Does Paybob need a financial licence? How Paybob stays legal
Paybob is self-hosted software, not a bank or payment gateway. It never receives, holds or transfers money, so it isn't a regulated payment service. Here's how that works, and what it means for you.
Written by Paybob Team
3 min read
It's one of the first questions merchants ask us: does Paybob have a financial licence, and is it legal to use? The short answer is that Paybob doesn't need a financial licence, because it isn't a financial service. It's software. Here's why that distinction matters.
Paybob is software, not a payment service
Banks, payment gateways and money transfer services hold licences because they handle other people's money: they receive it, hold it, move it or pay it out. Paybob does none of these things. As our Terms of Service put it:
Paybob is not a bank, payment processor, payment gateway or licensed payment operator. We never receive, hold or transfer your funds or your customers' funds.
Paybob is payment automation software. It helps businesses, from new entrepreneurs to local companies and global tech teams, run the payment methods they already have: it verifies payments, matches them to orders and shows everything in one dashboard.
Your money never passes through Paybob
Every payment goes directly from your customer to an account you control:
- Your gateways. You connect your own API gateways, such as Stripe or PayPal, with your own credentials.
- Your accounts. Mobile wallet and bank payments go straight into your own wallet or bank account.
- Your information. You decide which methods to offer and how they're set up.
- No payouts from us. Paybob doesn't collect money for you and pay it out later, because it never had it in the first place.
That's what being non-custodial means. Paybob only reads and verifies payment information so it can confirm orders automatically.
Self-hosted: your server, your panel, your data
Paybob is self-hosted. You install it on your own server, so your payment panel, your settings and your transaction data all live on infrastructure you control. We don't run your payment panel for you, and we can't see the data inside it.
A UK-registered company behind it
Paybob is made by Qbify Technologies Limited, a private limited company registered in the United Kingdom (company number 16788409). What we sell is a software licence, and that relationship is covered by UK law:
- Licence purchases, renewals and cancellations follow our Terms of Service, governed by the laws of England and Wales.
- Every licence payment comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, as set out in our Refund & Cancellation Policy.
- Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle the account details you give us, as required by UK data protection law.
What you're responsible for
Because the money moves through your own accounts, the rules that apply to taking payments apply to your business, just as they would without Paybob. You're responsible for:
- following the terms of every payment provider you connect;
- holding any licence or registration your own business needs where you operate;
- complying with the tax, consumer protection and data protection laws that apply to you;
- using Paybob only for lawful goods and services, as set out in our Acceptable Use Policy.
The bottom line
Paybob is software that you run on your own server, sold under licence by a UK-registered company. It never touches your money, so it isn't a bank, a gateway or a payment operator, and it doesn't need to be licensed as one. You keep control of your payments, your data and your customers.
