This is a common question among consumers and business owners alike. There are many webshops that do not offer a postpayment option as a payment method, but there are also many webshops that do.
Legislation
Webshops must offer an option that allows consumers (when purchasing physical goods) to pay at least 50% of the purchase amount in arrears. This is stipulated in Article 7:26 of the Civil Code. For consumer purchases, a webshop may not demand full payment in advance. Consumers may be asked to pay up to 50% of the purchase price in advance; the remaining amount must be paid after delivery. This means that webshops must always offer a payment option that allows (at least) 50% payment in arrears. However, this does not apply to business customers and when selling services or digital products.
What options are there for retroactive payment?
Paying in arrears means paying only at the time of delivery. There are several ways to offer retroactive payment in a web shop. Examples of popular methods are:
- Delivery by invoice: The customer receives the product and pays afterwards by invoice. With this, the online store itself bears the risk for non-payment and follow-up.
- Payment services such as Klarna or Riverty (formerly AfterPay): These services take over the risk of non-payment from the webshop. With this, the other party bears the risk of non-payment and follow-up.
- Credit card or PayPal: Pay at time of delivery. Payments are collected only after delivery if these methods are properly set up. The transaction is created with a status placed and until exceeded with a status delivered, the transaction remains unpaid. After 30 days, the transaction expires in its entirety, which can be inconvenient when a product goes out of stock or has a longer delivery time.
What are the developments in the retrospective payment field?
In 2018, the Minister of Finance requested online stores to reduce problematic debts among customers. Between legislation and practice, we do agree that retrospective payment, on the one hand, works incredibly positively for the unsure customer who prefers to try first before proceeding with payment. On the other hand, it can encourage excessive buying behavior among a vulnerable group of people who get into trouble as a result.
No change has yet emerged for this contradiction. In recent years, the popularity of paying in arrears has continued to grow. Services such as Klarna now offer longer payment terms (up to 30 days), and even the ability to pay in installments interest-free. For web shops, it is commercially advantageous to offer payment in arrears, as it creates trust and leads to higher conversions
What payment options can I offer and how should I do this?
If you want to offer payment options on your Web site, including postpayment, you can easily do so by contracting with a PSP (Payment Service Provider). There are several major players on the market such as Mollie, Buckaroo and Adyen. These providers offer solutions for various payment methods, including iDEAL, PayPal, and post-payment solutions. The biggest differences with these Payment Service Providers is mainly in the links offered with the various website software and of course in the different rates charged.
E-Expansion offers favorable rates!
We have partnered with E-Expansion with Mollie. We chose Mollie because we got a nice deal with them by combining volumes. This allows us to offer our clients a more favorable rate which of course makes us all happy. Most of the webshops we build from E-Expansion are built within Woocommerce (WordPress), Mollie offers an excellent extension which is easy to integrate into your webshop. Using your own login portal you can look at all statuses at a glance, make payments and/or refunds or add additional payment options if necessary.
Do you want to start a webshop or are you just curious about the possibilities we have to offer regarding payments on your website? Please contact one of our specialists. We will gladly see if we can be of any assistance!
