Pin Payments Review. What are the fees and how does it work for online card payments?

If you’re looking into secure options to collect card payments for your goods and services online, then Pin Payments might be a good payment solution to consider. Especially if you need something simple without worrying too much about how card processing works behind the scenes.

This article will provide an in depth review of the Pin Payments solution, how it works and what are the fees involved with having an account. Let’s jump right in.

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What is Pin Payments?

Pin Payments is an online payments software solution that’ll enable businesses to accept online card payments from their customers.¹

How does Pin Payments work?

Pin payments claim that they minimise the complexity behind processing card payments associated with the traditional e-commerce business model.

It combines the payment gateway and merchant provider in one account by connecting and utilising merchant services provided by Checkout Ltd, NAB, Macquarie and First Data to accept and process card transactions.³

Having both these services integrated means that small businesses do not need to set up vendor accounts with multiple providers to achieve the same action.²

Under the traditional e-commerce model, small online businesses would need different meditating entities to process a customer transaction at each stage of any transaction. For customers payments to be processed, a business would require²:

• A software vendor to provide a customer facing interface to make card payments
• A payment gateway vendor submit a payment request to a merchant account
• An acquiring or merchant bank to receive the funds

A payment gateway vendor does not process the actual transaction. The payment gateway request will connect with a merchant bank account to accept and receive the funds. One problem that small ecommerce businesses face is that it can be difficult to get an approved online merchant bank account to accept debit or credit card payments.²

How do you open an account with Pin Payments?

To open an account with Pin Payments is free and there are no lock in contracts or monthly fees once you have signed up. The steps to open a Pin Payments account are as follows.¹

1. Click the “get started” button on the Pin Payments website
2. Provide a name, email and password
3. Input your business details
4. Complete online ID verification
5. Wait for the approval by the Pin Payments team

How long does it take to set up the account?

Timeframes for approval are between 1 and 2 business days from submitting the online application. After it is approved, you’ll be able to use it right away.⁴

What are the main benefits of using Pin Payments for your business?

Other than the main benefit of streamlining customer card payment processing, a Pin Payment account comes with several other benefits. These include⁵:

1. Build a customisable ecommerce platform
2. Provide invoices
3. Process on-off manual transactions
4. Accept in person sales with your smartphone
5. Set up recurring payment plans
6. Accept payments in other currencies
7. Secure storage of customer card data
8. Easy card authentication once transactions are made

Small businesses can also take advantage of Pin Payments own API developer option to build and integrate custom payment solutions directly into their website.⁶

What are the fees and charges to use Pin Payments?

There is no sign up or monthly account keeping fees to use Pin Payments.

However, there are four different ways customer payments can be received and settled using Pin Payments. Each type of payment by a customer is associated with its own fee structure and charges.

Below we will go through the types of payment structure Pin Payments accepts and the fees for receiving customer payments.⁷

Type oy Payment	Description	Fee Structure
Domestic card payment	Customer pays in AUD with a Australian bank issued debit or credit card	1.75% + $0.30 card fee
International card payment	Customer pays in AUD using an international bank issued debit or credit card	2.9% + $0.30 card fee
Foreign currency with AUD settlement	Customer is charged in supported foreign currency and transaction is settled in AUD	1.7% conversion fee + 2.9% + $0.30 card fee
Foreign currency settlement	Customer pays in a supported foreign currency and you receive the funds in that currency without any conversion	3.9% + $0.30 card fee

The above fees are paid by Pin Payment account holders on every transaction. For foreign currency transactions, Pin Payment account holders can charge their customers in 14 other supported currencies including NZD, EUR, GBP, SGD, USD, just to name a few.

Depending on how your account is set up, foreign currencies will be settled either in AUD or one of the 7 supported foreign currencies. It is also possible to refund customer payment in the specific currency they paid with.⁸

To be able to do this though, it is a requirement to open an applicable foreign currency account with a local bank, or opening a Wise multi-currency account.⁹ The Wise multi-currency account allows you to receive and hold several foreign currencies without the hassle of conversions or added transaction fees.

