Online Payment Methods in Poland — BLIK, Cards, Wallets, Transfers and BNPL

Online payment isn't one service in a store — it's a set of methods: BLIK, a fast bank transfer, cards, a wallet on a phone, a buy-now-pay-later option, and cash on delivery, which Polish customers still choose. Each one costs something different, settles on its own timeline, and fails in its own way. And a method a customer wanted but didn't find usually means they finished the purchase somewhere else.

This article goes through the methods one at a time: how each works, what it costs where a rate is published, and what can go wrong on the merchant's side. The full gateway-by-gateway comparison — setup fees, payouts, disputes, negotiation — is in our separate article on payment gateway fees. Here we only cite a rate where it's the thing that actually distinguishes one method from another.

Why the method mix matters

The most quoted figure on cart abandonment is the Baymard Institute average: 70.22% of carts never become an order (baymard.com, updated 22 September 2025). That's not a measurement Baymard itself ran — it's an average across 50 different studies from 2006 to 2025, using different methods. Baymard doesn't publish a separate mobile-only figure, so any "mobile abandonment rate" you see cited elsewhere doesn't come from this source.

The reasons behind the number matter more than the average itself. In Baymard's own survey of US adult shoppers (excluding people who were "just browsing"), 9% said they abandoned because the store had too few payment methods, 19% because they didn't trust the site enough to enter card details, and 10% because their card was declined. The single biggest reason was extra costs at checkout (40%). The limitations are real: this is a US-market study, and the page doesn't give a sample size or survey date. The honest takeaway is qualitative, not a number you can apply to your own store: missing a payment method, and distrust at the point of entering card data, are real reasons people abandon — you can't calculate from this how many orders adding a method would recover for you.

The second reason the mix matters is cost. A payment fee is charged on every order, not once a month — at a few hundred orders, a few tenths of a percentage point or a few cents of fixed fee starts to show up in margin.

BLIK — the Polish default

BLIK is the method most Polish customers expect. According to the operator, Polski Standard Płatności (release of 20 August 2026), in the first half of 2026 BLIK processed 1.6 billion transactions worth PLN 244.8 billion, with 21.6 million active users at the end of June; e-commerce made up 48.5% of transactions — 766.7 million online payments worth PLN 124.5 billion, an average of PLN 162 (blik.com, operator data). For the merchant it is priced through the gateway: PayU 1.49% + PLN 0.30 (price list 01/2026; net or gross not stated), Przelewy24 1.29% + PLN 0.30, Stripe 1.6% + PLN 1.00, ING Pay 1.59% including a 0.19% BLIK system fee. BLIK recurring payments reached 3.6 million in H1 2026, 20 times more than a year earlier, with over 100 partners including Allegro and OpenAI; BLIK Pay Later (BLIK Płacę Później, offered by PKO BP, Millennium, VeloBank and SGB banks) is still small — 235.5 thousand transactions worth PLN 59.4 million in 2025 (about PLN 252 on average, our calculation), against 1.4 billion BLIK e-commerce payments that year (blik.com); PayU offers it (poland.payu.com).

Cards and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)

A card is still the default for foreign customers and for customers without BLIK. It's also the method where the merchant carries dispute risk: a customer can challenge a transaction with their own bank (a chargeback), and the gateway typically charges a fee to handle it — Stripe charges PLN 90 per dispute, PayPal PLN 65 per chargeback for cards outside a PayPal account (paypal.com), Revolut PLN 80, while PayU's price list shows PLN 0 for a chargeback. A lost dispute also loses the amount and, usually, the goods.

Card fees aren't the same across providers or card types. Stripe's Polish page (stripe.com/en-pl/pricing) quotes 1.5% + PLN 1.00 for a standard EEA card, 1.9% + PLN 1.00 for a premium EEA card and 3.25% + PLN 1.00 for a card from outside the EEA. Przelewy24 charges 1.29% + PLN 0.30 for cards and PayU 1.49% + PLN 0.30 (the same as for BLIK).

