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Merchant Guide.
How to get started with your merchant facility and who to contact if you need help.
Helping you accept card payments your way.
Our merchant guide will help you understand how to set up and use your Westpac merchant facility, so that you can start accepting scheme credit and debit card payments in store, online, over the phone and in regular instalments.
You can also find out what technology you need, how to process payments, how our merchant fees work and when you’ll get paid.
As a Westpac merchant, it’s important to follow the instructions in this guide and on our Merchant Risk Hub to help protect your merchant facility and keep your business compliant with your Merchant Services Agreement. You also need to comply with the Visa, Mastercard® and UnionPay International scheme rules covered in this guide.
Additional rules may apply depending on the type of business you operate and the way you accept card payments in your business. Our team will work with you to help you understand your specific obligations.
We’re here to help.
If you can’t find the answers you need in this guide, please get in touch with our team.
Get help with your merchant facility.
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In-store (card present)
How to accept card payments through an EFTPOS terminal when the cardholder is physically present in your store.
Online (card not present)
How to accept card payments through your e-commerce facility or by payment link.
Over the phone (card not present)
How to accept card payments over the phone using an EFTPOS terminal or a virtual terminal with a mail order/telephone order (MOTO) facility.
Recurring (card not present)
How to accept card payments in regular instalments from your customers.
Travel & entertainment (T&E) services and responsibilities
Find out about additional card payment services and responsibilities for travel and entertainment merchants – including guaranteed reservations, advance deposit, priority check out, cancellations and card not present receipt requirements.
Merchant risk
Find out how to help protect your business against payment disputes (also known as chargebacks) and get help understanding your Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) responsibilities.
Statements & settlements
Find out how merchant pricing works and when payments accepted through your merchant facility will be settled to your bank account.
In-store (card present) merchant guide.
Our in-store merchant guide explains how to accept credit or debit card payments through an EFTPOS terminal from cardholders who are physically present in your store or business premises. This is known as a ‘card present’ payment.
You can also find merchant guides for accepting online payments, MOTO (mail order/telephone order) payments and recurring payments.
Apply for a Westpac merchant facility
If you’re interested in setting up a merchant facility with Westpac, contact your Westpac Relationship Manager or apply online.
You’ll need a merchant ID to accept credit card and contactless transactions through your EFTPOS terminal. (If you only accept debit or EFTPOS cards you don’t need a merchant ID.) Your merchant ID is linked to your terminal, the network your terminal is connected to and your bank account. This will be provided to you by our Merchant Services team when you become a Westpac merchant.
Where to find your merchant ID
If you already have a merchant ID, you can find this on your monthly merchant statement. If you haven’t received your first statement yet, check your welcome email or contact Merchant Services.
Updating your business information
If there are any changes to the information you initially provided to us, you’ll need to let us know. It’s especially important to contact us as soon as there’s a change to your business’s services or products or the method you use to accept payments because this may affect your Merchant Services Agreement.
Connecting your EFTPOS terminal
EFTPOS terminals can be connected to the EFTPOS NZ or Worldline network.
Protecting your EFTPOS terminal
You must use a terminal that complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). You can find out more about the terminal providers we work with and tips to keep your EFTPOS terminal secure on the Safely accept in-store card payments page on our Merchant Risk Hub. Westpac offers PCI DSS compliant EFTPOS terminal bundle deals that make it easy to set up and start accepting card payments. Visit accepting payments to find out more.
Testing your EFTPOS terminal
Before you start accepting payments through your EFTPOS terminal, we recommend that you:
- Work with your terminal provider to process a test transaction
- Check your trading name and merchant location is displayed correctly on the transaction receipt.
If you have any issues using your facility or the information on your receipt is incorrect, please contact Merchant Services.
Transferring your EFTPOS terminal
If you sell your business and the new owner wants to keep your terminal/s, contact Merchant Services and ask them to complete a ‘change of ownership’ process.
EFTPOS terminal error messages
If you receive an error message on your terminal or have an issue with your terminal, check your terminal provider’s user manual or contact their customer support team. If you’re a Westpac Get Paid® customer, contact Merchant Services.
Terminal ID
You can find your terminal ID on any receipt. This is configured into the terminal to process transactions and linked to your Merchant ID if you accept credit card and contactless transactions.
Clearly display the following information in your premises:
- Your license to operate (for example: liquor licence, medical practising certificate)
- Logos of the cards you are approved to accept
- Surcharges (if applicable).
