Accept Interac e-Transfer

Overview

Interac e-Transfer lets a shopper pay from their own online banking to your Autodeposit email address. The money goes from their bank to yours. BestWebby never holds it, takes no fee on it and does not see anyone's bank login.

• For CAD storefronts. e-Transfer moves Canadian dollars between Canadian bank accounts, so it is offered only on storefronts that sell in CAD.
• Next to card, or on its own. Shoppers choose Card or Interac e-Transfer at checkout. A store with no Stripe account can take e-Transfer orders only.
• You confirm each payment. There is no automatic link to your bank. When an e-Transfer lands in your account, you mark it received in Orders → e-Transfers, and the order goes ahead: the payment is recorded in your finance records, the shopper gets their order confirmation, and the order appears ready to fulfil, exactly as after a card payment.

Who can use it. The account owner sets it up. Owners, admins and accountants mark payments received, cancel unpaid e-Transfer orders and record refunds. Each of those asks for a 2FA code if you have two-factor authentication on, the same as a refund.

BestWebby is not endorsed by or affiliated with Interac Corp.

What shoppers see, and why it protects them

There is no Interac programme that marks a store as "verified" or "trusted", and your store does not show one. What protects the shopper is their own bank: with Autodeposit, the shopper's bank shows them the legal or business name your bank holds for you before they send. At checkout, on their order page and in their email, shoppers are told:

• Your bank will show who you are paying. Before you send, check it reads: followed by the name you enter in settings.
• You approve the payment in your own banking app. This store never sees your bank login.
• e-Transfers cannot be reversed by a chargeback, so check the name first.

That is why the name you enter must match what your bank shows, letter for letter. The Interac logo is not shown: using it needs a licence from Interac.

When BestWebby has checked your business identity

If BestWebby staff have checked your business identity (see Going live), and the name you entered for e-Transfer is the same legal name they checked (capitals and spacing aside), shoppers also see, next to the name to check: This is the name BestWebby checked for this business. If the two names differ, that line is not shown, and Settings → Payments tells you so, so you can correct one or the other. The line is about your business's registered name only; it does not come from your bank or from Interac.

Step 1: Register Autodeposit with your bank

In your business online banking, register Autodeposit for the email address you want shoppers to pay. With Autodeposit, money sent to that address is deposited straight into your account with no security question. While you do it, note the name your bank says senders will see; some banks let a business choose it.

Step 2: Turn it on

Go to Settings → Payments → Interac e-Transfer:

1. Autodeposit email address: the address you registered in Step 1.
2. Name your bank shows senders: your legal or registered business name, exactly as your bank holds it.
3. Hold items for (hours): how long an unpaid order keeps its stock, from 24 to 168 hours. The default is 72.
4. Tick Offer Interac e-Transfer at checkout and save.

If you change the address or the name later, shoppers who already placed an order keep the instructions they were given, and the settings tell you how many are still waiting. Keep the old address working until they have paid or their orders have expired.

What happens at checkout

The shopper chooses Interac e-Transfer and places the order. The items are reserved for them, just as during a card payment, and they are shown, and emailed:

• the exact amount;
• your Autodeposit address;
• a reference, such as K7QM-4ZTD, to put in the e-Transfer message. References never use the characters 0, O, 1 or I, so they are hard to mistype;
• the deadline, in your store's time zone.

The order shows as Awaiting payment in your order list, and as Awaiting e-Transfer on the shopper's account.

Step 3: Confirm the payment

When the e-Transfer is in your bank account:

1. Go to Orders → e-Transfers. The Orders page also shows a button with how many are waiting.
2. Find the payment by its reference (the search accepts it with or without the dash).
3. Click Mark received. The amount is filled in with the order total; change it if a different amount arrived. Add the sender's name if you like.
4. Click Record payment.

Only mark a payment received once the money is in your account. An email saying an e-Transfer was sent is not the money, and fake "e-Transfer received" emails are a common scam.

Clicking twice, or two people confirming at once, records the payment once.

If a different amount arrived

The amount must match the order total to the cent. If it does not, the order is put on hold and nothing ships:

• Too little. Ask the shopper to send the rest with the same reference, then record the new total. If they would rather cancel, send back what they paid and click Cancel.
• Too much. Send the extra back to the shopper by e-Transfer from your bank, then click I have sent back the extra: accept the order. Your records show the order total; the extra was never yours.

Unpaid orders expire

If no payment is recorded before the deadline, the order expires: its items go back on sale, any discount use or gift card balance it took is given back, and the shopper is emailed that it expired and asked not to send money. Expiry is checked every 15 minutes.

A payment that arrives late

Expired orders stay under Orders → e-Transfers → Expired for 30 days. If a payment arrives after the deadline, click Late payment and record it:

• if everything in the order is still in stock, you are asked to confirm, and the order is reopened: the stock is taken again and the order is marked paid;
• if something has sold in the meantime, or the order used a gift card, a private offer price, flash-sale units or a supplier allocation, it cannot be reopened, and you are told to send the money back.

Cancelling

Cancel on an unpaid e-Transfer order puts its items back on sale and emails the shopper not to send money. If a different amount had already arrived, you are reminded to send it back.

Refunds

A refund of an e-Transfer order goes back the way the money came: you send it to the shopper by e-Transfer from your own bank. Then open the order, click Refund, enter the amount and confirm. This records the refund in your finance records, capped at what you received, and emails the shopper to look for your e-Transfer. Nothing is sent to a card and no store credit is issued. An order with no payment received has nothing to refund; cancel it instead.

Good to know

• No chargebacks, but not no risk. A shopper cannot charge an e-Transfer back the way they can a card, but a bank can still reverse one it finds fraudulent. Ship once the money is in your account.
• Limits. Banks set their own sending limits, and a single business e-Transfer cannot exceed $25,000.
• Fees. BestWebby charges nothing for e-Transfer orders. Your bank may charge you to receive them under your account plan.
• Automatic confirmation. Confirming each payment yourself is the only way available today. Automatic confirmation through a payment partner is planned and needs a partner agreement first; this guide will say when it is available.

BestWebby is not endorsed by or affiliated with Interac Corp.