basis point (bps, bips)
A basis point, written bps and said "bips", is one hundredth of one percent: 100 basis points is 1%. Payments pricing is quoted in basis points because the margins are small. 50bps of £1m a month in volume is £5,000 a month.
Almost every number in a platform payments conversation is in basis points: the fee a platform sets on each payment, the margin between a blended rate and interchange-plus, the share an acquirer keeps. Saying "half a percent" and "50bps" is the same thing; the second is how the people you are negotiating with will say it.
Why it matters: small numbers on large volume are real money, and basis points make that visible. A platform whose customers put £5m a month through its product earns £25,000 a month at 50bps, £300,000 a year, from customers it already has. The same arithmetic shows why customers move slowly on rate alone: 20bps on a £400 monthly storage bill is 80p, which is why the tail only moves when payments are built in and there is nothing to do.
What to watch: a quote in basis points can hide the fixed pence per transaction and the monthly charges. For a business with many small payments the pence matter more than the bps. Always convert a quote to an effective rate on your own volume and average payment before comparing it with anything.