We also recommend displaying your terms and conditions and making sure they are easy to understand to help reduce the risk of chargebacks.
Follow these processing rules:
- Do accept all cards presented for payment as specified in your Merchant Services Agreement.
- Don’t impose a minimum or maximum amount on credit card or debit card transactions.
- Don’t use your personal or business card to process transactions or refunds through your merchant facility unless it is for a genuine purchase or refund.
- Don’t process transactions on behalf of another person or business.
- Don’t process transactions that are more than the value of your goods or services. For example, if you’re selling a mattress for $100 you must not process a transaction for $110. Check the rules for surcharging if you want to add an additional amount to your transaction to cover the cost of processing certain card types through your merchant facility.
How to process credit or debit cards with an EMV chip
- Insert the card into the terminal.
- Leave the card inserted until the terminal shows the message: ‘Remove card’.
- If an ‘approved’ message appears, the transaction has been authorised.
- If a ‘declined’ message appears, the transaction has not been authorised.
How to process contactless credit or debit cards
- The cardholder holds their credit card, debit card or smartphone containing credit or debit card data over the terminal to process the transaction.
- If the transaction is $200 or less, no PIN or signature is required to authorise the transaction.
- If an ‘approved’ message appears, the transaction has been authorised.
- If a ‘declined’ message appears, the transaction has not been authorised.
Credit and debit cards without a chip
- The cardholder swipes the card’s magnetic stripe through the reader on the terminal.
- If an ‘approved’ message appears, the transaction has been authorised.
- If a ‘declined’ message appears, the transaction has not been authorised.
What is authorisation?
Authorisation is built into all credit and debit card transactions. If a card is used to make a payment, it will be authorised and the payment completed if:
- The account number is valid
- The card has not been reported lost or stolen
- There are sufficient funds available to cover the transaction.
How to check if a card is valid.
You can confirm a card is valid (not blocked or stolen) without holding money on the card by processing a $0.00 authorisation. Depending on your terminal, you can use the 'account status check' or 'account verification transaction' function to do this. Contact your EFTPOS provider for further instructions. If you're a Westpac Get Paid customer, contact Merchant Services. Don’t process $1 authorisations (this is against card scheme rules).
Does authorisation protect against fraudulent payments?
When a card payment is authorised, it’s not a guarantee that the person making the payment is the rightful cardholder. This means authorisation won’t protect you from the risk of card fraud or chargebacks.
What is a pre-authorisation?
A pre-authorisation is typically used by merchants who offer goods and services in advance of taking payment. It confirms a cardholder has enough credit available to pay the expected cost of your goods or services and that the card isn’t blocked due to being stolen.
When you process a pre-authorisation, it puts a temporary hold on a specific amount of money on your customer’s credit or debit card. No money is taken from their account until the transaction is completed and final payment is processed.
For example, a hotel may use pre-authorisation to hold money from the customer’s card to cover the cost of the room. Once the customer has checked out, the hotel staff can complete the transaction by taking the pre-authorised funds as payment. Preauthorisation transactions must be for the estimated value of the transaction to be completed.
How to process a pre-authorisation transaction
- Inform the cardholder of the amount that will be held on their credit or debit card before you proceed with the pre-authorisation transaction.
- If you want to charge the cardholder, inform them of the total amount that will be taken out of their credit or debit account. You can charge up to the value of the pre-authorised amount. You can’t charge more than the pre-authorised amount. For example, if you have pre-authorised $2,000 for a hotel stay, you can charge any amount up to $2,000 at check-out but you can’t charge more than $2,000.
- Process the pre-authorisation according to your terminal provider’s instructions.
- If you have not delivered the goods or services and don’t want to charge the cardholder, complete the pre-authorisation for $0.00.
- Pre-authorisation must be completed within 30 days. If you need to extend the timeframe of the pre-authorisation, complete the original authorisation by following instructions on your terminal then process a new pre-authorisation.
What is incremental authorisation?
An incremental authorisation can be used to increase the pre-authorised amount. It’s based on a revised estimate of what the cardholder may spend. For example, a hotel guest might book for one night, but then decide to extend the reservation for an additional night. It’s important to include incremental authorisations in your terms and conditions to reduce the risk of a chargeback.
How to process an incremental authorisation
- Contact the cardholder (by phone, email or in person) to gain their consent before processing an incremental authorisation.
- An incremental authorisation can be used multiple times. You need to gain and record the cardholder’s consent for every incremental authorisation you process.
