Starting a website in Finland with credit card payment

shawnperry · Post by **shawnperry** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 11:12 am

Hi,

We are working on a big project for the finnish people. We need credit card payment, but are there any special rules in Finland?

- Do you buy things online? Stuff, memberships?
- Do you use visa, Mastercard, Others?
- Are there any special rules for paysites? Do we need "Vertyfied by visa"?

Thanks so much in advance!
Shawn

**Sponsor:**

FinnGuyHelsinki · Post by **FinnGuyHelsinki** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:49 pm

According to some market information, over 90% of people buy online in the Nordic countries, and there was 25% increase (in money spent) during the last year. Visa (including Electron) and Mastercard are the most commonly used cards in Finland, the next one probably is Diners. The rules for credit card payments are dictated by the card companies, AFAIK Verified by Visa is not required, although of course that brings some additional protection. Increasingly popular payment method is also direct online bank transfer, where the customer is transferred to bank's online site for the verification of the payment. Personally I still prefer using a credit card, as in case of problems one can send a reclamation to the card company and they will handle the issue with the merchant.

shawnperry · Post by **shawnperry** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:33 pm

Alright. Thank you. We had some information saying that a lot of finnish credit cards have t&c, that only allow you to use it online if the retailer uses mastercard secure or verified by visa. So we wanted to make sure we are available to the most people possible when making credit card payment on the site.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:55 pm

shawnperry wrote:Alright. Thank you. We had some information saying that a lot of finnish credit cards have t&c, that only allow you to use it online if the retailer uses mastercard secure or verified by visa. So we wanted to make sure we are available to the most people possible when making credit card payment on the site.

I usually prefer bank transfer in Finnish web shops, so I really haven't used cc much in Finland. How expensive stuff you are thinking?

shawnperry · Post by **shawnperry** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:02 pm

It can be anything from 1 euro to 39 euro

T-K · Post by **T-K** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:18 pm

This company handles a lot of the Finnish online shops.. There is a monthly charge..
But then you can take Finnish bank cards and handle the online transfer of funds from your online clients
http://www.verkkomaksut.fi/index.php?id=1

Suomen Verkkomaksut (Finnish Web Payments) - Banks' payment buttons (direct debits), credit card payments, invoicing or installment solutions all with one contract

With help of Suomen Verkkomaksut online store can offer banks' payment buttons, credit card payments and bill or part payment solutions as payment methods easily and economically with one contract and costs. Payments are accounted to one selected account, banks' payment button payments are in the account in 2 banking days whereas credit cards payments are in the account in 10 banking days.

Prices of the payment service (+ VAT 23 %):

Initial fee 0 €
Monthly fee 59 €
Commission/transaction 0,35 € (NB! Nordea e-payment exceptionally 0,50 €)
In credit card payments commission/transaction 0,35 € + 2 %
In Collector's bill and part payment solution commission 3 % (no other costs for merchant)
Service and prices include following payment methods:

OP
Nordea
Sampo Pankki
Aktia/Säästöpankki/Paikallisosuuspankit/Nooa
Handelsbanken
Tapiola
Ålandsbanken
S-Pankki
Card payment service of Luottokunta (includes Visa, Visa Electron, MasterCard and Eurocard)
Itellan NetPosti electronic bill solution
Collector's bill and part payment solution
Service includes also Merchant's panel, which offers among others centralised payment transactions tracing, analysing, reporting and accounting services
Payment methods that require own separate contract with the service provider (are integrated to SV's service):

Klarna Lasku and Klarna Tili
PayPal
Centralised payment transactions tracing, analysing, reporting and accounting services operate similarly as in other payment methods case
NB! Klarna's contract can be made with SV when it is more easily and economically available

Payment methods that are included to the SV's service can also be used with own separate contracts. Customer can e.g. use own contracts with OP, Nordea and Sampo Pankki and take the other payment methods directly from Suomen Verkkomaksut. With help of the service all methods are intregrated as seamless entirety. SV makes separate offer from tailored packages.

Technical integration guide (API) in english can be found from here.

Consumer rights in Finland can be found from here.

The service can be ordered via websites or by calling +358 (0)207 181 830.

