Important information regarding subscription payment

Subscription payment is a form of recurring payment in which your customer allows you, the store, to withdraw a particular amount from the customer's card, for example once a month. It is sometimes also referred to as "Recurring payment".

Visa and Mastercard have now imposed more stringent requirements for merchants that offer subscription payment in order to make it clearer to customers who pay by card. The customer should understand what conditions apply and how the payment is made.

What do you need to consider?

If you offer subscription payment to your customers, you need to be aware of the most important aspects. The full requirements can be found in the "Internet and phone order regulations", but the most important thing you need to consider in order to avoid chargebacks is:

• When a customer registers their card details for subscription payment, the customer must receive clear information about the conditions applying to storage of the card details and the purpose of the storage, when and how payments will be made (including amounts and payment intervals), as well as other conditions that apply to subscription payment.
• The conditions must be separate and may not form part of the general purchasing conditions that apply to purchases of goods and services. The card customer must actively accept the conditions.
• The conditions must also be available in English.
• When a new customer registers their card details for subscription payment or when the same customer subsequently enters new card details, the customer must identify themselves for the first purchase by means of 3D Secure and the security code (CVV2/CVC2).
• Subsequent withdrawal with subscription payment is always initiated by you and therefore does not need to be carried out using 3D Secure and a security code. You therefore bear all the risk in the event of, for example, fraudulent card purchases.
• The customer must receive an email or text message before each withdrawal. If the customer has received a free trial period or other introductory offer, a message must be sent at least seven (7) days before the offer expires and withdrawal is to take place.
• It must be easy for the customer to discontinue their subscription payment with immediate effect. It must be possible to do this via the internet or equivalent without any need for a telephone call.
• Your telephone number or website address must also be sent as the market name in each card transaction.
• Card purchases must always be checked by means of an authorisation before each withdrawal. If the authorisation is refused, no withdrawal may be carried out.
• If an authorisation is refused because the card has been blocked, no new authorisation may be carried out. When the authorisation has been refused for other reasons, a maximum of two new attempts may be made.
• For subscription payments in which you offer the customer a free trial period or an introductory offer, special requirements apply to the first withdrawal after they expire. In these transactions, the text "trial" or "test" must be included in the market name.

If you have any questions about subscription payments or other matters, you can always write to us at support.swedbankpay@swedbank.fi