- Incremental authorisations don’t extend the timeframe that the original authorisation is valid for. For example, if an extended hotel stay, cruise or car rental is longer than the validity period of the original authorisation e.g. 30 days, the original transaction must still be finalised and charged to the cardholder within 30 days.
- You can request a new authorisation (reauthorisation) for additional charges. A reauthorisation works in the same way as a pre-authorisation. It can be for an estimated amount, and you can use incremental authorisations to increase the amount if needed.
How can I turn on pre-authorisations and incremental authorisations?
The pre-authorisation function needs to be approved by Westpac and switched on by your EFTPOS terminal provider. Contact Merchant Services or your Westpac Relationship Manager to find out whether your business is eligible.
Keep up with how your customers prefer to pay, and future proof your business by accepting Apple Pay, Google Pay or other digital wallets.
Contactless payments are the fastest way for your customers to make a purchase – helping reduce queue times and improve the customer experience.
How can I accept contactless payments?
- If your payment terminal already accepts EFTPOS, debit and credit cards then our Merchant Services team can turn on contactless payments for you.
- If you’re a Westpac Get Paid customer, there’s nothing you need to do – your terminal will already be set up to accept contactless payments.
How much will it cost me?
Contactless transactions will be charged a merchant service fee. If you're a member of one of our selected industry associations, you may be entitled to special rates & fees.
How surcharging works
You can add a fixed or variable surcharge fee to contactless and credit card transactions. This is applied at the time of payment.
Your surcharge fee should be based on your average merchant service fee, as per guidance from the Commerce Commission. For example, if your average merchant service fee is 1%, your surcharge fee should be no more than 1%.
Where can I find my average merchant service fee?
If you’re on a blended rate or you’re a Get Paid customer, you can find your average merchant service fee under the ‘MSF rate’ column on your merchant statement.
In the example below, the average merchant service fee is 0.96%. You will need to refer to your statement to find the rates relevant to you.
If you’re on an Interchange Plus (unbundled) rate, you can find your average merchant service fee under the ‘average rate’ column on your merchant statement.
In the example below, the average merchant service fee is 1.22%. You will need to refer to your statement to find the rates relevant to you.
How your average merchant service fee is calculated
Your average merchant service fee is a weighted average. This means your merchant service fees are calculated individually, then added up and divided by your total net sales amount. To get to a percentage, the total figure is then multiplied by 100.
For example: Total merchant services fees (MSF): $150 / total sales: $10,000 x 100 = average merchant service fee of 1.50%.
What should not be included in a surcharge?
The associated costs of processing payments such as point of sale (POS), staff costs or payment terminal rental fees should be excluded.
What to do when applying a surcharge
- You must clearly display notices, signs or decals at your premises that inform the customer if they choose to pay by card there will be a surcharge fee added to the sale price and how the surcharge cost has been calculated.
- The surcharge fee must not be described as a fee that is passed on from a card scheme or Westpac.
- The surcharge fee must be included in a single transaction and not collected separately.
- You must provide an alternative payment option that does not have a surcharge applied.
- You must give the customer an opportunity to cancel the transaction before it’s processed.
Setting up surcharging on your EFTPOS terminal
- Contact your EFTPOS terminal provider to enable this function on your terminal – there may be a cost involved. If you’re a Westpac Get Paid customer, contact Merchant Services.
How to issue refunds through your EFTPOS terminal
- You may need a refund card or PIN to authorise a refund through your EFTPOS terminal. This depends on your terminal or network provider.
- Process the refund using the same merchant facility you used for the original transaction.
- Process the refund to the same card used for the original sale.
- Never provide cash refunds for card transactions.
- Don’t refund more than the amount of the original transaction. If you want to provide compensation to the cardholder that is more than the amount of the original sale, use a different payment method such as a bank transfer to pay the cardholder the additional compensation.
- Don’t exceed your daily refund limit.
- Follow the correct authorisation procedures for manual transactions (PAN entry) where card details are entered directly into your EFTPOS terminal.
- Be aware of refund fraud. You can find out more about refund fraud on the Safely accept in-store card payments page on our Merchant Risk Hub.
Tipping is not compulsory in New Zealand. However, you can turn on this function on your EFTPOS terminal if you meet your EFTPOS terminal provider’s requirements.
How to use the tipping function on your terminal
- Contact your EFTPOS terminal provider to check if you are eligible and need to pay a fee to use the tipping function. If you're a Westpac Get Paid customer, contact Merchant Services.
- Your provider can help you set up this function on your terminal.
