Pay by Bank

Pay by BankPay by Bank The payer authorises the payment inside their own banking app or online banking, and the funds move from their bank account. No card is involved and no card details are entered. lets your customer pay directly from their bank account using their banking app or online banking, with no card and no lengthy checkout. There's no registration and no stored details: they authorise the payment with their bank and the money moves from their account to yours.

You can offer it across eCommerce, QR codes, e-billing and payment requests. It's Ozow's core payment method and the one enabled on your account by default.

At a glance#

How your customer pays#

1. Your customer chooses Pay by Bank at checkout and selects their bank.
2. They authorise the payment, either by approving it in their own banking app or by signing in through Ozow's secure payment page, depending on the bank.
3. Ozow confirms the payment and sends the status to your business.
4. Your customer returns to your site.

Example: a Capitec PayCapitec Pay Capitec's own payment method. The payer gives a cellphone, account or ID number rather than card details, and approves the payment in the Capitec app, so no card number and no banking login is ever entered at checkout. It gets its own button rather than sitting inside the bank list, and it requires Customer Identity Verification.Capitec payment. The steps your customer sees depend on their bank. Each bank's article shows its own journey.

How each bank works#

Which experience your customer gets depends on who they bank with.

Bank app methods#

Ozow has direct API integrations with these banks. Your customer approves the payment inside their own bank's app or channel instead of entering internet banking details on the Ozow page. They authenticate the way they normally do, often biometrically, and the outcome comes back from the bank directly, so you get a definitive answer rather than an inferred one.

These methods are opt in.

Banks that sign in on the Ozow page#

Customers of these banks sign in with their internet banking details on Ozow's secure payment page, then approve the payment in their banking app. These banks are enabled by default.

• Standard Bank
• Investec
• Bidvest Bank

Banks that pay through PayShap#

GoTyme Bank, Discovery Bank and African Bank appear in the Pay by Bank bank list, but payments from these banks go through PayShapPayShap South Africa's rapid payments service, run by the banks. Low-value payments clear in seconds, and the recipient can be identified by a ShapID instead of by an account number.payshap.co.za rather than Pay by Bank. See PayShap Request.

When to use Pay by Bank#

Pay by Bank suits you if:

• Many of your customers don't have a credit card, or prefer not to use one online.
• You want payments that can't be charged back.
• You sell across several channels (online, QR, e-billing or payment requests) and want one method that covers all of them.

Consider offering it alongside other methods if:

• You need to reach customers without internet or app banking. See Voucher Redemption.
• Your customers expect to pay by card or digital wallet. See Card Payments.

Enabling Pay by Bank#

Pay by Bank is enabled by default on your Ozow account. If you're integrated, you already have it, including the banks that sign in on the Ozow page.

The bank app methods (Capitec Pay, Absa PayAbsa Pay Absa's own payment method, which the customer authorises in their Absa banking app. It gets its own button at checkout rather than sitting inside the bank list, and it requires Customer Identity Verification.Absa, FNB/RMB Payment Request and Nedbank Direct EFTNedbank Direct EFT Nedbank's own payment method. Like the other bank APIs it gets its own button at checkout rather than sitting inside the bank list, and it requires Customer Identity Verification.Nedbank) are opt in. If one isn't showing on your payment page, contact Ozow support or your account manager to enable it.

Pay by Bank works with every Ozow integration method, and nothing bank-specific is required. It appears on the Ozow payment page automatically.

• Hosted Checkout: send your customer to the Ozow payment page using an API-based integration.
• Embedded Checkout: show the Ozow payment page inside your site, as an iframe or a modal.
• No code payment requests
• Plugins and platforms

Confirming payment. Ozow sends the confirmed payment status through your integration: the checkout response, your notification URLWebhook A URL of yours that Ozow calls when something happens, rather than you polling to find out. The call carries no credential of yours and arrives at a public URL, so authenticate it before acting on it: a hash field on the Payments API, a Svix signature on One API. (webhook), or the transaction status service. Only fulfil an order once you've received a confirmed successful status. See Statuses.

Standalone bank buttons. To show your own "Pay with Capitec Pay" or "Pay with Absa Pay" buttons and send customers straight to that bank, pass the relevant institutionId. Each bank has its own; see Payment Method IDs. For how to set them up, see Standalone payment buttons.

Bank icons for those buttons are in Brand assets.

Testing#

We recommend testing with small live payments in production. Production payments settle back to you as normal, so it's safe to test this way. If you need staging credentials, contact Ozow support or your account manager.

Refunds, settlement and reconciliation#

• Refunds: you can refund a Pay by Bank payment. That's your decision, not something the customer can force through their bank. See Refunds.
• Settlement: Pay by Bank payments are settled once a day: 15:00 on weekdays and 08:00 on Saturdays. No settlement occurs on Sundays or public holidays. See Settlements.
• Ozow Portal: transactions and statuses update in real time on the Ozow Portal.

Things to know#

Pay by Bank payments are irrevocable. Once confirmed, the funds are yours. There's no chargebackChargeback A completed card payment reversed by the customer's bank after a successful dispute. The funds come back out, and the process runs between the banks rather than through Ozow, so it is not something you can approve or refuse. Your transaction records and delivery confirmations are what it is decided on. process, which is the biggest practical difference between Pay by Bank and card.

Your customer needs internet or app banking. A bank account alone isn't enough. They need to be able to authorise a payment digitally.

The experience depends on their bank, not on you. You enable the methods, but which flow a customer sees depends on who they bank with. Design your checkout so it reads sensibly either way.

Supported banks can change. Ozow adds banks and payment capabilities over time, so avoid hard-coding a fixed bank list into your checkout copy.

FAQs#

What is Pay by Bank? A way for customers to pay directly from their bank account through Ozow, without a card.

How does it work? At checkout, the customer selects Pay by Bank, chooses their bank and follows the prompts to approve the payment. Ozow manages the journey and sends the payment status to your business.

What do I need to offer Pay by Bank? An Ozow integration with Pay by Bank enabled, which it is by default. Setup depends on the integration you use, such as Hosted Checkout, Embedded Checkout or an API-based integration. See Integrating Pay by Bank.

Which banks are supported? Participating South African banks available through Ozow. The list may change as new integrations are added. See How each bank works.

How do I add Capitec Pay, Absa Pay, FNB/RMB Payment Request or Nedbank Direct EFT? These are opt in. Contact Ozow support or your account manager.

How will I know if a payment was successful? Ozow sends the confirmed status through your integration. Only fulfil orders once you receive a confirmed successful status.

Can a customer reverse a Pay by Bank payment? No. Confirmed payments are irrevocable, but you can choose to issue a refund.

Are there transaction limits? Your customer's own bank limits apply. Ozow sets no limit of its own.