European merchants are under pressure. Card fees keep climbing, chargebacks eat into margins, and customers abandon baskets as soon as their card fails or hits its limit. At the same time, account to account payments and Instant SEPA transfers are becoming familiar, fast and convenient for consumers right across Europe.
YowPay sits exactly at this crossroads as a yowpay pay by bank option. It turns everyday bank transfers into a powerful, merchant friendly payment option that works online and in person, with Instant SEPA, EPC QR Codes, Open Banking and manual transfers all intelligently routed in the background.
This article explains how YowPay works, what makes it different from traditional card processing, and how European businesses can use it to reduce costs, cut abandoned carts and get paid instantly.
What Is YowPay?
YowPay is a merchant payment solution focused on account to account payments via SEPA transfers. Instead of routing transactions through card schemes, YowPay enables your customers to pay you directly from their bank account using:
- Instant SEPA transfers for real time settlement.
- EPC QR Codes that customers scan with their mobile banking app.
- Open Banking and PIS (Payment Initiation Services) for guided, app based payments.
- Manual bank transfers with all details filled in automatically to minimise errors.
Behind the scenes, YowPay uses smart routing to choose the best SEPA method available for each customer and each transaction, helping you maximise conversion while keeping fees under control.
The platform is built for both B2B and C2B flows and includes turnkey Instant Business SEPA IBANs in Belgium and France, plus dedicated settlement IBANs for card processing. Funds are made instantly available for payouts, with no rolling reserves.
How YowPay Works in Practice
From the customer perspective, paying with YowPay is simple and familiar. From the merchant side, it is designed to plug neatly into your existing payment stack.
The customer journey in three easy steps
- At checkout, the customer selects bank transfer via YowPay as their payment method.
- They choose how they want to pay by bank transfer:
- Scan an EPC QR Code with their mobile banking app.
- Select their bank and follow the Open Banking or PIS flow.
- Confirm a pre filled manual transfer from their online banking.
- The customer confirms the payment in their bank app. In the case of Instant SEPA, the payment is credited to your business IBAN within seconds.
There is no need for the customer to create a separate wallet, top up funds or share card details. They pay directly from their bank account in a way they already trust, which is particularly attractive for customers who are card reluctant or close to their card limits.
What happens behind the scenes for merchants
On the merchant side, YowPay provides:
- Instant Business SEPA IBANs (Belgium and France) that act as payment accounts for incoming transfers.
- Dedicated settlement IBANs for card processing flows where you want to combine card and bank transfer strategies.
- Smart routing that optimises how SEPA payments are initiated and confirmed.
- Instant fund availability for payouts, without rolling reserves tying up your cash.
The payment accounts themselves are opened and held with a regulated European electronic money issuer. YowPay provides the technology, orchestration and merchant interface, but does not itself hold customer funds.
Why European Merchants Are Turning to Instant SEPA and A2A Payments
Instant SEPA and account to account payments are rapidly reshaping how Europeans pay, from splitting a dinner bill to paying an invoice or buying a car. As more banks enable instant transfers as standard, the opportunity for merchants is clear.
Compared with traditional card processing, the YowPay approach offers several compelling advantages.
Lower transaction costs
Card schemes and traditional payment service providers typically charge a percentage of each transaction, plus additional fees for cross border, currency conversion and other extras. By shifting part of your volume to account to account payments, you can significantly reduce these costs.
Merchants using YowPay highlight the impact on their bottom line. One director reports that switching to YowPay allowed their SME to save around 30 thousand euros per year in payment costs, freeing up budget for marketing and growth.
Fewer chargebacks and disputes
Chargebacks are an ongoing headache with card schemes. They consume time, staff and legal resources, and can create uncertainty around your cashflow.
With SEPA transfers, payments are initiated and authorised directly by the customer in their own bank interface, which drastically reduces the scope for card style chargebacks. Merchants using YowPay describe enjoying additional payments without chargebacks, and appreciate moving away from what they see as the dictates of card scheme rules.
Instant settlement and stronger cashflow
In many card setups, merchants face delays before funds are released, plus rolling reserves that hold back a percentage of turnover for weeks or months. This can be particularly painful for fast growing or seasonal businesses.
YowPay is designed around instant SEPA settlement into your business IBANs. Funds are available for payouts immediately, with no rolling reserves. That means more predictable cashflow, easier reconciliation, and more capital available for stock, advertising and expansion.