- The tipping amount must be clearly displayed on your terminal and the cardholder must be given the option to accept or decline the tip before they proceed with the transaction.
You can choose to provide cash to customers making debit card transactions. This is known as a cash advance or cash-out. Cash-out is not available for contactless, Visa, Mastercard, or UnionPay International credit card transactions.
How to use the cash advance function
- Contact Merchant Services or your Relationship Manager to turn on the cash-out feature on your EFTPOS terminal.
- Follow the instructions on your EFTPOS terminal.
- Only provide cash to a cardholder making a debit card transaction. Never provide cash to a cardholder making a credit card transaction under any circumstances.
- We recommend asking the cardholder to sign the receipt as proof of receiving the cash.
How to issue and manage receipts
- Check that your trading name and merchant location is displayed correctly on the transaction receipt. Contact Merchant Services immediately if this information is missing or incorrect.
- If you pass on a surcharge, check it’s displayed as a separate cost on your receipt – otherwise contact your terminal provider.
- We recommend including your terms and conditions on your payment receipt. (If you don’t have clear terms and conditions, you could put your business at risk of chargebacks).
- Provide the ‘customer copy’ of the receipt to your cardholder so they have a detailed record of their purchase. Some terminals can’t print receipts, so you may need to provide this another way depending on your terminal’s functionality (for example, email).
- Store the ‘merchant copy’ of all transaction receipts in a secure location for 18 months then securely dispose of them. There may be other local regulatory retention periods that apply to your business that you need to comply with.
Operating your EFTPOS terminal offline
There may be instances when your EFTPOS terminal loses connectivity to the Worldline or Verifone EFTPOS network – for example, if there is a power failure, telecommunications failure, or problem with the network switch.
Electronic offline vouchers (EOV) allow you to continue processing transactions if your terminal loses connectivity so that you can continue to operate your business.
How to use the Electronic Offline Vouchers (EOV) function
- If EOV is not set up as a default on your EFTPOS terminal, you can contact Merchant Services to enable this functionality.
- EOV (offline) mode will only be available if the Worldline or Verifone EFTPOS network is unavailable.
- If your terminal loses connectivity, you’ll receive a message asking if you would like to switch to EOV mode to continue accepting card transactions.
- Once you’ve processed the card transaction through your EFTPOS terminal, the cardholder needs to sign the receipt instead of entering a PIN and you need to validate the signature on the receipt against the signature on the back of the card.
- The merchant copy of the electronic offline transaction receipt must be printed and stored securely for 18 months, as it may be requested by the cardholder’s bank to verify the transaction. There may be other local regulatory retention periods that apply to your business that you need to comply with.
- Your terminal will upload the stored transactions to the Worldline or Verifone network for processing once connectivity has been restored.
- If your terminal stops operating or the software is updated before the upload process is complete, you’re at risk of losing all stored transactions. That’s why it’s important to keep your terminal up to date with any software or hardware requirements as soon as they become available.
- Call your terminal provider immediately if your EFTPOS terminal stops operating. If you’re a Westpac Get Paid customer, contact Merchant Services.
What happens if a transaction declines after the terminal is back online?
Get in touch with Merchant Services who may be able to help retrieve the funds through our chargeback process. However, there may be situations where a declined transaction cannot be approved (such as card fraud), so you should be conscious of potential fraud risks when using the EOV function.
We recommend recording your cardholder’s contact number so if the transaction declines you can contact the cardholder directly.
Verifone network EOV transaction limits
- The maximum dollar amount accepted per EOV transaction is $300.
- The maximum number of EOV transactions accepted is 200.
- The maximum dollar amount per terminal while in EOV mode is $5,000 for credit and/or debit card transactions.
Worldline network EOV transaction limits
- The maximum number of EOV transactions accepted is 99 per terminal per day.
- The maximum dollar amount accepted per EOV transaction is $300.
- The maximum time a terminal may remain offline is 24 hours.
What types of transactions can’t be processed in EOV (offline) mode?
- UnionPay International card payments.
- Cash-out/cash advance.
- Refunds.
- Contactless.
- Card not present.
What is prepayment?
If you accept card payments from your customers before your goods have been delivered or your services have been provided, this is known as prepayment.
How prepayment works
- If you accept prepayment, this must be recorded on your application form.
- We use the information you provide to identify any risks associated with taking prepayment and will let you know what you need to do to mitigate those risks.
