Sofort payments

Sofort is a direct and secure bank transfer payment method for Shopify Payments. When a customer selects Sofort as their payment method, they need to log in to their account and use a two-factor authorization code to verify the payment.

If you need to use SEPA payments, then you can use Sofort payments as an alternative to SEPA payments in Germany. SEPA payments aren't supported by Shopify Payments.

Sofort requirements

Sofort is available only to merchants in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. To activate Sofort for your online store, you need to use Shopify Payments. Sofort works only when Shopify Payments is active, and it doesn't work when Shopify Payments is in test mode.

Customers can pay using Sofort only when they're making payment in euros, and they're located in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, or Spain. You need to ensure that your store accepts EUR. If you're not already selling to these countries, then you can configure this in yourmulti currencysettings within Shopify Payments.

You must deactivate any conflictingalternative payment gatewaysbefore you can enable Sofort.

Regions where customers can pay using Sofort

Merchants in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland can accept Sofort payments from customers in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.

Activate Sofort

Before Sofort can be activated, you have toset up Shopify Payments.

Sofort must be approved before you can use it. When you activate Shopify Payments, Sofort automatically goes into the approval process, which takes up to 48 hours.

When Sofort completes the approval process, a message appears below the Sofort option on yourShopify Paymentspage.

Payments with Sofort

With Sofort the payment is authorized when a customer places an order and uses Sofort to pay. A bank transfer from your customer’s bank account is initiated after the authorization. The bank transfer can take from 2 to 7 days, but usually takes 3 business days. Funds are not guaranteed until they have been received by you. During this period, the payment status in the Shopify admin shows asPayment pending. It switches toPaidwhen the funds have transferred. You can decide whether you want to fulfill the order before you have received the funds, as the customer has in effect already paid the outstanding amount to Sofort.

A customer can't cancel a payment with Sofort after the payment has been authorized. The only way to reverse a transaction with Sofort is to refund the order. If you refund a transaction that was processed by Sofort, then you are not refunded the processing fee charged to you by Shopify Payments.

When a customer pays for an order using Sofort, a chargeback can't be filed for the order.

Sofort customer experience

When a customer visits your online store and makes a purchase, they see Sofort as a payment option during the checkout process.

If your customer wants to use Sofort to pay, then they select it in the checkout. When they select Sofort, they are redirected to their Sofort account to complete the purchase.

Deactivate Sofort

1. InShopify Payments, clickManage.
2. InAccepted payments, uncheck Sofort and then clickSave.