Which services can you integrate Pin Payments with?

The Pin Payments dashboard allows customers to access and integrate up to 44 different business application services. Service types that Pin Payment account holders can add secure payments to include¹⁰:

• Shopping carts
• Bookings
• Ticketing
• Point of Sale
• Accounting
• Invoicing
• Subscriptions
• Various management solutions

If you aren’t too tech savvy but recognise company names, some popular business application companies that are partnered with Pin Payments include:

• Chargebee
• Shopify
• Magento
• Xero
• Woo Commerce
• Timely
• Paypa Plane
• Ecwid

Pin Payment customers can customise and manage their dashboard with all applicable business applications they already use or want to use to manage their business.

How do disputed transactions work with Pin Payments?

When a customer disputes a charge, this means they have contacted their bank and have asked to get their money returned. Some reasons as to why a customer might do this include¹³:

• Items are not as described
• Charge is not recognised by card holder
• Fraudulent charges
• Admin errors such as duplicate charges or incorrect charge

Disputes can be made immediately by the cardholder or via a retrieval request. We will briefly go through how each dispute process works with Pin Payments.¹³

Immediate dispute claim by the cardholder

If a cardholder immediately disputes a transaction on their card, a notification is sent directly to the Pin Payment merchant account. The merchant or business owner has 7 days to challenge the dispute. If a request is ignored, the cardholder will receive a refund of the charge. If the dispute is challenged by the merchant with adequate evidence, the disputed funds will be released to the merchant, with a refund of the $25 AUD admin fee for disputes.

Retrieval request by the cardholder

If a customer requests more information about a charge, the disputed transaction will go through one of Pin Payments acquiring merchant banks. Upon notification of this, information of the transaction will be sent to the customer with details of the transaction. If the customer understands the charge, then no further action will be taken and the dispute claim will be closed. If they don’t, a dispute claim will be formally raised and a charge of $25 AUD is charged to the related Pin Payment merchant account.

Pin Payments can only support business owners with presenting a case to challenge dispute claims. All arbitration and settlement decisions are between the issuing and acquiring banks.

Who owns Pin Payments and who is backing them?

Pin Payments is originally an Australian based payment technology start-up that was acquired by Checkout.com in 2020.¹¹ Checkout.com is a global Cloud-based payments platform with 19 offices around the globe.¹²

Is Pin Payments safe?

Pin Payments is safe and secure to use. All systems and procedures offered by Pin Payments have been certified under the PCI Data Security Standards. Pin Payments also go through consistent website audits by internal and third party assessors. All credit card information is encrypted and stored in isolation away from the Pin Payments system.¹⁴

How to contact Pin Payments

If you want to contact Pin Payments for any reason, you can request a support representative to contact you directly by filling out this form here. Otherwise you can:

• Call 1300 364 800 from within Australia

Phone lines are open Monday to Friday between 9am - 5pm AEST Melbourne.

Wise Business account

If you want to expand your business into a different country, while being able to charge and receive customer payments in the related foreign currency, why not check out how the Wise Business account can help.

The Wise Business account is a great alternative for international businesses to easily make and receive foreign payments hassle free. The Wise Business multi-currency account can also be configured as the integrated settlement account for a Pin Payments account.

To learn more about how much Wise could save your business, check out the Wise Business account. You can sign up online with a few clicks — in minutes.

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Sources:

1. Pin Payments getting started
2. Pin Payments how does it work and payment gateways
3. Pin Payments Terms and Conditions bank services
4. Pin Payments approval time
5. Pin Payments benefits
6. Pin Payments developer option
7. Pin Payments fee structures and description types
8. Pin Payments foreign currencies
9. Pin Payments multi-currency account requirement
10. Pin Payments integrations
11. Pin Payments company information
12. Checkout.com information
13. Pin Payments dispute process
14. Pin Payments security protections

Sources checked on: 7th June 2022