Looking for a Laybuy alternative?

If you used or were planning on using Laybuy (laybuy.com), you’ve probably seen that they went out of business earlier in 2024. Unfortunately many buy now pay later companies were unprofitable, didn’t have sustainable business models and have ended up going out of business, leaving businesses using them high and dry!

Laybuy, as the name suggested, should have been a provider of layaway / lay-by plans but was instead just another buy now pay later (BNPL) company like Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna etc. If you’re looking for a true Laybuy alternative to offer layaway plans to your customers, you’re in the right place.

Offer real, modern Layaway plans using Paythen, in under 10 minutes

Paythen is a real Laybuy alternative that is here for the long haul and not going anywhere. We’re a sustainable, profitable and self-funded business that helps over 1,000 businesses across the world offer easy payment plans to their customers with low fees, and an excellent customer experience.

Paythen’s “Wait for it” plan is a true modern version of the Layaway / lay-by plan that’s been around for decades. With a Wait for it plan, you can offer your customers a real alternative to Laybuy, while fully integrating into your existing checkout flow on your ecommerce platform.

Paythen also works without even needing a website so you can even send customers direct payment links like this to sign up and pay.

Using Paythen’s Wait for it plans, you can offer an easy layaway option to your customers – including any setup fees, surcharges, cancellation fees, and many more customization options. That’s not all though, you can even offer other types of payment plans to suit your business perfectly – from payment plans where everyone pays on the same dates, to standard payment plans that are billed on weekly, monthly or even custom intervals. See examples of the different types of payment plans here.

What is Paythen? How is it different to Laybuy?

Laybuy was a typical buy now pay later service. The main advantage to merchants was that customers would sign up for the payment plan directly with Laybuy and as a merchant you would get paid immediately. This of course is a double-edged sword. While getting paid immediately and not taking on any risk is a good thing, paying high fees that you can’t pass on to the customer, and more importantly, losing your direct relationship with the customer were big negatives.

Like most BNPL providers, Laybuy was constantly trying to get your customers to become their customers, controlling the branding, customer relationship, messaging, and eventually pushing customers to start their next shop at laybuy.com, not your site.

The insidious thing about BNPL companies is that their business and funding model is dependent entirely on driving huge amounts of volume and treating brands and merchants like interchangeable commodities.

Paythen doesn’t do any of that. Paythen is purely payment plan software that helps you fully manage and offer your own payment plans. It makes the entire process seamless, mostly automated and very easy, while ensuring your brand is the one front and center. Paythen is a tool that lets you offer and manage your payment plans exactly how it suits your business. You choose everything from the branding, colors, billing intervals, setup fees, surcharges, plan types and more.

Paythen uses your Stripe account to process payments securely and lets you manage your payment plan customers easily via your admin dashboard. There is no lock-in and Paythen is entirely platform-agnostic. You can use Paythen on your WooCmmerce site, with your Shopify store, with third party forms like JotForm, Typeform, Formstack, and others, on any other platform, and almost any way you want to using our Zapier app and workflows that enables.

Paythen can also be used fully without any other website or platform as each plan in Paythen gets a unique ready to share link that works everywhere – from your link in bio to Whatsapp, facebook and anywhere else your customers are.

BNPL fees are typically much higher – between 6% and 10%. Paythen fees are low – 2%. There are no other fixed or hidden fees. You can also pass these on to your customers if preferred.

There’s no credit card needed to get started and there’s no risk. Unlike Laybuy, Paythen is here for the long haul. If you choose to use Paythen for your business, you’ll get an easy to use, reliable payment plan platform that’s constantly improving, focussed on reducing your admin and support time while delivering an excellent experience for your customers, and responsive, friendly support.

👉 Try it now and see if Paythen might be a suitable Laybuy alternative for you.