Why do these rates run at roughly 1–1.5% when card interchange in the EU is capped much lower? Regulation (EU) 2015/751 (Polish version) caps consumer-card interchange — the part of the fee that goes to the card-issuing bank — at 0.2% for debit cards (Art. 3(1)) and 0.3% for credit cards (Art. 4). That's one layer of the fee. Scheme fees and the gateway's own margin sit on top and aren't capped by this regulation, which is why the rate a merchant actually pays runs well above it.

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). Online card payments in the EU, Poland included, generally require two-factor confirmation from the customer (for example, approval in a banking app); SCA has applied since 14 September 2019. RTS (EU) 2018/389 sets out exemptions that decide how many steps a customer actually sees:

• Remote low-value payments (Art. 16) — up to EUR 30, provided the running total since the last strong authentication doesn't exceed EUR 100 or five consecutive transactions. The commonly repeated "EUR 50" is Art. 11, the exemption for contactless point-of-sale payments, not online checkout.
• Recurring payments (Art. 14) — authentication is required when a series is first set up; later payments in the same series can be exempted.
• Transaction-risk analysis (Art. 18) — exemption thresholds of EUR 500, 250 or 100, depending on the payment provider's own fraud rate.

These exemptions belong to the payment provider and the card issuer, not to the merchant — you choose the gateway, but whether a given customer skips the extra authentication step is decided elsewhere.

No surcharge for regulated cards. Charging extra for paying by card is barred for most payments in the EU. PSD2 (Directive (EU) 2015/2366), Art. 62(4): "Member States shall ensure that the payee shall not request charges for the use of payment instruments for which interchange fees are regulated under Chapter II of Regulation (EU) 2015/751 and for those payment services to which Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 applies." In practice: no surcharge on a consumer Visa or Mastercard, and none on a SEPA euro credit transfer. In Poland this is art. 37a(3) of the Payment Services Act (ustawa o usługach płatniczych, consolidated text Journal of Laws 2026, item 623); where a surcharge is allowed, it may not exceed the store's direct costs (art. 37a(2)).

Apple Pay and Google Pay — a payment method, or an express checkout

Wallets can be built into a store in two different ways, and the difference decides how much work they actually save a customer.

As a plain payment method. The customer goes through the whole checkout, enters their address and contact details, and at the payment step picks Apple Pay or Google Pay instead of typing a card number. This is how most card gateways offer wallets by default — the customer skips entering card details, nothing else changes, and the fee is the same as for a card.

As an express checkout. An Apple Pay or Google Pay button sits on the product page or in the cart, and the shipping address, e-mail and phone number come from the wallet itself. That's how Stripe's Express Checkout Element works: it supports Link, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Klarna and Amazon Pay, and a store can request the shipping address (shippingAddressRequired) and react to it changing — recalculating delivery cost, for instance. Important caveats straight from Stripe's own docs:

• wallets don't pass an e-mail address by default — you have to request it (emailRequired: true), or you won't be able to send an order confirmation;
• the Google Pay button only shows for a customer who already has Google Pay configured, and Apple Pay outside Safari needs extra setup;
• your domain has to be registered with the wallet provider first;
• BLIK and Przelewy24 aren't in this element — they stay on the regular payment form.

Shopify has the equivalent with its accelerated checkout buttons: the customer goes from the product page straight to checkout, skipping the cart. Shop Pay stores the customer's e-mail, payment method and shipping/billing address, and is part of Shopify Payments (help.shopify.com). Shopify's own page claims Shop Pay lifts conversion "by up to 50%" versus a guest checkout — but it doesn't state a sample, markets, or who ran the study, so treat that as a vendor claim, not a result you can expect on your own store.

Polish gateways such as PayU and Przelewy24 treat wallets as a plain payment method: Przelewy24 describes Apple Pay as paying "without logging in to e-banking or entering card details" (przelewy24.pl), and PayU requires Apple certificates and profiles (poland.payu.com); neither documents passing the address from the wallet. The wallet costs the same as a card: PayU 1.49% + PLN 0.30, Przelewy24 1.29% + PLN 0.30, ING Pay 1.4%. If your gateway only offers wallets as a plain method, adding Apple Pay and Google Pay won't shorten your checkout form. If you want the shorter path for customers on a phone, you're looking for an express-checkout implementation — and today that depends on your platform and gateway, not just on flipping a switch.

