Sofortüberweisung, or "Sofort," is an online direct payment method. It is an immediate and direct transfer of funds.

Customers who select Sofort as their preferred method of payment for an online purchase will be directed straight to the secure Sofort.com payment form. Relevant data is carried over automatically, so the customer only needs to enter their bank's sort code, their usual online banking login details, and the confirmation code to authorize the transfer. All information delivered to the customer's bank is in encrypted form.

The merchant receives confirmation of the transfer order in real time.

Sofort payment flow

Examples and implementation

Conceptual overview

Here's a video walkthrough of the shopper journey:

Here's a video walkthrough of the mobile shopper journey:

Properties

Timeout

• There is no timeout value for the shopper to enter their bank code/sort code on the Sofort payment pages. After entering the bank code/sort code, the shopper selects ‘Weiter’’ to proceed to the next page to enter bank account login credentials.
• There is a timeout for bank account login information. The customer has 6 minutes to enter bank account login on the Sofort payment page, and then select ‘Weiter’’ to go to the next page. On the next page, the customer must enter a TAN (Transaction Authentication Number).
• The shopper has 5 to 10 minutes to enter the TAN number. After entering the TAN number, she selects ‘Weiter’’ to complete the payment. This 5 to 10 minute time limit is different for each bank.

Best practices

The Shopper Journey should generally follow the guidelines below:

1. The shopper chooses SOFORT from among the payment method options on the supplier's website.
2. After selecting SOFORT, the shopper is redirected to the online banking environment, where they choose their country and enter the name of their bank.
3. The shopper enters their bank credentials.
4. The shopper selects their account (if more than one is available).
5. The shopper enters a transaction authentication number, which is sent via SMS or generated on a secure device, depending on the bank
6. The shopper reaches the Sofort confirmation page, after which they are redirected back to the online store.

Technical considerations

• Please note that if a consumer cancels the payment and then clicks "Go Back" while they are in the SOFORT redirect, the consumer will no longer have access to the session.
• If a customer does not finish the transaction within the timeout period, the transaction will fail.