- If our records show you are taking prepayment, we’ll contact you quarterly and/or annually to verify the information we have about your prepayment transactions.
You must contact Merchant Services immediately if there is any change in:
- The percentage of credit card sales that are accepted through prepayment.
- The number of days between prepayment and delivery (start counting from the day you accept prepayment to the day your goods and services are delivered).
MOTO/phone payments merchant guide (card not present).
The mail order/telephone order (MOTO) merchant guide explains how to accept credit or debit card payments through an EFTPOS terminal or a virtual terminal from cardholders who place their orders over the phone.
Because they aren’t physically present in your store or business premises, this is known as a ‘card not present’ payment.
You can also find guides for accepting in store payments, online payments, and recurring payments.
Apply for a Westpac merchant facility
If you’re interested in setting up a merchant facility with Westpac, contact your Westpac Relationship Manager or apply online.
You’ll need a merchant ID to accept MOTO transactions through your EFTPOS or virtual terminal. Your merchant ID is linked to your terminal, the network your terminal is connected to and your bank account. This will be provided to you by our Merchant Services team when you become a Westpac merchant.
Where to find your merchant ID
If you already have a merchant ID, you can find this on your monthly merchant statement. If you haven’t received your first statement yet, check your welcome email or contact Merchant Services.
Updating your business information
If there are any changes to the information you initially provided to us, you’ll need to let us know.
It’s especially important to contact us as soon as there’s a change to the services or products that you offer or the method you use to accept payments because this may affect your Merchant Services Agreement.
What is card not present?
Card not present payments are processed when both the cardholder and card are not present when the transaction occurs. The cardholder must have a scheme debit or credit card and provide you with the card number, name on the card, expiry date and CVV number.
Westpac offers the following electronic methods for card not present MOTO transactions taken over the phone (for example takeaway orders):
Processing payments through a virtual terminal
You enter the customer card details into an online payment form on a portal hosted by a PCIDSS compliant payment processor to process payments. This lets you process and keep track of the transactions.
Processing payments through an EFTPOS terminal
You key in the card details while your customer is on the phone with you. Your terminal provider can provide you with specific instructions on how to complete a card not present transaction through your EFTPOS terminal.
Westpac terminal options
Westpac offers PCI DSS compliant virtual terminal and EFTPOS terminal bundle deals that make it easy to set up and start accepting MOTO card payments. Visit our accepting payments page for details.
Follow these processing rules and be aware of the risks
MOTO is the only payment channel that doesn’t currently have authentication built into it such as 3D Secure, chip and PIN or two factor authentication (used for payments made by smartphones and smart devices). This means even if you follow the processing rules, they won’t protect you from chargebacks or fraudulent transactions – they only reduce the risks.
Do:
- Accept card information over the phone only and not via email or any other channel. If you use an online form to capture information, this must be reviewed and approved by Westpac
- Process transactions immediately while the cardholder is on the phone
- Provide purchase receipts to the customer
- Clearly disclose surcharges where applicable to the customer
- Be aware of unusual customer purchase behaviour, such as large orders or rush orders. You can find out more about card fraud on the Safely accept card payments over the phone page on our Merchant Risk Hub.
- Follow the correct authorisation procedures for manual transactions (PAN entry) where card details are entered directly into your EFTPOS terminal
- Process the CVV/CVC (3-digit code on the back of the card) if you have a virtual terminal
- Consider additional manual cardholder verification processes such as checking the cardholder’s name on the card matches the order details before shipping goods
- Disclose your terms and conditions to your cardholder and provide this information along with their receipt
- Get approval from Westpac if you choose to use a service provider to securely capture and store card data. If you change your service provider, you must notify Westpac immediately.
Don’t:
- Write down and/or store card numbers for later use
- Record card numbers through your phone system (i.e. a voice recording)
- Store any verification numbers (i.e. the CVV number on the back of the card)
- Request card details to be sent to you by email or any other channel
- Use manual key-entry for your EFTPOS terminal when the cardholder can pay using your website payment page (e-commerce)
- Impose a minimum or maximum amount on credit card or debit card transactions
- Use your personal or business card to process transactions or refunds through your merchant facility unless it is for a genuine purchase or refund
- Process transactions on behalf of another person or business
- Process transactions that are more than the value of your goods or services. For example, if you’re selling a mattress for $100 you can’t process a transaction for $110. Check the rules for surcharging if you want to add an additional amount to your transaction to cover the cost of processing certain card types through your merchant facility.
