Questions and answers about PostFinance Pay

Here you will find answers to questions about payment notification, fee entries, credit advice and more.

Preconditions and general information

  • In order for PostFinance payment methods to be integrated into an online shop,
    you must have:

    • a business account at PostFinance or a third-party bank in Switzerland
    • a contract with a payment service provider (PSP) that can offer PostFinance Pay
    • shop software or a proprietary solution that can interact with your payment service provider’s interface
  • The one-stop online payment solution. Information at postfinance.ch/e-payment.

  • You can pre-register by filling in the form at postfinance.ch/e-payment. You will then be contacted by a PostFinance employee.

  • PostFinance Pay provides a secure and reliable payment solution at attractive terms. See the “Prices and conditions” section for information on our 1.3% commission model.

  • You can receive a transaction statement as a PDF or as a file with PMS, MFTPF, in e-finance or by e-mail.

  • PostFinance Pay offers your shoppers high standard limits of CHF 10,000 per day and CHF 15,000 per month, which can be increased by the shopper.

  • The shopper always enters their security elements in the PostFinance server environment  using the highest security standards. Third parties cannot view the entered data. Card and account numbers cannot be saved by the merchant.

Payment option

  • Authentication is only possible with the PostFinance App via Face ID, Touch ID, card reader or Mobile ID.

  • Yes, there is. The PostFinance Pay token enables shoppers to make quick and easy payments in the form of one-touch payments or invisible payments. As part of a one-off registration process per merchant, the PostFinance Pay token is stored with the online shop in the personal profile of the person making the purchase. No further authentication is required from the person making the purchase for future purchases.

  • Yes, provided that the successful authorization is submitted within 30 days and was not executed with the PostFinance Pay token without a transaction signature.

  • The merchant does not need any information about the shopper’s account – the account that was used for the payment process is credited automatically. A delivered transaction must be credited within 14 months. No more than the delivered amount can be reimbursed. Multiple credits (or partial credits), are also possible for a submitted and processed amount.

  • An authorized basket amount can be submitted unchanged with a reduced amount or in the form of multiple sub-amounts for processing. In such cases, the total of the submissions may not exceed the authorized amount. The submission must be made no later than 30 days after successful authorization. Delivered amounts over 30 days old will no longer be processed.

Payment screen

  • PostFinance consistently implements the current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0, AA).

Payment notification

  • Depending on the chosen entry method, delivered transactions are credited to the PostFinance business account either individually – soon after delivery – or in a daily batch entry or daily to the Swiss third-party account.

  • No, outpayments to a third-party account are only possible in Swiss francs.

  • All transactions are credited in an individual entry one working day after delivery.

    PostFinance Pay entry detail:

    CREDIT FOR E-PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS
    POSTFINANCE Pay
    DELIVERED ON 28.08.2022
    SAMPLECOMPANY LTD
    PFYPX0000000000
    WWW.SAMPLEMERCHANT.CH

  • Every transaction is credited individually and soon after delivery.

    PostFinance Pay entry detail:

    CREDIT FOR E-PAYMENT TRANSACTION
    POSTFINANCE Pay
    OF 29.08.2022
    SAMPLECOMPANY LTD
    PFYPX0000000000
    WWW.SAMPLEMERCHANT.CH
    PAYMENTID 30162958000489326395
    ORDER NUMBER 00000000XXA0450192

Swiss third-party account

  • No, only credits to Swiss bank accounts are allowed. An account in Liechtenstein is also considered an account abroad.

  • The transaction fees are deducted directly from the total revenue and the net amount is transferred to your bank account.

  • Example of PostFinance payment types for online shops: third-party account

    POSTFINANCE E-PAYMENT
    [URL]
    [MerchantID]+[DATE]
    GROSS AMOUNT, COMMISSION AMOUNT

  • No, only Swiss bank accounts are allowed.

Fees

  • The fees are shown separately for transactions below and above CHF 25 / EUR 17.

