E-payment manual Postfinance payment methods for online shops

499.45 en (pf.ch/dok.pf) 04.2011 PF 

E-payment manual 

PostFinance payment methods 

for online shops 

Manual PostFinance payment methods for online shops Version April 2011 1/14

Contact details for PostFinance 

Are you interested in the PostFinance payment methods? 

PostFinance will be happy to advise you. 

Consulting & Sales Business Customers 

Tel. +41 (0)848 848 848 (regular rate) 

Do you already use the PostFinance payment methods 

in your online shop? 

Our E-payment Customer Service team will be happy to answer 

your questions. 

Swiss Post 

PostFinance 

E-payment Customer Service 

3002 Berne 

Tel. +41 (0)848 382 423 

E-mail merchanthelp@postfinance.ch 

Would you like to offer your purchasers optimum support 

for problems encountered during the payment process with 

PostFinance payment methods? 

The PostFinance Customer Service for purchasers is open six days 

a week and will be happy to provide you with information. 

Swiss Post 

PostFinance 

E-payment Customer Service 

3002 Berne 

Tel. +41 (0)848 880 470 

E-mail shopperhelp@postfinance.ch 


Table of contents 

1. Introduction 4 

1.1 Purpose of this document 4 

1.2 Requirements 4 

1.3 Technical integration 4 

1.4 Functionality 4 

1.5 Individual settings 4 

2. PostFinance payment methods 5 

2.1 General 5 

2.2 Sales market Switzerland 5 

2.3 Target group 5 

2.4 Payment interface display 5 

2.5 Highest security standard 5 

2.6 Payment process 6 

2.7 PostFinance Card 7 

2.8 PostFinance e-finance 8 

3. Settings 9 

3.1 General 9 

3.2 Direct delivery 9 

3.3 Approval of payments 9 

3.4 Delivery deadlines 9 

3.5 Initiating credits to purchasers 10 

3.6 PostFinance Card Alias – for simple and recurring transactions 10 

4. Notification of payment 11 

4.1 General 11 

4.2 Collective credits with PostFinance Card 11 

4.3 PostFinance e-finance credits 11 

5. Prices 12 

6. Further information 13 

7. Reference customers 14 


1. Introduction 

1.1 Purpose of this document 

This document is intended for merchants who operate an online shop and 

want to process payments for their goods and/or services using PostFinance 

payment methods. 

1.2 Requirements 

In order for the PostFinance payment methods to be integrated into 

an online shop, you must have: 

• shop software which can communicate with the interface of your 

payment service provider, 

• an agreement with a payment service provider which offers the 

PostFinance payment methods including the additional options 

requested by the merchant (e.g. PostFinance Card Alias), 

• a PostFinance business account. 

1.3 Technical integration 

Technical integration of the PostFinance payment methods into the online 

shop is effected through your payment service provider. You can find all 

the technical information on our payment methods in your payment service 

provider’s technical documentation. 

1.4 Functionality 

This document describes all the options available with the PostFinance 

payment methods. To benefit from the full functionality offered, it is 

important that the upstream interface to your payment service provider 

supports the relevant options. If in doubt, please contact your payment 

service provider. 

1.5 Individual settings 

The manual provides basic information about default settings. However, 

PostFinance offers many additional functions, such as customized reporting 

of processing results per transaction, electronic notices of payment, 

etc. We will be pleased to advise you in person of the many possibilities. 


2. PostFinance payment methods 

2.1 General 

PostFinance offers two payment methods for payment using the postal 

account in the online shop. The main differences lie in the speed of processing, 

the length of the payment guarantee and the payment notification. 

2.2 Sales market Switzerland 

Visa, MasterCard and the PostFinance payment methods are the e-payment 

payment methods with the biggest market shares in Switzerland. The majority 

of all e-payment transactions in the Swiss sales market are processed 

using these payment methods. Our payment methods are thus extremely 

well suited for online shops seeking to sell goods and services in Switzerland. 