Connecting your EFTPOS terminal
EFTPOS terminals can be connected to the EFTPOS NZ or Worldline network.
Protecting your EFTPOS terminal
You must use a terminal that complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). You can find out more about the terminal providers we work with and tips to keep your EFTPOS terminal secure on the Safely accept card payments over the phone page on our Merchant Risk Hub.
Westpac offers PCI DSS compliant EFTPOS terminal bundle deals that make it easy to set up and start accepting card payments. Visit our accepting payments page to find out more.
Testing your EFTPOS terminal
Before you start accepting payments through your EFTPOS terminal, we recommend that you:
- Work with your terminal provider to process a test transaction.
- Check your trading name and merchant location is displayed correctly on the transaction receipt.
If you have any issues using your facility or the information on your receipt is incorrect, please contact Merchant Services.
Transferring your EFTPOS terminal
If you sell your business and the new owner wants to keep your terminal/s, contact Merchant Services and ask them to complete a ‘change of ownership’ process.
EFTPOS terminal error messages
If you receive an error message on your terminal or have an issue with your terminal, check your terminal provider’s user manual or contact their customer support team. If you’re a Westpac Get Paid customer, contact Merchant Services.
Terminal ID
You can find your terminal ID on any receipt. This is configured into the terminal to process transactions and linked to your Merchant ID if you accept credit cards and contactless transactions.
Virtual terminals or portals are provided by e-commerce gateway providers. You must use one of the following Westpac approved third party payment gateway providers:
- Verifone
- Worldline
- Windcave
- Mastercard® Payment Gateway Services
- CyberSource
- Datacom
- Paystation.
Westpac offers a PCI DSS compliant virtual terminal bundle deal that makes it easy to set up and start accepting card payments. Visit our accepting payments page to find out more.
What is authorisation?
Authorisation is built into all credit and debit card transactions. If a card is used to make a payment, it will be authorised and the payment completed if:
- The account number is valid.
- The card has not been reported lost or stolen.
- There are sufficient funds available to cover the transaction.
How to check if a card is valid
You can confirm a card is valid (not blocked or stolen) without holding money on the card by processing a $0.00 authorisation. Depending on your gateway provider, these transactions can be called 'account status check', 'account verification transaction' or 'validate'. Contact your EFTPOS or gateway provider for further instructions. If you're a Westpac Get Paid customer, contact Merchant Services. Don’t process $1 authorisations (this is against card scheme rules).
Does authorisation protect against fraudulent payments?
When a card payment is authorised, it’s not a guarantee that the person making the payment is the rightful cardholder. This means authorisation won’t protect you from the risk of card fraud or chargebacks.
What is a pre-authorisation?
A pre-authorisation is typically used by merchants who offer goods and services in advance of taking payment. It confirms a cardholder has enough credit available to pay the expected cost of your goods or services and that the card isn’t blocked due to being stolen.
When you process a pre-authorisation, it puts a temporary hold on a specific amount of money on your customer’s credit or debit card. No money is taken from their account until the transaction is completed and final payment is processed.
For example, a hotel may use pre-authorisation to hold money from the customer’s card to cover the cost of the room. Once the customer has checked out, the hotel staff can complete the transaction by taking the pre-authorised funds as payment. Preauthorisation transactions must be for the estimated value of the transaction to be completed.
How to process a pre-authorisation transaction
- Inform the cardholder of the amount that will be held on their credit or debit card before you proceed with the pre-authorisation transaction.
- If you want to charge the cardholder, inform them of the total amount that will be taken out of their credit or debit account. You can charge up to the value of the pre-authorised amount. You can’t charge more than the pre-authorised amount. For example, if you have pre-authorised $2,000 for a hotel stay, you can charge any amount up to $2,000 at check-out but you can’t charge more than $2,000.
- Process the pre-authorisation according to your terminal provider’s instructions.
- If you have not delivered the goods or services and don’t want to charge the cardholder, complete the pre-authorisation for $0.00.
- Pre-authorisation must be completed within 30 days. If you need to extend the time frame of the pre-authorisation, complete the original authorisation by following instructions on your terminal then process a new pre-authorisation.
What is incremental authorisation?
An incremental authorisation can be used to increase the pre-authorised amount. It’s based on a revised estimate of what the cardholder may spend. For example, a hotel guest might book for one night, but then decide to extend the reservation for an additional night. It’s important to include incremental authorisations in your terms and conditions to reduce the risk of a chargeback.
How to process an incremental authorisation
- Contact the cardholder (by phone, email or in person) to gain their consent before processing an incremental authorisation.