    PostFinance Pay entry detail:

    PRICE FOR E-PAYMENT
    POSTFINANCE Pay
    UP TO CHF 25 / EUR 17
    WWW.SAMPLEMERCHANT.CH
    NUMBER OF TRANSACTIONS: 15
    REVENUE CHF 30.76
    JANUARY 2016

Credit advice

  • Merchants can reconcile the payment data using the options offered by their payment service provider (merchant GUI, API, etc.). If required, a credit advice can be requested for the PostFinance payment type, which will be sent either as a PDF file or on paper (charges apply). Available delivery channels are post, e-mail or e-finance. For monthly delivery we supplement the list of transactions with the fees incurred during the previous month.

  • The key information contained within the files for electronic reconciliation is the processing results of both the PostFinance payment methods. Depending on the payment service provider chosen by the merchant, we generate a reconciliation advice file (RAF) or an EPAY reconciliation file (ERF) for collection. In both cases it is in XML format. Reconciliation files are generated from the time of activation. Delivery cannot be ordered for transactions executed before activation. RAFs are generated when a payment service provider uses the ep2 protocol to process PostFinance payment methods. This is particularly attractive for merchants with high to very high transaction volumes. An ep2 infrastructure is a precondition for further processing by the merchant. You can find more information about this at The link will open in a new window ep2.ch. ERFs are generated when a payment service provider uses the non-ep2 protocol to process PostFinance payment methods.

  • The delivery channels are listed below:

    RAF 

    • MI-Rec server (PMS): For automated downloading and for further processing of RAF. Requires the merchant to have an ep2 infrastructure.
    • E-finance: For semi-automated reconciliation of transactions. Download the RAF in e-finance and manually import it into the merchant’s system.
    • MFTP (File Delivery Service): For automated downloading and for further processing of RAF.

    ERF file (EPAY reconciliation file)

    • E-finance: For semi-automated reconciliation of transactions. Download the ERF in e-finance and manually import it into the merchant’s system.
    • MFTP (File Delivery Service): For automated downloading and for further processing of ERF.

    Credit advice

    • E-finance: For manual reconciliation, PDF
    • E-mail: For manual reconciliation, PDF
    • Post (charges apply): For manual reconciliation, PDF
  • If you have any questions regarding transactions, please contact our Customer Service or our advisors. Transactions are archived for a period of 15 months. Account entries are archived for a period of ten years.

PSP Checkout

  • You can find a description of the process for activating PostFinance Pay in the corresponding task after logging in with your personal account under “Space” > “Manual Tasks”. Follow the instructions to complete the changeover in a few minutes.

    A detailed, step by step guide can be found here:

    The link will open in a new window Instructions for activating PostFinance Pay and deactivating the previous PostFinance payment methods (PDF)

    Important note: You will receive a letter informing you as soon as PostFinance Pay and the associated manual tasks are available in your back office (only for retailers with PSP Checkout). Merchants with a different PSP will receive the information for activating PostFinance Pay at a later date. Communication will take place according to the timeline of the relevant PSP.

  • You can find a description of the process for deactivating the previous PostFinance payment methods in the corresponding task after logging in with your personal account under “Space” > “Manual Tasks”. The manual task appears automatically when the activation of PostFinance Pay is complete.

    A detailed, step by step guide can be found here:

    The link will open in a new window Instructions for activating PostFinance Pay and deactivating the previous PostFinance payment methods (PDF)

    Important note: You will receive a letter informing you as soon as PostFinance Pay and the associated manual tasks are available in your back office (only for retailers with PSP Checkout). Merchants with a different PSP will receive the information for activating PostFinance Pay at a later date. Communication will take place according to the timeline of the relevant PSP.

  • As with the previous PostFinance payment methods, PostFinance Pay makes it possible to register the payment method in an online shop (PostFinance Pay token) for recurring payments and one-touch payments. If customers have already registered in your online shop with the PostFinance Card payment method, they will automatically be migrated to PostFinance Pay and do not need to register again, provided that the PostFinance Card saved with the alias is still valid and that the customer has e-finance.

    Technical procedure for token migration:

    1. Alias token migration starts automatically in the background when the new PostFinance Pay payment method is activated in your payment service provider’s back office (see “How can I activate PostFinance Pay?”).
    2. The alias migration takes 24 hours. It is important not to deactivate any existing payment methods during this time.