Fast transfers (pay-by-link)

A fast transfer sends the customer to their own bank: they pick the bank, log in, and the transfer comes pre-filled with the amount and payee — no card number to type. It is usually priced like BLIK. Rates: PayU 1.49% + PLN 0.30; Przelewy24 1.29% + PLN 0.30; Tpay Starter 1.59% + PLN 0.39 (tpay.com); ING Pay 1.4%; Paynow (mBank) a single rate of 0.95%, which requires an mBank business account (paynow.pl). The main risk is the customer abandoning at the bank login. Payout timing differs: under the Przelewy24 terms, funds are available by the end of the next business day and by default paid out only once the unpaid balance reaches PLN 1,000, which you can change (§ 10 of the terms, dated September 2024).

These bank-initiated methods generally don't carry the same chargeback exposure as a card, because the payment is a bank-authorised push rather than a card-network claim the customer can later dispute through their issuer.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL)

With BNPL, the customer pays a third party rather than the store directly: the store gets paid up front, and the customer settles later, in full or in instalments.

Klarna for Polish customers offers three interest-free instalments every 30 days, or paying in 30 days with no interest or late fees if paid on time (klarna.com). There is no public Klarna price list for Polish stores; through operators it costs 1.99% + PLN 0.99 at PayU, 4.99% + PLN 1.65 at Shopify Payments and 4.99% plus a fixed fee at PayPal — at PLN 150 that is PLN 3.98 at PayU and PLN 9.14 at Shopify Payments (Basic).

PayPo, a Polish BNPL, has the customer pay PayPo within 30 days. Under its "Pay in 30 days" terms effective 2 September 2026, the service is free (no interest, fees or commission) only for first purchases with PayPo; later purchases fall under "Pay in instalments", with the cost shown at checkout, and the non-payment risk sits with PayPo (terms). For merchants PayPo charges PLN 0 setup and PLN 0 subscription and a commission of up to 2.49%, with "split in 3" priced individually (paypo.pl/biznes); through gateways, Przelewy24 charges 1.5% + PLN 0.30 and IdoPay (IdoSell) 1.55%, 1.49% or 1.19% by plan from 1 September 2026 (net, IdoSell price list). At PLN 150 that is PLN 2.55 through Przelewy24 against at most PLN 3.74 direct. Twisto offers up to 30 days and a split in 3 with no commission for the customer and no public merchant price list (twisto.pl). PayU has no BNPL of its own and offers Twisto, PayPo, Klarna and BLIK Pay Later; ING Pay's BNPL costs 1.4%.

For scale, Allegro Pay helped generate 16.4% of Allegro's GMV in Q2 2026 (Allegro press release). Whichever provider you pick, the non-payment risk sits with the BNPL company, not with you — you get paid up front either way. What varies is the fee, and whether the "free for 30 days" offer applies to the customer's purchase.

Cash on delivery — a Polish price-list item

Pay-on-delivery is the one common method where the store ships the goods before it has the money: the carrier collects payment from the customer and remits it to the merchant later, which means an uncollected parcel costs the merchant twice — once to ship, once to return.

In Poland, cash on delivery is a price-list item (read 30.09.2026). InPost Paczkomat for business costs PLN 1.50 net (up to PLN 5,000) (inpost.pl/cenniki); InPost Courier Standard for business PLN 7.00 net (up to PLN 5,000; PLN 35 up to 10,000; PLN 60 up to 15,000); InPost Courier through Parcel Manager PLN 4.25 net; DPD Pickup retail PLN 7.90 gross including VAT and fuel (dpd.com); DHL eCommerce consumer PLN 8 gross (PLN 6.50 net), with card payment to the courier +1.5%, minimum PLN 2; Pocztex consumer PLN 4.30 gross, with a maximum COD of PLN 20,000. Brokers: Furgonetka charges PLN 2.49 net for InPost COD and PLN 4.49 net for DPD up to PLN 1,000. Only InPost publishes business price lists; DPD, DHL and Poczta Polska publish retail lists and quote businesses individually. InPost pays COD out "within 5 business days of the parcel being paid" (inpost.pl), against the next business day for BLIK at Przelewy24.

