PSPIDs

PSPIDs, in the context of online payments, refer to the identifiers assigned by a payment service provider (PSP) to designate a merchant’s account within the PSP’s system. A PSPID is typically an alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the merchant's workspace or acceptance account on that PSP. When a merchant processes payments through a given PSP, each active account or storefront may have its own PSPID, and a single merchant could have multiple PSPIDs if they operate across several PSPs or business units.

The primary purpose of a PSPID is to route payment requests to the correct merchant account. In typical integrations, the PSPID is included in payment requests as a field (often named PSPID or pspid) and is used in conjunction with other credentials, such as a shared secret, to generate a signature or hash for security. The PSPID itself is not usually a secret, but it must be kept within the secure parts of a merchant’s integration to prevent misrouting or tampering.

Not all PSPs use the same naming or structure for identifiers. Some gateways call this value the Merchant ID, Account ID, or similar, and some may have different parameters for routing. For example, Ingenico ePayments (formerly Ogone) uses a PSPID as part of its classic integration, while other providers may employ different naming conventions such as merchantAccount.

In practice, PSPIDs are managed by the PSP and assigned to valid merchant accounts. If a merchant changes PSPs or adds new accounts, the corresponding PSPIDs must be updated in the integration configuration to ensure correct processing and reconciliation. See also: Payment service provider, payment gateway, merchant account, transaction security.