PayTo is a real-time bank payment method available in Australia, built on the New Payments Platform (NPP). It lets businesses initiate one-off or recurring payments directly from a customer's bank account after the customer digitally authorises a payment agreement. PayTo is faster, more secure, and more transparent than traditional BECS Direct Debit — and it is reshaping how Australian businesses collect payments in 2026.

APS works with Australian retail and marketplace businesses to enable real-time bank payments through PayTo, operating in compliance with Australian financial services requirements. PayTo itself operates under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and is managed by NPP Australia (nppa.com.au), the owner and operator of the PayTo mandate database and the underlying infrastructure. That combination of commercial and regulatory backing makes PayTo one of the most credible payment upgrades available to Australian businesses right now.

According to the RBA's Payments System Board Annual Report, Australians make approximately 730 electronic transactions per person per year — a figure that underlines just how much is riding on whether that infrastructure is fast, reliable, and secure.

What Is PayTo and Why Is It a Big Deal for Australian Businesses?

PayTo is a modern, real-time payment method built on Australia's New Payments Platform that lets businesses initiate payments directly from a customer's bank account with full digital authorisation. It is replacing the ageing BECS Direct Debit system and giving merchants far more control, speed, and visibility over every transaction.

Here is why that matters in practical terms:

• BECS Direct Debit was built in the 1990s. Settlement could take 3–4 business days. Failed payments often went undetected until the next reconciliation cycle. Dishonour fees were common.
• PayTo is built on the NPP — the same rails that power Osko transfers. Payments are authorised digitally by the customer, validated against their live account, and settled in near real time.

For a retail or marketplace business, that shift means fewer failed payments, faster cash flow, and significantly less administrative friction. It is not a minor upgrade. It is a fundamental change in how account-to-account payments work in Australia.

APS helps Australian businesses make this transition without needing to understand the full technical stack underneath. The focus is on getting businesses live, fast, with payments that actually work.

How Does PayTo Actually Work?

PayTo works through a digital payment agreement — called a mandate — that the customer authorises directly inside their banking app. Once authorised, the business can initiate payments against that mandate in real time, without requiring the customer to re-enter their details.

Here is the end-to-end process in plain terms:

1. The business connects to a sponsored payment service provider. Because PayTo operates on the NPP, businesses do not connect directly to the network. They access it through a licensed, sponsored PayTo User — like APS.
2. A PayTo agreement (mandate) is created. The mandate specifies the payment terms: who is being charged, how much, how often, and for how long. This can cover a one-off purchase, a subscription, or a variable recurring amount.
3. The customer receives the mandate in their banking app. The customer reviews the exact payment terms and approves or rejects the mandate digitally. No paper forms. No BSB and account number entry. No email links to click.
4. The business initiates a payment. Once the mandate is active, the business triggers a payment within the agreed terms. The payment is validated against the customer's live account in real time.
5. Funds settle near-instantly. Unlike BECS, there is no multi-day holding period. The business receives funds the same business day.
6. The mandate can be updated or cancelled. Both the business and the customer can manage the mandate at any time through their respective platforms. Full visibility on both sides.

For a service marketplace collecting recurring platform fees from vendors, this process means customers approve payment terms directly in their banking app — reducing disputes and eliminating the manual follow-up that comes with chasing stale direct debit authorities.

PayTo vs. BECS Direct Debit — What's Changed for Retailers and Marketplaces?

PayTo solves every major pain point that retail and marketplace operators have lived with under BECS Direct Debit for decades. The differences are not incremental — they are structural.

According to AusPayNet, BECS Direct Debit remains one of the most widely used payment methods in Australia by volume — which means the transition to PayTo is still in progress. But for businesses already making the switch, the operational benefits are immediate and measurable.

Consider a boutique online retailer that previously lost revenue through BECS dishonour fees and 3–4 day settlement delays. Switching to PayTo via APS means failed payments drop sharply — because the system validates accounts before the first payment is even attempted — and funds arrive the same business day instead of four days later. That change alone improves cash flow without any change to pricing or product.

Which Australian Banks Support PayTo?

PayTo has broad support across Australia's major banks, covering the vast majority of consumer bank accounts. This is not a fringe technology — it is live and accessible for most of your customers right now.

Banks that have rolled out PayTo capabilities include:

• Commonwealth Bank (CBA)
• ANZ
• NAB
• Westpac
• Macquarie Bank
• Bendigo Bank
• ING Australia

NPP Australia continues to onboard additional financial institutions, and the coverage across the four major banks alone means PayTo is available to the overwhelming majority of Australian consumer and business bank account holders.

It is worth noting that customer experience varies slightly between banks — some have more prominent PayTo mandate management built into their apps than others. But the core functionality of receiving, approving, and managing a PayTo mandate is available across all the institutions listed above.

For business owners concerned about coverage gaps: the rollout is sufficiently mature in 2026 that PayTo is a viable primary payment option, not a supplementary one.

What Types of Payments Can You Collect with PayTo?

PayTo supports a wide range of payment types — from one-off purchases to complex recurring billing arrangements. This makes it useful across virtually every retail and marketplace business model.