- An incremental authorisation can be used multiple times. You need to gain and record the cardholder’s consent for every incremental authorisation you process.
- Incremental authorisations don’t extend the time frame that the original authorisation is valid for. For example, if an extended hotel stay, cruise or car rental is longer than the validity period of the original authorisation e.g. 30 days, the original transaction must still be finalised and charged to the cardholder within 30 days.
- You can request a new authorisation (reauthorisation) for additional charges. A reauthorisation works in the same way as a pre-authorisation. It can be for an estimated amount, and you can use incremental authorisations to increase the amount if needed.
How can I turn on pre-authorisations and incremental authorisations?
The pre-authorisation function needs to be approved by Westpac and switched on by your EFTPOS terminal provider. Contact Merchant Services or your Westpac Relationship Manager to find out whether your business is eligible.
How surcharging works
You can add a fixed or variable surcharge fee to contactless and credit card transactions. This is applied at the time of payment.
Your surcharge fee should be based on your average merchant service fee, as per guidance from the Commerce Commission. For example, if your average merchant service fee is 1%, your surcharge fee should be no more than 1%.
Where can I find my average merchant service fee?
If you’re on a blended rate or you’re a Get Paid customer, you can find your average merchant service fee under the ‘MSF rate’ column on your merchant statement.
In the example below, the average merchant service fee is 0.96%. You will need to refer to your statement to find the rates relevant to you.
If you’re on an Interchange Plus (unbundled) rate, you can find your average merchant service fee under the ‘average rate’ column on your merchant statement.
In the example below, the average merchant service fee is 1.22%. You will need to refer to your statement to find the rates relevant to you.
How your average merchant service fee is calculated
Your average merchant service fee is a weighted average. This means your merchant service fees are calculated individually, then added up and divided by your total net sales amount. To get to a percentage, the total figure is then multiplied by 100.
For example: Total merchant services fees (MSF): $150 / total sales: $10,000 x 100 = average merchant service fee of 1.50%.
What should not be included in a surcharge?
The associated costs of processing payments such as point of sale (POS), staff costs or payment terminal rental fees should be excluded.
What to do when applying a surcharge
- You must clearly display notices, signs or decals at your premises that inform the customer if they choose to pay by card there will be a surcharge fee added to the sale price and how the surcharge cost has been calculated.
- The surcharge fee must not be described as a fee that is passed on from a card scheme or Westpac.
- The surcharge fee must be included in a single transaction and not collected separately.
- You must provide an alternative payment option that does not have a surcharge applied.
- You must give the customer an opportunity to cancel the transaction before it’s processed.
Setting up surcharging on your EFTPOS terminal
- Contact your EFTPOS terminal provider to enable this function on your terminal – there may be a cost involved. If you’re a Westpac Get Paid customer, contact Merchant Services.
How to issue refunds through your EFTPOS terminal
- You may need a refund card or PIN to authorise a refund through your EFTPOS terminal. This depends on your terminal or network provider.
- Process the refund using the same merchant facility you used for the original transaction.
- Process the refund to the same card used for the original sale.
- Never provide cash refunds for card transactions.
- Don’t refund more than the amount of the original transaction. If you want to provide compensation to the cardholder that is more than the amount of the original sale, use a different payment method such as a bank transfer to pay the cardholder the additional compensation.
- Don’t exceed your daily refund limit.
- Follow the correct authorisation procedures for manual transactions (PAN entry) where card details are entered directly into your EFTPOS terminal.
- Be aware of refund fraud. You can find out more about refund fraud on the Safely accept card payments over the phone page on our Merchant Risk Hub.
How to issue and manage receipts
- Send the cardholder a copy of the receipt immediately following completion of the transaction.
- The receipt may be sent by email, SMS, fax or post.
- If you provide a link to a website, you must provide clear instructions to explain how the cardholder can access the receipt from the website.
- If you’re a travel and entertainment merchant (accommodation, car rental, airline, cruise line or travel agent), find out about the additional information you need to include on your card not present transaction receipt in ‘Travel & entertainment merchants: Additional services & responsibilities’.
What is prepayment?
If you accept card payments from your customers before your goods have been delivered or your services have been provided, this is known as prepayment.
How prepayment works
- If you accept prepayment, this must be recorded on your application form.
- We use the information you provide to identify any risks associated with taking prepayment and will let you know what you need to do to mitigate those risks.
