SEPA at one glance
SEPA is the abbreviation for Single Euro Payments Area. In 2000, the European governments decided to simplify and standardise Euro payment transactions within Europe. The objective is to develop the Euro payment landscape into a border-free and harmonised area so that the difference between a national and cross-border Euro payment transaction is imperceptible to you as a bank customer. According to EU regulations, the migration to SEPA Direct Debit must be completed by 1 August 2014.
Of course our solution provides complete, automated SEPA processing functionality for e-commerce and m-commerce.
Benefits
The single European payment area offers lots of opportunities and advantages especially to international companies:
- Just ONE bank account is required for you as a merchant in ONE of the SEPA countries
- Simplified payment transactions between the participating countries
- Cost-effective handling of Euro cross-border transfers into SEPA countries
Smooth integration
We guarantee a smooth migration that requires little effort to implement and has minimum impact on their existing set-up. Additionally, there are many new SEPA capabilities and opportunities to be taken advantage of within our system. These include our complete, automated processing functionality for SEPA Direct Debit for e-commerce and m-commerce.
Merchant Tasks
- Get a creditor ID: In Germany it can be applied for at the Deutsche Bundesbank.
- Define mandate and notification handling: Work with flexible APIs to send mandates and due dates yourself.
- Define pre-notification period in terms and conditions: In Germany it can be reduced to one day.
- Receive information on bank's cut-off for file submissions.
- Decide how your payment forms appear on your payment pages: You are free to define the look.
- Descriptor information (Verwendungszweck) will be reduced in length. Please consider the changes.
- Ask AllSecure to initiate the SEPA processing setup within the PSP system.
Cross-border use
You can use SEPA direct debit throughout the entire SEPA area. That means, you can offer SEPA direct debit payments to shoppers from all 34 SEPA countries. For this you only need a merchant bank account in one of the SEPA countries from which the direct debit payments shall get processed.
Pre-notification and Due date management
If you are executing a SEPA collection, there is a new deadline for notifying your shoppers of the due date for collection. That means, you as a merchant must inform the shopper about the upcoming direct debit via a so-called pre-notification before a collection can be executed. By default, merchants will have to provide a pre-notification of the direct debit to shoppers 14 banking days in advance.
The main motivation behind this regulation is to allow shoppers time to check that there are enough funds in their account prior to the direct debit being executed. such long default periods can have an impact on the merchant's business, such as on cash flow management, and are not very practical for e-commerce tranactions. However, some national regulations (e.g. COR1 in Germany) make it possible for merchants to reduce this period to a few days or even one day by entering into an agreement with his/her bank and announcing it in his/her Terms and Conditions. You should in any event specify in the notice precisely what amount will be debited and when. On the basis of this pre-notification, your customer can decide whether to ultimately refuse the direct debit.
Mandate handling
With our solutions, merchants handle mandates by themselves as needed - all in full compliance and in a manner which is most logical for them and their customers.
Merchants need to obtain a mandate to debit a shopper's bank account. There are several kinds of defined mandates. While some (e.g. signed paper form) might not fit into every scenario of online payment, others (e.g. e-mandate) are not supported by key players such as the Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft.
On the other hand, mandates are neither a new topic nor an artificial hurdle to restrict the usage of direct debit payments in e-commerce. The German “Einzugsermächtigung” currently used in direct debit represents a mandate as well. It is the merchant’s responsibility to make sure that the shopper authorises the debit and provides a reference (Mandate ID) in his/her form of mandate/proof.
In case of chargebacks, the merchant’s bank may ask the merchant for the mandate identified by the mandate ID as a proof of payment correctness. The chargeback cannot be carried out if the merchant cannot provide a mandate. Not having any kind of proof will extend the chargeback period from eight weeks with a valid mandate to 13 months without a valid mandate. Right now in Germany a chargeback can be done almost indefinitely without having a valid mandate (Einzugsermächtigung) – even after 13 months.
Merchants will adopt various ways to create the so-called "Internet mandate". The options include well-known mechanisms, such as login/password combinations for the offered service, risk checks or any KYC technique, and does not end with new or less common methods, such as signing an electronic indentity card, secured mail communication (e.g. De-mails), manual signing by mouse and many more.
What Countries belong to the SEPA area
How to integrate SEPA payments in your shop
Just have a look at the AllSecure Intergation Guide.