decides whether to approve the customer, pays the merchant under its settlement terms minus a fee that typically runs well above card processing, then carries the credit risk and collects from the customer on the offered schedule. The merchant is paid whether or not the customer keeps paying.
Reach for it when a larger basket may become affordable as several smaller payments. Treat it as a distinct payment method with its own eligibility, disclosures, approval flow, fees, and settlement records, not as a homegrown invoice schedule.
Approval is not guaranteed, and available plans vary by customer, amount, country, and provider. Cancellations, partial refunds, returns, disputes, and order changes must stay synchronized with the financing provider or the customer can keep owing installments for an order you already changed.
Ask AI for it
Integrate Klarna through Stripe Payment Element as a buy now, pay later method. Create the PaymentIntent server-side from the final order amount and currency, show Klarna only when Stripe reports it eligible, send the customer through the required approval flow, and mark the order paid only after a verified payment_intent.succeeded webhook. Persist Stripe and Klarna references, handle pending and declined applications without reserving inventory forever, and synchronize cancellations, full and partial refunds, returns, and amount changes idempotently.