

Ask HN: what is the difference between IPSP and ISO? - tupsi

What is the difference between an Internet payment service provider and independent sales organization? Could you forward some links or give examples of IPSPs and ISOs?
======
jacquesm
[https://www.merchantconnect.com/CWRWeb/glossary.do?glossaryL...](https://www.merchantconnect.com/CWRWeb/glossary.do?glossaryLetter=i#14)

Visa and Mastercard are the usual parties when it comes to giving out merchant
accounts. An ISO is an institution created by a bank or a consortium of banks
to allow merchants to accept various cards, but without having a merchant
account with either Visa or Mastercard, instead they have their merchant
account with the ISO or 'MSP' as it is also called.

[http://www.mastercard.com/au/merchant/en/acquirers/communica...](http://www.mastercard.com/au/merchant/en/acquirers/communications/msp_rules.html)

It is unlikely that you will find yourself in the position of a MSP or that
you will be dealing with one, banks normally use these only for groups of
merchants for which it makes no sense to have a direct merchant account with
the large card companies.

They are an instrument for 'vertical' markets. An example of a member service
provider is for instance PaySquare, positioned to accept point-of-sale
transactions.

[https://www.paysquare-
services.eu/form.aspx?id=71&ver=4&...](https://www.paysquare-
services.eu/form.aspx?id=71&ver=4&lang=en-EN)

