Sofort Banking is a European-wide payment method which allows shoppers to pay for their purchases or make donations without creating a separate account. While primarily popular in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium, it is gaining popularity in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
How It Works
Once connected, shoppers meeting the requirements will see Sofort as an available payment option at checkout.
After proceeding with the order, they will be taken to the Sofort payment page to select their bank and enter their credentials.
When the order is placed, it will appear in your control panel as gateway (Sofort) or Sofort (via gateway) in the Payment Method field. Orders placed using Sofort share the same fulfillment process as typical orders.
Requirements and Limitations
- Your store must meet the following criteria:
- Your store must have EUR as an available transactional currency.
- Your store must use Optimized One-Page Checkout.
- Limitations
- Manual capture is not supported by any Sofort integration.
Supported Gateways
Sofort is no longer available for new businesses on Adyen, Braintree, Mollie, PayPal, and Stripe. Existing businesses already accepting Sofort can still process payments until it is deprecated in 2024. See our article on Available Payment Gateways for links to each payment gateway for more information.
Barclaycard Smartpay Advance
See Connecting with Barclaycard Smartpay Advance for documentation on features, requirements, and setup.
- Additional Setup
- You must request a Barclaycard representative to enable Sofort in your merchant account.
- Shopper Requirements
- No country restrictions.
- Shopper’s transaction currency must be EUR.
- Limitations
- Delayed capture is not supported.
- Refunds cannot be completed within the control panel. They must be performed from within your Barclaycard account.
BlueSnap Direct
See Connecting with BlueSnap Direct for documentation on features, requirements, and setup.
- Additional Setup
- Sofort must be enabled in your Bluesnap account.
- Shopper Requirements
- Shopper’s billing address is in one of the following countries: DE, AT, CH, BE, NL, or ES.
- Shopper’s transaction currency must be CHF, EUR, GBP, or PLN.
Checkout.com
See Connecting with Checkout.com for documentation on features, requirements, and setup.
- Additional Setup
- Your store must be located in the EU or the UK.
- Contact your Checkout.com Customer Success Manager or reach out to Checkout.com Support to enable it on your Checkout.com account.
- Toggle Enable Sofort in Checkout.com Settings within your BigCommerce control panel.
- Shopper Requirements
- Shopper’s billing address is in one of the following countries: BE, DE, IT, NL, AT, or ES.
- Shopper’s transaction currency must be EUR.
- Limitations
- Funds are not captured on the same day.
- Transactions must be voided from your Checkout.com dashboard.
FAQ
What does it mean when the payment status of a Sofort order in Checkout.com is "Pending", and the order status is "Awaiting Payment"?
This means that the shopper has completed checkout, but Checkout.com is waiting for Sofort to capture the funds for the merchant ("deferred capture"). It typically takes 1-3 business days for Sofort to capture payment.
Are recurring payments supported on Sofort?
No, recurring payments are not supported.
Why does a Klarna logo appear next to my Sofort payment method?
Sofort GmbH was acquired by Klarna in 2014. Although Sofort is part of the Klarna Group, the Sofort integration does not support Buy Now Pay Later financing and installments like Klarna’s standalone payment gateway or APM.
Additional Resources
- Accept Sofort Payments with Checkout.com (Checkout.com)
- Who, or what, is SOFORT GmbH (klarna.com)
