Usage of the flexible payment method hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday, driving $1.03 billion in online spend (up 4.2% YoY), as consumers looked for greater flexibility in managing their holiday budgets. The vast majority of BNPL transactions are happening on a mobile device as well, at 79.4% share on Cyber Monday (vs. desktop). In an Adobe survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers (conducted Nov. 2025), respondents said they were most likely to use BNPL for electronics, apparel, toys, and furniture purchases.
Source: Adobe Analytics.
Except many BNPL options are 0% interest rate. I just renovated an apartment with ikea stuff and they offered me 0% interest rate over 1 year - it makes no sense to not take this offer.
Many companies would gladly lose 4% (avg inflation) to guarantee a sale especially when dipping on loans are basically impossible today for the average consumer.
Until you miss a payment and they hit you with the fine for missing a payment.
THEY HAVE TO MAKE MONEY!
Just don’t miss payments then. They make money from sales cut not from fees. E.g. Amazon will take 6% loss to get a sale giving Klarna 3% and losing 3% to inflation.
Looking at Klarna for example it’s 5$ late fee and then it gets reported to relevant authorities (credit, collections etc.) and they just block you.
It’s not that tricky like payday loans or similar. The issue at hand is really just people buying more than they can afford because they are not charged instantly.
They’re still in the acquire customers and market share phase and the number of providers is increasing. Increase in fees and predatory aspects comes later in the enshittification phase.
Don’t forget that a lot of them do bank on the fact that people don’t pay back on time and then the over-the-top interest rates hit them.
So the less financially savvy or intelligent, Or just the unlucky. Are subsidizing the deals for the rest of us.
But while they’re in these early phases, if you can take advantage of them, do s*** sucks enough. Might as well get something out of it.
Yeah but it’s pretty nice to be able to take advantage of a promo deal as long as it’s not a sticky long term relationship. Some people in this thread are talking about a reward system of 20% cash back on what you put on BNPL, and 0% interest, as some kind of Paypal promo going on during Black Friday.
If you take the deal as a one time thing, it’s a great deal. They hope that you might get used to using the service next time it’s not such a great deal, but if they don’t have a way to lock you in, then just take the money and run.
See, for example, the glorious year of MoviePass setting its own money on fire. People got great deals on movie tickets, and then the company went bankrupt and didn’t keep their customers.
What other fees are involved? Any monthky admin fees etc? If not then I 100% agree BNPL is the way to go
There’s never any administration fees. The whole trick to buy now pay later is they’re making the money on two fronts, one just the interest rates of people who don’t pay back on time and typically they’ll just block you after the first instance and never do business with you again.
So that’s not their primary money method cuz they rather not deal with that really. But it does bring them in some level of safety net.
But they’re real money generator is they get a cut of the sales. It’s a commission service. So the seller say Amazon loses out, say 5% of the sale to the buy. Now pay later company because the buy now pay later. Company secure to sell that Amazon otherwise would not have had.
So Amazon is losing a slight bit of money to make sure that more people are buying their goods by partnering with the by now pay later guys.
That’s why the buy now pay layer deals are always so goods or it’s an interest. No admin fees, competitive interest rates almost always equal to most even decent credit cards at most banks and credit unions.
Buy now pay later is a lot less scammy than you would think because they’re not scamming the consumer. They’re scamming the companies to make their money.
And yeah if you do miss a payment, the interest rates in what not suck but late fees are usually like $5. And it’s usually a one-time offense and you’re outsworded deal. You f****** one loan with like karna and they just ban you and send you to collections.
They’re not in a business of scamming consumers. It’s not worth the money when the real cash cow is those fat commissions.
I’m not sure but Ikea’s BNPL here has 0 fees.