The rise of Pay by Link in the UK: convenient, compliant and ready for scale

Payment links have rapidly evolved in the UK market from simple invoicing tools to full-featured, secure payment channels suited for retail, hospitality, and service sectors.

Seamless payments and regulation
Platforms like Stripe and GoCardless allow merchants to generate payment links via API or dashboard, supporting essential compliance features like 3-D Secure and PSD2. 

Tangible uplift
Finextra covered how Payment Links help merchants “streamline checkout and recover abandoned carts”, with reports of 15–20% recovery boosts.

Versatility in use
From pubs to salons, UK businesses are sending payment links via SMS or email rather than using card terminals. Freelancers and SMEs are embracing bank-initiated links as secure invoicing alternatives.

It’s not plug-and-play
Effective reconciliation, refund handling, and reporting still require backend integration. But with the right system, links become a cost-effective complement to traditional payments.

We recently explored this in detail in our guide, Pay by link: Take payments with secure payment links, covering setup, UX dos and don'ts, and fee structures:

Would love to hear: Are UK businesses you work with seeing gains from payment links? How are they handling refunds or chargebacks?