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FAQ: Reservations and capture

For how long is a payment reserved?​

That depends. Vipps does not control the behavior of the customer's card or account.

The details may change, but the information below is the best Vipps can offer.

  • VISA reservations are valid for 7 days (but only 5 for Visa Electron). The banks will release the reservation after 4-7 days, but if the capture is done within the 7 days, VISA guarantees that the capture will succeed. Vipps' PSP is Adyen, and they have some documentation for VISA reservations.

  • MasterCard reservations are valid for 30 days. The banks may release the reservation before this, but if the capture is done within the 30 days, MasterCard guarantees that the capture will succeed. Vipps' PSP is Adyen, and they have some documentation for Mastercard reservations.

Vipps cannot and does not automatically change the status of a reservation.

If a capture attempt is made more than 7 days (VISA) or 30 days (MasterCard) after the payment has been initiated, and* the reservation has been released by the bank in the meantime, Vipps will make a new payment request to the bank. If the account has sufficient funds, the payment will be successful.

If the user's account has insufficient funds at this time, the payment will either succeed and put the customer's card/account in the negative (as an overdraft), or fail because the customer's card/account cannot be put into the negative - for example youth accounts. Vipps cannot know in advance what will happen.

It is also possible that the card expires, is blocked, etc. somewhere between the time of reservation and the time of capture. Vipps cannot know in advance what will happen.

In many cases the bank will have a register of expired reservations, and they will force the capture through if the account allows this. This will put the account in the negative.

Customers may, understandably, be dissatisfied if the capture puts their account in the negative, so please avoid this.

Capture can be made up to 180 days after reservation. Attempting to capture an older payment will result in a HTTP 400 Bad Request.

The POST:/ecomm/v2/payments/{orderId}/capture and GET:/ecomm/v2/payments/{orderId}/details API calls will always return the correct status.

See: How can I refund only a part of a payment?.

When should I charge the customer?​

You should charge the customer when the product or service is delivered. That is usually when the product is shipped.

According to Norwegian regulations you must not capture a payment until the product or service is provided to the customer. See: Forbrukerkjøpsloven §38 (in Norwegian):

Følger ikke betalingstiden av avtalen, skal forbrukeren betale når selgeren krever det. Hvis ikke noe annet er avtalt, har forbrukeren ikke plikt til å betale kjøpesummen uten at tingen blir overlevert eller stilt til hans eller hennes rådighet i samsvar med avtalen og loven. Forbrukeren er ikke bundet av en forhåndsavtale om plikt til å betale på et bestemt tidspunkt uavhengig av om selgeren oppfyller til rett tid.

This roughly translates to:

If the payment time does not follow the agreement, the consumer must pay when the seller demands it. If nothing else has been agreed, the consumer has no obligation to pay the purchase price without the item being handed over or placed at his or her disposal in accordance with the agreement and the law. The consumer is not bound by a prior agreement on the obligation to pay at a specific time regardless of whether the seller fulfills on time.

For more information, please see the Consumer Authority's Guidelines for the standard sales conditions for consumer purchases of goods over the internet.

Vipps cannot offer legal advice for this.

See more details below:

What is the difference between "Reserve Capture" and "Direct Capture"?​

When you initiate a payment it will be reserved until you capture it. Reserved means the customer has approved the payment. The funds are still in the customer's account, but not available to spend on other things. Capture means the funds are moved from customer's account to merchant's account. Vipps supports both reserve-capture and direct capture:

  • Reserve capture is the default. When you initiate a payment it will be reserved until you capture it. The capture can be done a few seconds later, or several days later.
  • When direct capture is activated, all payment reservations will instantly be captured. This is intended for situations where the product or service is immediately provided to the customer, and there is no chance that the service is not available or sold out, e.g. digital services. Direct capture requires additional compliance checks of the merchant.

Important: It's completely fine to use "reserve capture" almost exactly like "direct capture": Just do the capture immediately after the reservation. The user experience is exactly the same.

Some things to consider:

  • If a payment has been reserved (as with "reserve capture"), the merchant can make a /cancel call to immediately release the reservation and make available in the customer's account.
  • If a payment has been captured (as with "direct capture"), the merchant has to make a /refund call, and it then takes several days before the amount is available in the customer's account.
  • With "reserve capture" it is possible to reserve a higher amount and only capture a part of it (useful for electric car charging stations, etc.). It is also possible to capture the full amount with multiple captures ("partial capture").

See:

When should I use "Direct Capture"?​

You can probably use "reserve capture", and just do the capture right after the reserve. This has some benefits, see the first link below.

See:

How can I check if I have "reserve capture" or "direct capture"?​

Vipps can no longer manually check this for merchant or partners.

All merchants can log in on portal.vipps.no and check the capture type for all their sales units under the "Utvikler" menu item.