    Request PostFinance Pay token version from your payment service provider

    To ensure that your customers’ migrated PostFinance Pay tokens are correctly displayed in your online shop, you as a merchant must request the new version of the PostFinance Pay token from your payment service provider for all aliases (trigger request “Token Merchant Update”) and display it to the customers accordingly. In the case of an alias for the PostFinance Card, the token version appears as a masked card number with expiry date and an image URL for the PostFinance Card logo. In the case of a PostFinance Pay token, the token version is displayed as a masked IBAN and contains an image URL for the PostFinance Pay logo.

PSP Saferpay

  • The changeover will take place on Tuesday, 18 June 2024. If the date changes, the new date will be shown on this page. To be on the safe side, please check the final date shortly before the changeover.

  • Your payment service provider (PSP) Saferpay is changing its technology from the “ep2” specification standard to “non-ep2”, which means that your reconciliation file’s format will also change. If you are still processing the reconciliation advice file (RAF) in your system, you will need to replace it with the EPAY reconciliation file (ERF).

    To do so, follow these instructions:

    The link will open in a new window Instructions for replacing RAF with ERF (PDF)

    Important note: you will receive a new, unique merchant ID from PostFinance for each existing online shop. PostFinance will send the new merchant IDs in good time by post. As a retailer, you need to replace the old merchant IDs with the new merchant IDs wherever you process this information (e.g. in your accounting software). The new PostFinance Pay payment method also has a new application identifier (AID). The new AID is A00000015744FB and must also be adapted for further processing in your system.

    If you have any questions, you can contact your customer advisor or Merchant Support via e-mail.

  • As with the previous PostFinance payment methods, PostFinance Pay also makes it possible to register the payment method in an online shop (PostFinance Pay token) for recurring payments and one-touch payments. If customers have already registered in your online shop with the PostFinance Card payment method, they will automatically be migrated to PostFinance Pay without having to register again, provided that the PostFinance Card stored with the alias is still valid and that the customer has access to e-finance.

    The alias token migration starts automatically in the background when the new PostFinance Pay payment method is activated in the Saferpay back office. This can take up to 48 hours.

     

    When displaying the PostFinance Pay token, we recommend including a reference to the IBAN used, e.g. CH79*********** 11. This enables the shopper to see which account is being debited.

  • For technical reasons, we no longer support the integration of iFrame in the payment process.

Worldline Direct PSP (previously Ogone)

  • The activation of PostFinance’s new payment method “PostFinance Pay” and the deactivation of the previous payment methods “PostFinance Card” and “PostFinance E-Finance” can be carried out via your payment service provider (PSP) Worldline Direct (previously Ogone) from 2 July 2024 and must be completed by 31 December 2024.

    Preconditions for PostFinance Pay: a migration to the latest Direct API from Worldline is required before PostFinance Pay can be used as a new payment method, as PostFinance Pay is not available on the old version of the API. As Worldline announced several weeks ago, the latest API is already available in your back office after login. Migrate to the latest API now to continue accepting payments with PostFinance in future.

    Activating PostFinance Pay: if you have migrated to the latest Direct API, you can log in to your back office, search for “PostFinance Pay” in the payment method menu and enter the new Merchant ID(s) – which can be found in the letter you received – to activate the payment method on your account. This step completes the activation of PostFinance Pay as a new payment method. Depending on the shop software provider, or in the case of in-house developments, adjustments may be required at shop software level or in the programming code.

  • A migration to the latest Direct API from Worldline is required before PostFinance Pay can be used as a new payment method, as PostFinance Pay is not available on the old version of the API. As Worldline announced several weeks ago, the latest API is already available in your back office after login. Migrate to the latest API now to continue accepting payments with PostFinance in future.

    If you have any questions about the back office, you can contact Worldline directly through your account manager or via the The link will open in a new window contact form.

  • As with the previous PostFinance payment methods, PostFinance Pay also makes it possible to register the payment method in an online shop (PostFinance Pay token) for recurring payments and one-touch payments. If customers have already registered in your online shop with the PostFinance Card payment method, they will automatically be migrated to PostFinance Pay without having to register again, provided that the PostFinance Card stored with the alias is still valid and that the customer has access to e-finance.

    The alias token migration starts automatically in the background when the new PostFinance Pay payment method is activated in the Worldline Direct back office. This can take up to 48 hours.

    When displaying the PostFinance Pay token, we recommend including a reference to the IBAN used, e.g. CH79************ 11. This enables the shopper to see which account is being debited.