Payment Methods
Merchants can send payments to Wirecard Payment Gateway using various payment methods. Merchants can create a payment using a specific payment method, if they have a valid subscription and have specified it correctly inside the payment request.
The following pages provide an overview about all available payment methods, their characteristics and the required parameters for transaction processing.
Credit Card
As a payment service provider and bank, Wirecard offers payment processing and card acceptance as a complete solution from a single source.
Our industry-specific end-to-end solutions can be quickly and easily incorporated and can be used for all major credit and debit cards, as well as in all common payout and transaction currencies.
The Wirecard Payment Gateway operates according to the latest security standards. It meets all the requirements stipulated for a card organization, including PCI DSS compliance. It supports the processing of industry-specific supplementary data, including the hotel, airline and car rental industries.
Find all the details about integrating the payment method Credit Card.
Credit Card and Debit Card
This section describes the difference between Credit Card and Debit Card payments and their respective advantages.
Debit Card
A debit card (also known as a bank card or check card) is a payment card that can be used instead of cash when making purchases. It is similar to a credit card, but unlike a credit card, the money comes directly from the user’s bank account when performing a transaction.
Some cards may bear a stored value with which a payment is made, while most relay a message to the cardholder’s bank to withdraw funds from a payer’s designated bank account. In some cases, the primary account number is assigned exclusively for use on the Internet and there is no physical card.
In many countries, the use of debit cards has become so widespread that their volume has overtaken or entirely replaced cheques and, in some instances, cash transactions. The development of debit cards, unlike credit cards and charge cards, has generally been country specific resulting in a number of different systems around the world, which were often incompatible. Since the mid-2000s, a number of initiatives have allowed debit cards issued in one country to be used in other countries and allowed their use for internet and phone purchases.
Advantages
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A debit card immediately transfers the payment from the cardholder’s designated bank account.
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Debit cards allow instant withdrawal of cash.
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Merchants may also offer cashback facilities to customers, where a customer can withdraw cash along with their purchase.
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A debit card requires the balance to be repaid in full each month. Debit card defers payment by the cardholder until a later date.
Credit Card
A credit card is a payment card issued to a cardholder to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services, based on the cardholder’s promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts so paid plus other agreed charges. The card issuer (usually a bank) creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the cardholder, from which the cardholder can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance.
In the same context prepaid credit card can be used. The prepaid credit card in opposite to the standard credit card cannot be used without enough money on it (the referring account). These cards can be used for payments only in case the card owner has enough money on his card. In this case the card holder can perform the same actions like with standard credit card up to the limit of the card until no funds are left.
Advantages
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A credit card allows continuing balance of debt, subject to interest being charged.
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A credit card typically involves a third-party entity that pays the seller and is reimbursed by the cardholder.
Alternative Payment Methods (APM)
Next to Credit Card Payments, merchants can also use Alternative Payment Methods (APM) in the environment of the Wirecard Payment Gateway to process their payments. APMs comprise the payment modes Bank Transfer (online and offline), Prepaid, Voucher and Wallet.
The Wirecard Payment Gateway offers a variety of Online Bank Transfer and Offline Bank Transfer APMs. Each payment method can be used depending on regulations and laws of regions and countries. For details click the payment method’s name in the list below, where you can find all the supported APMs grouped by the payment mode.
Also some Mobile Payment options, which are just a variety of the above mentioned Payment Methods, fit into that scheme.
APMs grouped by Payment Mode
This table describes the APM payment modes supported by the Wirecard Payment Gateway, their advantages and which payment method applies to each of the payment modes.
| Payment Mode | Description | Advantages | Payment Method |
|---|---|---|---|
Online Bank Transfer is a payment mode which enables shoppers to directly do the payment when ordering the product. Payment confirmation for this payment mode is sent in real time through Wirecard Payment Gateway. After a successful payment, the transaction may no longer be revoked by the consumer and the merchant can ship the ordered product or service immediately. |
An Online Bank Transfer offers the option to perform secure online payments to consumers, who
With an Online Bank Transfer consumers
This increases the conversion rate for merchants as well as the customer satisfaction. |
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Offline Bank Transfer is a payment mode which enables shoppers to decouple the payment from the delivery of the product they ordered. This means during your shopping event, wherever you do it, you order something and you pay for it not by directly using your credit card, your online banking, etc. You tell your merchant that you want to buy his product and you get a kind of invoice for it. With that invoice you can do e.g. a money transfer (SEPA Deposit). So order/shipping and payment are decoupled. The payment confirmation for this type of payment mode is sent in a batch process through Wirecard Payment Gateway. |
An Offline Bank Transfer offers the option to perform secure online payments to consumers, who
This increases the conversion rate for merchants as well as the customer satisfaction. |
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"Pay with cash on the internet" - this slogan stands for prepaid or voucher-based payment solutions. With this popular payment mode consumers have the possibility to buy prepaid-cards or vouchers at thousands of participating stores like kiosks or gas stations. The cash or voucher code is used to perform the payment on the merchant´s checkout page. |
For the merchant a prepaid or voucher payment is
For consumers who do not want to provide
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Wallet is a payment mode which enables consumers to pay directly from their Wallet to merchants they want to deal with. So like in Online Bank Transfer consumers are enabled to directly do the payment when ordering the product. Payment confirmation for this payment mode is sent in real time through Wirecard Payment Gateway. |
For the merchant a wallet payment
This increases the conversion rate for merchants as well as the customer satisfaction. For consumers who do not want to provide
In most of the cases
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Payment methods offer Mobile Payment as an additional variant to their traditional payment possibilities. Therefore it is not possible to assign mobile payment to either Credit/Debit Card or an APM. The usage of smartphones and tablets has massively assisted in the development of mobile payments. Meanwhile, a wide-range of products are available on the market, using different kinds of technologies. Wirecard Payment Gateway already supports several mobile payment options. |
A mobile payment method is an attractive alternative to a consumer’s credit card. Some consumers enjoy the comfort to pay with a mobile device and charge the monthly telecommunication bill. |