PostFinance enjoys an excellent reputation in Switzerland, and purchasers 

are happy to use our payment methods. Thanks to the PostFinance 

payment methods, you can create extra trust among your customers in the 

sensitive payment process of e-payment. 

2.3 Target group 

The PostFinance payment methods are used by all merchant segments. The 

PostFinance payment methods are popular with SMEs as PostFinance’s prices 

are very attractive. Major customers value the PostFinance payment methods 

as an alternative to credit cards, especially on account of the huge customer 

potential of approx. 3 million purchasers, the payment guarantee and the 

possibility of real-time booking immediately after successful authorization of 

the payment transaction. 

2.4 Payment interface display 

The payment interface is displayed in a window that fills the screen or in 

an iFrame, depending on implementation. Pop-up windows are not used. 

PostFinance offers two interface sizes and presentation layers which the 

merchant can select via its payment service provider with the payment 

interface query: 

• standard display, 

• iPhone-optimized display. 

2.5 Highest security standard 

The shopper always enters the elements in the PostFinance server environment, 

where extremely high security standards apply. Third parties cannot 

view the entered data. 


2.6 Payment process 

1. The purchaser enters the payment information in the secure payment 

interface. 

2. PostFinance checks that the information is correct and that sufficient 

funds are available in the purchaser’s account. 

3. Assuming a positive outcome, the purchaser is automatically returned 

to the last page accessed in the online shop. 

In the event of an error, a message is displayed on the PostFinance payment 

screen and the purchaser is not automatically returned to the last page 

accessed in the online shop. 

A reader is required to pay amounts over CHF 100.00/EUR 65.00. 

Shopper 

authentication step 1 

[PostFinance URL] 

Shopper 

authentication step 2 

[PostFinance URL] 

12345678 

BERNASCONI MARIA 

24-9779-8 

ID: 110 234 249 778 

PlatzhalterOBERTHUR 0000 


2.7 PostFinance Card 

With the PostFinance Card you reach a potential customer base of around 

3 million card holders. 

PostFinance guarantees payment (payment guarantee) as long as the 

delivery period set out in section 3.4 is observed. 

There is no need for debt collection procedures as there is no credit risk 

with the payment guarantee. 

Payments are settled according to the Swiss EFT/POS-2000 standard (ep2). 


2.8 PostFinance e-finance 

With PostFinance e-finance, you can reach a target audience of about one 

million purchasers who manage their postal accounts online. To execute 

the payment, purchasers identify themselves by means of the e-finance ID 

elements. 

As with the PostFinance Card, PostFinance guarantees payment (payment 

guarantee) as long as the delivery deadline, as described in section 3.4, is 

observed. This means that you do not need to initiate collection procedures 

and there is no risk of bad debts (credit risk). This is the case even if the 

payment only arrives three months after the purchase amount was authorized. 

This payment method is particularly popular with shops that deliver 

immediate services to the purchaser (ticketing, music downloads, etc.). 


3. Settings 

3.1 General 

This chapter explains the various settings and possibilities of our payment 

methods. The settings described can be made separately for each individual 

payment. 

3.2 Direct delivery 

If you choose direct execution (immediate delivery), the payment is sent 

automatically to PostFinance for same-day processing without your 

having to do anything. Payment cannot be prevented through cancellation, 

nor can the amount to be booked be amended downwards. 

3.3 Approval of payments 

You have the option of checking payments before delivering them to 

PostFinance (deferred delivery). In this case the purchase amount authorized 

by the purchaser is only noted and stored temporarily. You can approve 

payments for execution or cancel them via either an Internet back office or 

a computerized interface belonging to your payment service provider. 

In this way you can influence when the purchase amount will be debited 

to the purchaser or prevent the purchaser from being charged by cancelling 

the transaction. It is also possible to deliver a lower amount than the 

purchase amount originally authorized by the purchaser. This can be useful 

if you have to make new arrangements at short notice because you 

cannot deliver an article from the shopping cart. If you have not approved 

a payment within 90 days of authorization of the purchase amount by 

the purchaser, it will expire. To make use of the full potential of our payment 

methods, it is important to observe the recommendations made in section 

3.4, irrespective of the 90-day technical execution deadline. 

