Recent and anticipated earnings reports from major players in the sector prove that the payment option is beloved by consumers — some with good credit scores, others without — while merchants are recognizing it as a new customer acquisition engine that moves more merchandise and creates loyalty. While its sizable role in BNPL has been somewhat opaque until recently, PayPal's third-quarter financials released Monday (Nov. 8) confirmed that the payments platform is doing brisk BNPL business. As PYMNTS reported, in the 12 months ended in September, PayPal's BNPL "transaction volume was $9.5 billion; as many as 9.5 million consumers elected to use BNPL at checkout, while 950,000 merchants feature the option." The company will be expanding BNPL to Spain and Italy in the current quarter, and its acquisition of Japan's Paidy BNPL platform is further proof of its faith in the concept.