Recurring payments

Recurring payments

Setting up recurring payments allows you to collect regular customer payments automatically, from your customers' accounts using your customers' card details. Recurring payments are ideal for subscriptions (such as a regular subscription fee for content e.g. e-newsletters). Before setting up a recurring payment, make sure your customer voluntarily consents in advance to making recurring payments and enters into an agreement with your service.

Recurring payments are often used for things like:

• payments for telecom services;
• payments for information services;
• TV and radio subscriptions (cable, satellite, others);
• bill payments (water, gas, heat and electricity);
• book, newspaper or magazine subscriptions;
• charitable donations.

Terms of business

We must have in place a recurring transaction agreement (RTA) representing an understanding between your customer and us. It can take the form of a purchase agreement (incorporated by reference into your terms of business) to which your customer consents and agrees (for instance, by ticking a checkbox) when making a purchase from you.

The agreement must include details about:

• payment amount and date;
• whether the payment/date is fixed or variable;
• mode of communication (preferably by automated emails).

Other necessary requisites

• Notify your customer, within two days of the agreement, that recurring payments will be collected (preferably by automated emails);
• keep a record of when your customer made the agreement;
• instruct your customer to provide their payment card details for 3D Secure 2.0 authorisation by making their first payment through the payment gateway with their payment card to verify the customer and activate the recurring payments;
• send to your customer a payment receipt confirming the payment has been made every time the recurring payment is collected;
• let your customer know that their payment card will expire soon and offer them to renew the recurring payment;
• notify your customer not less than seven (7) business days before making the next recurring payment if more than six months have elapsed from the date of the last payment;
• notify your customer not less than seven (7) business days before making the next recurring payment if the free trial period for a subscription product is over;
• notify your customer not less than seven (7) business days before making the next recurring payment if the payment amount or date has changed.

Integration

• For more information about how to set up the recurring payments, see the integration guide.

Read also:

Pre-authorised payments