FinnGuyHelsinki · Post by **FinnGuyHelsinki** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:04 am

T-K wrote:This company handles a lot of the Finnish online shops.. There is a monthly charge..
But then you can take Finnish bank cards and handle the online transfer of funds from your online clients]

One cannot pay online with a bank card (I don't know if sole bank cards are issued anymore, without a credit card attached, but still), it's either by credit card or online bank transfer.

deepblues · Post by **deepblues** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 12:39 am

How about using using paypal for the payments on your website? I think some people might hesitate to provide credit card information to a small/new website for security reasons, and it will be much easier for them to use paypal as its a trusted payment system.

FinnGuyHelsinki · Post by **FinnGuyHelsinki** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:54 am

deepblues wrote:How about using using paypal for the payments on your website? I think some people might hesitate to provide credit card information to a small/new website for security reasons, and it will be much easier for them to use paypal as its a trusted payment system.

Luottokunta (which issues Finnish Visa cards) offers reclamation service, furthermore the merchant has to have a deal made with Visa to accept their cards (which includes meeting certain security requirements, unless of course the site is completely bogus). AFAIK by default Paypal will not take any part in possible disputes between the merchant and the customer. Paypal is a worthwhile addition to an array of payment options, but Visa clearly is the safest option for the customer.

shawnperry · Post by **shawnperry** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:14 pm

So all in all, we should have no problem accepting visa credit card payments from the finnish people. Thanks guys!

GREAKLY · Post by **GREAKLY** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:27 pm

I am doing the same thing (trying to open a small Finnish-based web shop). The majority of my transactions I plan to handle through Paypal and direct bank account transfers. However, I would love to be able to accept credit cards directly, mainly because of the following reasons:
1. A few times a year I go to trade shows. If the customer wants to pay me with a credit card during the show Paypal is pretty useless at that time.
2. Paypal is quite expensive in Europe. For a small volume business it costs about 4% of every transaction. Ultimately the customer will end up paying that amount but it drives my prices up. In Finland there is a law that any business is allowed to surcharge its customers for using credit card payments. Yet, because Paypal technically is neither a bank, nor a credit card issuing company (not to mention that it's based in the US), I am not sure if this surcharge could be applied to Paypal payments.
3. Customers from outside the EU don't do direct account transfers, unless the amount of the purchase is large enough (well into hundreds (if not thousands) Euros), to justify the cost of "wiring" the money (starting from $35-50 per wire). Also a lot of people do not like bank transfers as they offer much less protection to the consumer than credit card payments.
4. Many people (especially, Americans) are very used to emailing their credit card details or simply providing them over the phone. In order to be able to accept both types of those requests I need to have a physical machine to run them through.
I would have loved to use the Suomen Verkkomaksut for all my credit card transactions if only they charged just the transaction fee. But the monthly fee on top of that kills the whole idea. Since more than 90% of my transactions still go through Paypal and direct bank transfers it's simply too costly for me to pay 59 Euros per month for somewhat increased convenience of an occasional client. On the other hand, I can't switch all my incoming payments to Suomen Verkkomaksut, because many people will keep paying with Paypal no matter what.
I did some research and found this offer:
http://www.mypaymentservice.com/merchan ... inland.php
While $20 monthly fee sounds much better than 59 Euros, $695 application fee is a bit crazy.
Does anybody know any card processing company in Finland (other than Suomen Verkkomaksut and Luottokunta) which offers "no monthly fee" machine? I understand that it might result in slightly higher "per transaction fee" and I am OK with that. In the US I see a lot of such companies, who not only offer "no monthly fee" plans, but also are willing to provide the equipment (credit card processing machine) at a lower cost or even for free as long as I use their services. However, I wasn't able to find any such offers in Finland. If anybody knows some Finnish company that offers similar thing (I do not speak Finnish, so I wasn't able to google any info in that language) I would really appreciate the help.
Thank you in advance.

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:56 pm

GREAKLY · Post by **GREAKLY** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:59 pm

I am not sure what smile is supposed to mean, but I just can't believe that nobody hasn't faced the same problem before me. Is there any way in Finland to accept credit cards offline for a reasonable amount of money or Verkkomaksut and Luottokunta are the only way to go?

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