Capturing sales you currently lose
Many businesses underestimate how much revenue they lose when customers simply cannot or will not pay by card. Common scenarios include:
- Customers who are close to or above their card limit.
- Buyers who prefer not to share card details online.
- High value purchases where a bank transfer feels more secure or reliable.
- B2B buyers who are used to paying by bank transfer rather than card.
YowPay offers these customers an immediate alternative that still feels simple. Merchants report that once they enabled YowPay, they discovered business they had simply been losing before, as customers quietly dropped out at the payment stage.
Smart Routing: Three Ways to Pay by SEPA Instant
The heart of the YowPay experience is its smart routing engine. Rather than locking you into one method of bank transfer, YowPay provides three complementary ways to pay, then chooses the best option available in real time.
1. EPC QR Code
For customers using mobile banking, an EPC QR Code is generated with all the payment information embedded: IBAN, amount, reference and more. The customer simply scans the code with their bank app and confirms the payment.
This is particularly powerful for in person payments and point of sale. Sales staff can display or share a code, and the customer pays from their own device, with no card terminal needed.
2. Open Banking and PIS
For online customers, YowPay leverages Open Banking and Payment Initiation Services where available. The customer selects their bank from a list, is redirected securely to their bank interface, and authorises the transfer.
This guided flow reduces errors and speeds up the process, especially on mobile devices. It also gives customers a reassuring sense of security because they stay within their own bank environment when approving the payment.
3. Manual bank transfer with pre filled details
Where neither QR codes nor Open Banking are optimal, YowPay falls back to a pre filled manual transfer. All necessary fields are provided clearly, helping customers complete the payment accurately through their online banking.
Because YowPay controls the payment references, it can still match and reconcile these transfers automatically on your side, keeping your finance operations smooth.
Turnkey Instant Business SEPA IBANs for B2B and C2B
A key part of the YowPay proposition is its turnkey Instant Business SEPA IBANs in Belgium and France. These are designed to support both B2B and C2B inflows for e commerce and wider business use cases.
Business payment accounts via a regulated partner
When you onboard with YowPay, you receive payment accounts opened with a European regulated electronic money issuer. These accounts are set up specifically for your business to receive Instant SEPA transfers.
YowPay handles the technical platform and smart routing, but does not hold customer funds. This structure lets you benefit from strong regulatory protections while enjoying a modern, API driven payment experience.
Dedicated IBANs for card settlement
In addition to IBANs for SEPA inflows, YowPay can also provide dedicated settlement IBANs for card processing. This allows you to:
- Keep card settlement flows clearly separated from other accounts.
- Align card and bank transfer strategies in one centralised view.
- Streamline reconciliation across multiple payment methods.
The result is a cleaner treasury setup, with instant access to funds and fewer moving parts to manage.
Cutting Abandoned Carts with Alternative Payments
Abandoned baskets are one of the biggest sources of missed revenue in e commerce. While many factors contribute, payment friction is a major culprit. YowPay helps reduce abandonment by giving customers pragmatic alternatives to cards at the moment they are most likely to stall.
Typical abandonment scenarios YowPay addresses
- Card declines due to limits, issuer rules or technical failures.
- Customer distrust of entering card details on lesser known sites.
- High value orders where customers feel more comfortable with a bank transfer.
- B2B buyers who prefer to stay within their usual bank transfer processes.
Instead of losing these buyers, you can offer an immediate, familiar alternative: pay now from your bank. Because the experience is streamlined with QR codes, Open Banking and pre filled transfers, it feels almost as convenient as cards while addressing their main concerns.
Real merchant results
One director explains that after integrating YowPay, they saw a tangible increase in turnover combined with a significant reduction in costs. They were surprised by how much business they had been losing without realising it, and appreciate gaining additional payments without the usual card chargeback risks.
Another business in the clairvoyance sector reports that, after years of declining turnover linked to card payment scheme changes, YowPay helped them recover lost sales and reduce costs. Their end of year results moved back towards their expectations, without percentage based fees eating into margins.
For an SME using YowPay on site, replacing physical POS terminals with salespeople's mobile phones and integrating YowPay into their billing system delivered around 30 thousand euros in annual savings. Those funds are now being reinvested into promotion to generate further growth.
