Buy Now, Pay Later is a checkout credit product that lets a shopper take goods now and repay in installments — often marketed as interest-free when paid on time. It is useful when merchants want conversion lift without carrying the full credit book themselves, and when lenders or platforms want fee income tied to retail volume.
Whilst BNPL is sold as “interest-free convenience,” in practice risk sits in receivables, late fees, chargebacks, and partner underwriting — not in the button UI. For example, a merchant celebrates higher AOV while default and refund timing quietly eat margin after the marketing slide. We often recommend modeling true cost of credit, settlement delays, and kill criteria for a BNPL partner before treating lift as free revenue.
BNPL is consumer credit embedded in commerce: origination at checkout, a repayment schedule, and a party that funds and collects (issuer, bank partner, or balance-sheet lender). Authority here is naming who owns credit risk, how refunds reverse the receivable, and what happens when the licensed partner fails — not listing brand names. Klarna-style players popularized the UX; the operating problem is credit + ops, not the widget.