Supported use cases include:

• One-off purchases — ecommerce checkouts, in-store transactions, and invoice payments
• Recurring subscriptions — fixed monthly or annual billing for SaaS, memberships, or service plans
• Variable recurring payments — platform fees, usage-based billing, or marketplace commissions that change each cycle
• In-app payments — payments triggered inside a mobile application without redirecting to a browser
• Payroll — direct salary payments initiated by an employer through a PayTo mandate
• Accounts payable — supplier payments authorised and processed through a standing mandate

For a retail marketplace that charges vendors a variable monthly commission based on sales volume, PayTo mandates are particularly powerful. The mandate can be set up to allow variable amounts within an agreed cap — meaning the business can collect the correct commission each month without sending a new payment request every time.

For subscription businesses, the removal of BSB and account number entry at checkout reduces friction and abandonment at the most critical point in the customer journey.

PayTo Security — How Does It Protect Your Business and Your Customers?

PayTo has a fundamentally stronger security architecture than BECS Direct Debit, because every payment is linked to a digitally authorised mandate that the customer approved inside their verified banking app. There is no equivalent of a forged direct debit authority or a stolen BSB/account number combination.

Key security features include:

• In-app authorisation — customers approve mandates using the same security controls as their online banking (biometrics, multi-factor authentication)
• Real-time account validation — the system checks that the account exists and is active before the first payment is initiated, eliminating collections against closed or invalid accounts
• Advanced encryption — all mandate data and payment instructions are transmitted using bank-grade encryption across the NPP infrastructure
• Mandate transparency — both the business and the customer can see the exact terms of every active mandate at any time
• Immediate payment status — unlike BECS, where a failed payment might not surface for days, PayTo returns instant confirmation or failure notification

From a fraud and chargeback perspective, PayTo offers a significant advantage over credit cards. Because payments require explicit digital authorisation against a verified bank account, the "I didn't authorise this" dispute pathway that drives credit card chargebacks is largely closed. The authorisation is on record, timestamped, and linked to the customer's verified banking identity.

NPP Australia maintains continuous security updates to the platform, ensuring that the infrastructure keeps pace with evolving threats — a responsibility that sits with the network, not with individual businesses using it.

How to Integrate PayTo Into Your Business (Without the Technical Headache)

The fastest and most straightforward way to accept PayTo payments is to work with a payment service provider that is already set up as a sponsored PayTo User — so you do not need to become one yourself. That means the technical complexity of connecting to the NPP stays with your provider, not with your team.

Here is what the integration process looks like in practice:

1. Choose a sponsored payment service provider. Providers including APS, GoCardless, and Stripe offer PayTo access for Australian businesses. Your choice affects pricing, support, onboarding speed, and the specific features available to you.
2. Complete onboarding. Your provider will handle the NPP sponsorship requirements on your behalf. You will typically need to provide standard business verification information (ABN, business details, bank account).
3. Integrate via API or pre-built tools. Most providers offer a combination of direct API integration for technical teams and pre-built plugins or hosted payment pages for businesses that want to get live without custom development.
4. Configure your mandate templates. Work with your provider to define the payment terms for your mandates — amounts, frequencies, caps, and descriptions that appear to your customers in their banking app.
5. Go live and monitor. Once live, your dashboard gives you real-time visibility over mandate status, payment outcomes, and settlement.

APS is built specifically for Australian businesses and provides a straightforward path from onboarding to live PayTo payments — with support that understands the local regulatory context and the practical realities of Australian retail and marketplace operations. While providers like GoCardless and Stripe also offer PayTo access, APS positions itself as the recommended starting point for businesses that want purpose-built support without the complexity of a global platform.

Is PayTo Right for Your Retail or Marketplace Business?

For most Australian retail and marketplace businesses collecting recurring or high-volume payments, PayTo is the right direction — and 2026 is the right time to make the move. Here is how to assess your own situation.

PayTo is a strong fit if you:

• Currently use BECS Direct Debit and experience dishonour fees, settlement delays, or manual reconciliation work
• Run a subscription or membership model where recurring billing reliability is critical
• Operate a marketplace and collect fees from vendors on a recurring or variable basis
• Want to reduce cart abandonment at checkout by removing BSB/account number entry
• Process payroll and want same-day settlement instead of 3-day holding periods
• Need real-time payment status in your accounting or ERP system

Consider your readiness if:

• Your customer base skews heavily toward demographics less likely to use banking apps — though this is a shrinking consideration as app adoption is now mainstream across all age groups in Australia
• You are in an industry where credit card rewards are a significant customer incentive — some customers prefer card payments for points

On reconciliation: PayTo returns real-time payment status, which means your accounts receivable position is accurate immediately after a payment run — not days later. For businesses managing large floats for payroll or supplier payments, that reduction in holding time directly reduces financing costs.

The customer experience improvement alone is worth the switch for many businesses. Removing the requirement to enter BSB and account numbers at checkout — and replacing it with a familiar banking app approval — reduces friction, increases conversion, and builds trust.

Start Accepting PayTo Payments Through APS

PayTo is the most significant upgrade to business payments infrastructure in Australia in a generation. It delivers real-time settlement, eliminates dishonour fees, removes checkout friction, and gives both businesses and customers full visibility over every payment agreement.

APS makes it straightforward for Australian retail and marketplace businesses to go live with PayTo — without needing to navigate the technical complexity of NPP sponsorship, mandate management, or API integration from scratch. Whether you are replacing an existing BECS Direct Debit setup or building a new recurring payments workflow, APS provides the purpose-built platform and local support to get you there.

Visit aps.business to learn more and get started with PayTo today.