E Commerce Integration and Mobile Point of Sale
YowPay is designed to fit naturally into your existing sales channels, both online and offline.
YowPay for e commerce
For online shops, YowPay provides an e commerce ready solution that lets you embed Instant SEPA transfers directly into your checkout. You can:
- Add bank transfer as a visible, guided payment option alongside cards and wallets.
- Offer customers a fast, secure way to pay without entering card details.
- Match the look and feel of your brand for a seamless customer journey.
Because YowPay focuses on account to account payments, it sits neatly next to your existing card and wallet providers rather than replacing them. Over time, you can shift more volume into lower cost SEPA based payments as your customers adopt the new method.
YowPay mobile point of sale app
For in person sales, YowPay offers a mobile point of sale app that turns staff smartphones into powerful payment tools. This allows you to:
- Accept payments anywhere without traditional POS terminals.
- Generate EPC QR Codes that customers scan with their bank app.
- Process payments swiftly and securely, ideal for events, pop ups or on site services.
Merchants appreciate the flexibility and cost savings of replacing dedicated terminals with mobile phones, while still providing a professional and secure experience to customers.
Security, Compliance and Risk Management
Any payment solution has to be judged on its security as well as its convenience. YowPay is built with a clear, regulated structure and multiple layers of protection.
Regulated European e money issuer
The payment accounts you use with YowPay are opened with a regulated European electronic money issuer. This ensures that customer funds are handled under strict regulatory oversight, with appropriate safeguarding and governance.
YowPay itself does not act as a bank or e wallet, and does not hold customer funds. Instead, it facilitates the secure exchange of banking data and the orchestration of SEPA payments between your customers and your accounts.
Controlled payouts and two factor authentication
To protect against unauthorised fund movements, YowPay:
- Allows withdrawals from payment accounts only to pre approved beneficiary accounts, such as your company account or group entities.
- Uses two factor authentication to verify that sensitive actions and payouts are properly authorised.
This design reduces the risk of fraudulent redirections or misdirected payouts, while still keeping operations efficient for finance teams.
Headquartered in Luxembourg
YowPay is headquartered in Luxembourg, making it particularly relevant for merchants operating across the European Union and European Economic Area. Its focus on SEPA and European regulatory frameworks ensures that the solution is closely aligned with the needs of European businesses.
Who Is YowPay Best Suited For?
YowPay is versatile enough to support a wide variety of sectors, but it is especially valuable for businesses that:
- Sell across borders within the SEPA area.
- Handle mid to high value transactions where card fees and limits become significant.
- Serve customers who are accustomed to bank transfers, such as B2B buyers.
- Operate hybrid models, combining e commerce with in person or on site sales.
- Have previously suffered from card scheme changes, rolling reserves and high chargeback rates.
Whether you run an online shop, a professional services company, a subscription based business or a network of physical locations, YowPay can help you diversify payment options while keeping control over costs and cashflow.
What You See in a 20 Minute YowPay Demo
To help merchants evaluate the platform quickly, YowPay offers a focused 20 minute demo. In that time, you can expect to see how the solution can:
- Help you capture more sales by adding attractive alternatives to card payments.
- Cut your transaction fees by shifting volume towards SEPA based payments.
- Improve customer experience with fast, secure and intuitive payment flows.
The demo typically walks through both e commerce and point of sale scenarios, explains how smart routing works, and shows you how Instant Business SEPA IBANs are used for inflows and settlements.
Summary: A Fresh Alternative to Card Dominance
The rise of Instant SEPA and account to account payments is creating a powerful alternative to the traditional card centric payment model in Europe. YowPay is one of the solutions turning this trend into concrete benefits for merchants.
By combining Instant SEPA transfers, EPC QR Codes, Open Banking and manual transfers with smart routing and turnkey business IBANs, YowPay helps you:
- Reduce payment costs and avoid percentage based fees where possible.
- Cut chargebacks and disputes by moving away from card based risk.
- Unlock instant settlement with no rolling reserves.
- Recover sales that would otherwise be abandoned at the payment stage.
- Offer modern, secure payment experiences both online and in person.
For European merchants looking to diversify beyond cards, strengthen cashflow and delight customers with faster, more flexible ways to pay, YowPay offers a compelling, future proof route into the world of Instant SEPA and account to account payments.