3.4 Delivery deadlines 

If you comply with our recommendations for delivery deadlines, you will 

also benefit from the payment guarantee with PostFinance Card and 

PostFinance e-finance. 

• To benefit from the PostFinance payment guarantee, PostFinance Card 

payments must be executed within three days of the purchase amount 

being authorized. 

• With PostFinance e-finance payments, you enjoy the full technical 

execution deadline of 90 days after authorization of the purchase 

amount, while still benefiting from the payment guarantee. 


3.5 Initiating credits to purchasers 

Should you need to refund part or all of the purchase amount to your 

purchaser after the purchase amount has been booked, you can do this 

manually in the Internet back office or automatically, using your payment 

service provider‘s computerized interface. This is useful in cases where 

the purchaser returns the goods (e.g. mail order business). You do not need 

any information about the purchaser’s account, and the account that was 

used for the payment process is automatically credited. 

3.6 PostFinance Card Alias – for simple and recurring transactions 

The online shop operator has the option of processing PostFinance Card 

transactions with a PostFinance Card Alias. The purchaser defines 

PostFinance Card as the default payment method in his profile with the 

online shop. After registering once with the reader, the online shop 

operator can debit the purchaser‘s postal account repeatedly, as with a 

standing order. Moreover, the online shop operator can offer payment 

processes suitable for various channels (e.g. iApps). One click is all the purchaser 

needs to initiate a postal account payment. 

In order to use PostFinance Card Alias, the online shop has to request 

activation of the Alias option from PostFinance Customer Service. 

The online shop operator bears the reversal risk only for PostFinance Card 

Alias transactions if the card holder disputes the transaction. 


4. Notification of payment 

4.1 General 

• You receive credits to your PostFinance business account each day for 

each PostFinance payment method. 

• The purchaser is notified of the details of the individual transactions for 

each PostFinance payment method on the debit account. 

• The account notification can be adpated by Customer Service if requested. 

4.2 Collective credits with PostFinance Card 

PostFinance books the PostFinance Card payments to your account on a 

daily basis with a single collective credit. 

Lines 1–4 of the notification example given below are supplied by PostFinance. 

You can define the fifth line as you wish. It will be included on the purchaser’s 

account statement as a message for the debit. PostFinance recommends 

that the online shop operator’s home page be used, as the origin 

of the payment will then be immediately apparent to the purchaser.* 

Using the execution date, you can assign the collective booking from 

PostFinance to the individual payments received by your shop. You receive 

a list of the individual payments via the Internet back office or the computerized 

interface of your payment service provider. 

E-payment transaction credit 

Delivery on [delivery date] 

[Merchant name] 

[Merchant ID] 

*[individual text, max. 25 characters] 

4.3 PostFinance e-finance credits 

With the PostFinance e-finance payment method, your individual explanatory 

text is not included on the credit. However, this information does 

appear on the purchaser’s account statement as the explanatory text that 

goes with the debit. 

As you are shown the individual PostFinance e-finance payments, you can 

allocate them right away on the basis of the account statement to your 

payment service provider. Depending on the setting (see sections 3.2 and 

3.3), the payment is marked DEFERRED or IMMEDIATE. 

Further information about the notification service such as „e-com- 

merce list“ is available from our Customer Service by e-mail at 

merchanthelp@postfinance.ch or by telephone on +41 (0)848 382 423. 


5. Prices 

See separate price list. 


6. Further information 

See our website w ww.postfinance.ch/e-payment for further details 

under „PostFinance payment methods“. 


7. Reference customers 

Several thousand online shops use the PostFinance payment methods 

to collect payments. Here are a few reference customers.

E-payment manual Postfinance payment methods for online shops

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