You can also find information on how to change capture type there. We require BankID login for this, as "direct capture" requires additional compliance checks.

If you are a partner and want to check a merchant, see the Partner API.

If you are a partner and do not yet use the Partner API, you can ask the merchant to create a user for you on portal.vipps.no, so you can check on behalf of the merchant as described in detail with screenshots.

If you are not able to log in on portal.vipps.no you can make a small payment (2 NOK), check the payment with GET:/ecomm/v2/payments/{orderId}/details, and cancel (if it was RESERVE and reserve capture) or refund (if it was SALE and direct capture).

How do I turn direct capture on or off?​

You can't turn direct capture on or off as a merchant. A sales unit can only have one capture type, and it must be configured by Vipps.

Please note: Vipps only offers "direct capture" for merchants that use Vipps through a partner, and for merchants that have a Key Account Manager. "Direct capture" must be requested by the partner from the partner manager, or by KAM merchants from the Key Account Manager.

See:

Can I prevent people from paying with credit cards?​

Yes, but only if you are not legally allowed to accept credit card payments.

Sales units can be configured to only accept payments from debit cards, so customers cannot pay with credit cards. This is not configurable by the merchant. Please contact your KAM or Vipps Customer Center if you need this.

Can I initiate a Vipps payment with a QR code?​

It is not possible to use a static QR code to initiate payments with the eCom API.

With the eCom API all payments are initiated by calling POST:/ecomm/v2/payments, with a unique orderId for each payment.

This is not possible with a static QR code on a sticker, etc., but _is* possible if a dynamic (unique per payment) QR can be displayed on a screen for the Vipps user to scan.

The only ways to initiate Vipps payments from a QR code are:

  • Use a dynamic QR code for Vipps eCom. The QR code must identical to the Vipps deeplink URL provided in normal eCom payments, which will open Vipps. See: Initiate payment flow: API calls. When the Vipps user scans the QR containing the deeplink URL (with either the camera app or with Vipps), Vipps will be opened, and the payment request will be displayed. The user then has a few minutes to complete the payment. See: Timeouts.
  • Vippsnummer, the solution for flea markets, etc. – which does not have any external API. This solution uses a static QR code for the sales unit, available on portal.vipps.no. Vippsnummer cannot be used for online sales, etc., as it does not meet the legal requirements.

See: The Vipps QR API.

No.

The Vipps "deeplink" opens the payment page in Vipps where the user accepts a payment. This is an integrated part of the Vipps payment process, and the link should never be sent in an SMS or email.

According to Norwegian regulations the customer needs to actively accept the terms and conditions for the purchase. This is not possible if you just send a deeplink.

For more information, please see the Consumer Authority's Guidelines for the standard sales conditions for consumer purchases of goods over the internet.

There are different regulatory requirements for payments that are initiated by a user and by a merchant.

The Vipps deeplink is only valid for 5 minutes, so users that do not act quickly will not be able to pay. There is no way to "retry" a deeplink after the timeout. See: For how long is a payment reserved?

Instead of sending a Vipps deeplink: Send a link to your website, and let the user start the Vipps payment there. It can be a very simple page with a link or a button. You then have the opportunity to give the user additional information, and also a proper confirmation page after the payment has been completed.

You can also send the customer a link to a pre-filled shopping cart, so the customer can add more items, and pay with Vipps Hurtigkasse.

In some cases, such as for donations and gifts, it may be acceptable to automatically trigger the Vipps payment when the user enters your website. This requires that the payment process is user initiated, and that there are no relevant terms and conditions or that the user has accepted any terms and conditions at an earlier stage.

In general, we advise caution and point out that it is the responsibility of the merchant to assure that users accept terms and conditions for products and services.

You can also use Vipps Login for easy registration and login.

See: The Vipps deeplink URL.

Can I sell products on social media?​

Yes, but you also need a website. Vipps is required to check your website and that it meets the requirements set by Norwegian law and regulation.

See:

Can I whitelist my URL for a Vipps QR?​

There is no need for whitelisting QR codes any longer. It was previously a temporary solution a merchant to whitelist a URL to support users scanning a Vipps-branded QR to be sent directly to the merchant's URL.

The previous whitelisting functionality has been replaced by the Vipps QR API.

The API supports static merchant redirect with possibility to update the target URL for stickers, billboards, TV-commercials, magazine ads, etc.

The API also support a one-time payment QR code for customer facing screens in POS situations.

Can I use a different currency than NOK?​

Nope. All Vipps payments must be in NOK. Vipps does not do currency conversion.

You will have to make any currency conversion before initiating the Vipps payment, as the amount specified in the payment initiation is always in NOK, and in øre (1 NOK = 100 øre).

See: Regular eCom Payments.