The break-even is simple: a flat PLN 1.50 is 5% of a PLN 30 basket and 0.15% of a PLN 1,000 one, while a Przelewy24 transfer costs PLN 0.69 and PLN 13.20 on those baskets — the two are equal at a basket of about PLN 93. The real risk is the uncollected parcel: for ORLEN Paczka business (from 1 June 2026, net), size S at PLN 11.49 plus a return to sender at 100% of the base fee is PLN 22.98 net, and DPD retail adds PLN 13.99 gross for a return to sender. There is no public data on the uncollected COD rate, so track your own. Allegro Smart! adds a PLN 4.99 COD fee for the buyer, which is passed to the seller. A COD surcharge needs a check against art. 37a of the Payment Services Act with a lawyer. On a refund after withdrawal, art. 32(2) of the Consumer Rights Act requires the same payment method unless the consumer agrees otherwise (Journal of Laws 2026, item 1244), so for COD you need the customer's account number and consent. Carrier numbers are compared in our e-commerce shipping article.

Payment methods on a SaaS platform

What a payment method costs also depends on whether you use the platform's own payments product or connect a separate gateway. The full comparison is in payment gateway fees; here are the numbers for the methods covered above (read 30.09.2026). Shopify Payments, Basic plan (shopify.com/pl/pricing; net or gross not stated): cards 1.95% + PLN 1.20, BLIK 1.3% + PLN 1.20, Przelewy24 1.6% + PLN 1.20, Klarna 4.99% + PLN 1.65, with lower card and Przelewy24 rates on higher plans. A third-party gateway adds Shopify's surcharge of 2% / 1% / 0.6% / 0.2% on Basic/Grow/Advanced/Plus (Shopify help), not on manual methods such as COD or bank transfer. IdoSell IdoPay (from 1 September 2026, net): transfers, BLIK and PayPo 1.55% on Start, 1.49% on Business and Expert+, 1.19% on Enterprise; cards 0.69–1.09%; a chargeback costs PLN 120 and a BLIK complaint PLN 50; an external-gateway integration fee is 0.25% on Expert+, 0.19% on Enterprise and 0.15% on Individual, and 0% for IdoPay, Klarna, Stripe, PayPal and InPost Pay. Shoper Standard includes payments and foreign payments via Stripe, but the fees of the payment methods you offer come on top of the subscription (shoper.pl/cennik). Selly: Autopay 1.19% + PLN 0.30, Tpay 1.19% + PLN 99 a month service fee, PayU and Przelewy24 1.19% or your own contract (selly.pl). AtomStore adds 0.50% / 0.40% / 0.30% on gateways other than IdoPay by plan (price list from 1.03.2026). WooCommerce takes no sales fees (woocommerce.com).

Choosing methods, cost and risk together

The table below shows each method's cost at an example PLN 150 order (illustrative, using the published rate from the provider named, read 30.09.2026 — your own gateway may quote differently), and the risk it carries for the merchant.

How to put this together for your own store:

1. Start with BLIK, fast transfers and cards — one contract, one rate at a gateway such as PayU or Przelewy24.
2. Add Apple Pay and Google Pay if your gateway supports them, but check whether you're getting a plain payment method or a genuine express checkout with the address pulled from the wallet — that's what decides whether a phone customer gets a shorter path.
3. Turn on BNPL once your average order justifies it — compare the direct BNPL rate against your gateway's rate, and don't promise customers a flat "always free 30 days".
4. Treat cash on delivery as a deliberate decision — price one uncollected parcel and track your own uncollected rate; the merchant risk is the parcel that comes back, not the fee itself.
5. On a SaaS platform, add the platform's surcharge before comparing gateways — see payment gateway fees for the Shopify numbers.
6. Check payout timing with your own provider. Upfront methods pay out in one to several business days, COD takes up to 5 business days, and new accounts wait longer — a first Stripe payout takes 7–14 days and a new PayPal seller can see a hold of up to 21 days.

To run these costs together with subscription, hosting and maintenance costs over several years, use our e-commerce TCO calculator or the online store cost calculator. If you sell on Allegro as well, Allegro and marketplace integration explains how payment handling changes there.