Website requirements to accept cards
In order to get a merchant acquiring account, your website needs to fulfill some requirements.
The following information and elements must be presented to the customer:
The Terms and Conditions of the company have to comply with EU consumer law. This information must be linked directly from the home page, so the customer can easily find it.
The Subscription Terms and Conditions , if the company offers subscription-based services or products.
These should contain information about:
the payment, and when the money is withdrawn from the cardholder’s card (e.g. every 1st day of the month).
the fact that the company hides the cardholder’s card information.
how a customer can start subscribing to your product/service.
how the customer can unsubscribe from your products/service.
for example: notice period, receiving a receipt after a purchase and other relevant facts.
The Refund and Shipping conditions. It is especially important to inform the customer about the delivery time to every country you ship your product to, the cancellation time on the product, and what address the product is being shipped to if the customer wants to return the product.
The Name of the descriptor for the product/service, which will appear on the bank statement of the customer/cardholder, has to be visible on the web shop. Descriptor/Text on the statement is the name that will be stated on the customer’s bank statement to make it easy for the customer to see who they have paid money to. Normally the company’s URL is used, but in some cases, another name can be used. It is very important that the descriptor name can be easily linked to your web shop.
Caution
Specifically important if the name of the descriptor is different from the URL of the webpage on which the company sells its product/service.
The Customer service information (e-mail and phone number).
The Privacy Policy of the company
A clear Description of the products/services, including prices and fees.
The Contact and Company information like company name, company registration number, and the company’s registered address.
The Location of the company during the checkout process.
The Card logos for the cards you accept. The logos can for example be shown in the footer of the website, or in the payment window.
Other:
All card information must be on an SSL secured page or connection
Your web shop’s general Terms and Conditions must be accepted by a customer before checkout, and the Terms and Conditions link has to be clickable, so the customer can click on the link and gets directed to the Terms and Conditions.
The terms for subscription-based services or products must be accepted by a customer before checkout, and the Subscription Terms link has also to be clickable, so the customer can click on the link and gets directed to the Subscription Terms.
When a customer has completed a payment on the website, he or she has to see and get a receipt of the bought product.