In a world where payments are becoming increasingly digital, it's natural to have wondered how a transaction through a mobile phone could be carried out. contactless e digital wallets takes place.
Although you're probably more interested in the money from sales that your business receives through digital means ending up in your bank account, the truth is that in order for this whole process to be carried out safely, practically and quickly, the so-called acquirer has to come into play.
Who the buyer is and what their role is are questions we'll answer in a moment.
Acquirer: what is it?
The acquiring bank is, in practice, the unblocker of the entire process involved in a transaction, i.e. the entity that will ensure that your business receives the value corresponding to the sales it has made.
By establishing contracts with the main card issuers on the market, e.g. Visa and Mastercard, the acquirer will enable a business, online or physical, to receive the financial rewards resulting from payments with credit and debit cards used by its customers.
In a nutshell, the acquirer acts as a link between the business and the banks, and is responsible for receiving the money that the customer's bank authorises to be transferred when paying by card and transferring it to the business's bank account.
REDUNIQ, the only Portuguese acquirer with PCI-DSS certification
This is the work of REDUNIQ, the only Portuguese acquirer with PCI-DSS certificateThis guarantees businesses and customers that their personal data and money are always safeguarded, which is essential for REDUNIQ to have this certificate.
It should be noted that, in addition to being a buyer, REDUNIQ is also a supplier of means of transport. online payments e physical paymentssuch as the REDUNIQ@E-Commerce e REDUNIQ@Payments (online payment methods) and POS terminals REDUNIQ Easy, REDUNIQ Smart e REDUNIQ Soft (contactless physical means of payment), which makes your entire business management more agile and efficient.
Practical example
Let's imagine you have an online clothing business equipped with the REDUNIQ@Payments turnkey solution and a customer has just completed the purchase of some trousers.
In this case, if the transaction is authorised, you will receive the payment in your bank account the following day, but if, for any reason, the transaction is not authorised, REDUNIQ will inform you immediately of the reason why the payment was not made, so that you can take the necessary steps to resolve the problem.
As you can see, the role of acquirers, such as REDUNIQ, is extremely important for the smooth running of the business, especially with regard to payments.
Acquirer and subacquirer: differences
In addition to acquirers, there are also sub-acquirers, entities in which the acquirer and the payment provider are different.
In this case, the process will be a little slower, as your business's payment method will have to connect to an acquirer who, in turn, will send a request to the card issuer to authorise the payment.
At this point, the request goes to the bank that issued the customer's card, which will check that there is enough credit in the account to complete the transaction. Once the payment has been authorised, the acquirer will reserve the funds (minus the cost of the transaction) in the retailer's account and the money will be deposited there within a few days.
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