Payment Processing in Brazil

Brazil is one of the largest online markets in the world, and it pays its own way. Pix, the central bank's instant payment system, has overtaken credit cards in online spending, Brazilians expect to pay by card in instalments, and cross-border card payments cost the buyer extra tax. Offering the methods Brazilians actually use, collected locally, is what decides whether Brazil works for you.

Last reviewed October 2026

Brazil at a glance

Currency: Brazilian real (BRL).
Most used online payment method: Pix, with 42% of e-commerce spending by value in 2025.
Cards: 40% of e-commerce spending, often split into monthly instalments.
Local card brands: Elo and Hipercard, next to Visa and Mastercard.
Foreign merchants: no Brazilian company needed when collecting through a Brazilian payment institution.
Cross-border card purchases: the buyer pays 3.5% IOF tax.

How Brazilians pay online

Pix accounted for 42% of Brazilian e-commerce spending by value in 2025, ahead of credit cards at 40%, according to the Worldpay Global Payments Report 2026. Pix is instant, works around the clock and is used by about 148 million people, some 86% of Brazilian adults, so a Brazilian checkout without it loses a large share of buyers.

Cards remain essential for higher amounts, because Brazilian shoppers are used to splitting a card purchase into monthly instalments, often without interest. Domestic card brands such as Elo and Hipercard sit next to Visa and Mastercard. Boleto, the bank payment slip, is still offered but is losing ground to Pix.

Selling into Brazil from abroad

A foreign company does not need a Brazilian entity to accept Brazilian payments. It works through a Brazilian payment institution that collects in reais, through Pix, local cards and other methods, and settles to the merchant abroad. From 1 October 2026, under Central Bank of Brazil Resolution 561, providers of these international payment services, known as eFX, must be authorised by the Central Bank. Providers already offering these services without authorisation must apply by 31 May 2027 and must stop if they miss that deadline or are refused, so check your provider's status.

Charging a Brazilian card directly from abroad is simpler to set up but costs more in practice. Brazilian cardholders pay IOF tax of 3.5% on international card purchases, approval rates on cross-border transactions are lower, and instalments and domestic card brands are often not available. Local collection usually converts better.

Taking bets from Brazilian players

Online betting and casino games follow their own, much stricter rules in Brazil: only authorised operators may take bets, credit cards are not allowed and banks must block unlicensed operators. Our page on Brazil's betting licence covers who may operate and the payment rules operators must follow.

What providers check

Your company documents, what you sell, your website and where you deliver.
Which Brazilian methods you need: Pix, local cards, instalments, boleto.
Expected volume in Brazil, average transaction size and how refunds are handled.
Recent processing statements and dispute figures, if you already process.

How Acquipayer helps

Acquipayer is not a payment provider. You add your business, markets, volumes and the payment methods you need once, and your profile is matched with a payment provider that can collect from Brazilian customers for your business type. Your account is then prepared with that provider so you can start taking payments.

Sources

Central Bank of Brazil, Resolution BCB 561/2026 on eFX services.
Decrees 12,466 and 12,467 of 2025 on IOF.
Worldpay, Global Payments Report 2026, as reported by Poder360.

Ecommerce

For standard retail ecommerce the deciding factors are authorisation rate, the local payment methods your markets expect, and settlement terms, usually in that order.

Subscriptions

For recurring billing the provider decision is mostly about retry logic, card-lifecycle tooling and authentication. Those three drive more revenue than the headline processing rate.

iGaming

An iGaming payment solution is the combination of acquirer, PSP or gateway, local payment methods and payout rails that lets an operator take deposits and pay out winnings. Which of those will work for you is decided almost entirely by licensing and player geography: a provider that boards a Curaçao-licensed casino is rarely the same one that boards a UKGC-licensed brand, so the first step is matching your licence and markets to an acquirer's gambling programme.

Brazil betting licence (SPA/MF)

Brazil opened a regulated betting market on 1 January 2025, and payments are at the heart of how it is enforced. Only authorised operators may take bets, players may only pay with set methods from their own accounts, and banks must cut off anyone without a licence. For an operator with a Brazilian authorisation, that makes the payment setup clear: build it to the rules from day one and acquirers know exactly what they are boarding.

Pix

Pix is Brazil's instant payment system, run by the Central Bank of Brazil since November 2020. It moved 79.8 billion transactions in 2025 and has overtaken credit cards as the largest way Brazilians pay online by value. For a merchant, a Pix payment arrives in seconds, at any hour, and is final once paid. If you sell to Brazilian customers, Pix is the method you cannot leave out.

Card payments

Card acceptance is the default payment method for most online businesses, and it is also the method with the most moving parts: an authorisation, a later capture, a settlement cycle, and a dispute right the cardholder keeps for months after paying.

Too many payments declined

Every declined payment is a customer who wanted to pay you and could not. Some declines are real, such as an empty account or a stolen card. Many are not: the card had expired, the bank wanted authentication, or the issuer did not trust a payment coming from abroad. Find out which declines you have before you change anything, because the fix for each is different, and retrying the wrong ones now costs you fees.

What is a PSP?

A payment service provider (PSP) is the company that lets your business accept payments: it connects your checkout to card schemes and local payment methods, sends each payment for authorisation and reports the result. Some PSPs also hold the acquiring licence and settle the money to you; others route your payments to a separate acquiring bank that does.

How to choose a payment processor

Start with acceptance, not price. Confirm that the processor will take on your industry, markets and volume; then compare approval rates, the pricing model, settlement and reserve terms, integration and PCI scope, and how easily you can leave. The cheapest headline rate is rarely the cheapest processor once declines and cash flow are counted.

Check which payment routes may fit your business

Answer a short set of questions about your business and we will check your profile against the requirements providers have given us. No approval is decided here.

Check my payment options

Nothing is shared with a provider until you submit your onboarding pack. Approval is always the provider's decision.