- If our records show that you are taking prepayment, we’ll contact you quarterly and/or annually to verify the information we have about your prepayment transactions.
You must contact Merchant Services immediately if there is any change in:
- The percentage of credit card sales that are accepted through prepayment.
- The number of days between prepayment and delivery (start counting from the day you accept prepayment to the day your goods and services are delivered).
Online merchant guide (card not present).
The online merchant guide explains how to accept credit or debit card payments through an e-commerce merchant facility on your website, app or by payment link.
Because cardholders aren’t physically present in your store or business premises, this is known as a ‘card not present’ payment.
You can also find guides for accepting in store payments, MOTO (mail order/telephone order) payments and recurring payments.
Apply for a Westpac merchant facility
If you’re interested in setting up a merchant facility with Westpac, contact your Westpac Relationship Manager or apply online.
You’ll need a merchant ID to accept ecommerce transactions online. Your merchant ID is linked to your payment gateway, the network your payment gateway is connected to and your bank account. This will be provided to you by our Merchant Services team when you become a Westpac merchant.
Where to find your merchant ID
If you already have a merchant ID, you can find this on your monthly merchant statement. If you haven’t received your first statement yet, check your welcome email or contact Merchant Services.
Updating your business information
If there are any changes to the information you initially provided to us, you’ll need to let us know.
It’s especially important to contact us as soon as there’s a change to the services or products that you offer or the method you use to accept payments because this may affect your Merchant Services Agreement.
Card not present payments are processed when both the cardholder and card are not present when the transaction occurs. The cardholder must have a scheme debit or credit card and provide the card number, name on the card, expiry date and CVV number.
To protect cardholders and our merchants, e-commerce merchants must meet the following criteria before they can accept scheme credit or debit card payments through their website or app.
Website criteria for e-commerce merchants
Your website needs to be live and available for our team to assess that you have met these criteria.
- Your business’s legal name and trading name must be displayed clearly on your website.
- You must be the registered website/domain owner.
- Your website needs to be in English, or have an English translation displayed if it’s in a foreign language.
- You must provide a complete description of the goods/services on your website.
- You must use one of the following Westpac approved third party payment gateway providers:
- Verifone
- Worldline
- Windcave
- Mastercard® Payment Gateway Services
- CyberSource
- Datacom
- Paystation
- All prices must be displayed in New Zealand dollars.
- If a currency converter displayed, you must also display the following disclaimer: ‘The price advertised may not be the same price charged to the credit card account due to exchange rate fluctuations. Because we are based in New Zealand, we must convert your purchase to New Zealand dollars at the exchange rate on the day it is processed.’
- The goods and services on your website or outbound links promoted by your website must not link to restricted or prohibited merchant types and any products/services offering that is not approved by us as part of your merchant services.
- You must provide your business’s customer service contact details on your website including physical address, telephone number, email address (this must be a business email address, not a personal address), social media details and mailing address.
- Your website must communicate your general terms and conditions to the cardholder during the order process.
- If applicable, terms and conditions of any current promotion and arrangement of recurring and/or instalment must be clearly displayed to the cardholder and you must obtain consent before engaging in transactions.
- The general terms and conditions on your website must include:
- Refund/return and/or disputes resolution policy. Visit the Ministry of Consumer Affairs website for examples.
- Delivery policy (for example: cost, within how many days delivery can be expected, whether goods will be sent via courier or normal post). Alternatively, if you provide a service, then a notification must be sent to the cardholder to confirm their payment and booking.
- Consumer data privacy policy. Clearly indicate to your customer the security of their personal information.
- If you allow customers to store any payment credentials for future use, please gain your customers' consent at the time of acceptance, and only use a solution provided by your approved payment processor to store the payment credential. Under no circumstances are CVV details allowed to be stored.
- Cancellation policy (for example: once an order has been made, it can’t be cancelled).
- You must enable a tick box to prompt the cardholder to 'click to accept' or 'acknowledge' your terms and conditions on the pages before checkout. A statement indicating that 'by submitting your order/payment you agree to the terms and conditions' does not satisfy this requirement.
- Your payment page must display Visa and Mastercard logos. This is normally provided by your payment gateway provider.
- During the checkout process, your website must display the address of your business’s permanent establishment in New Zealand. If you mostly operate from a personal residence, you only need to provide the city and country, rather than a specific address.
- You must provide details of your security capabilities and policy for transmission of payment card details. This will cover details such as credit card processing and customer data protection.
- You must use internet authentication products ‘Verified by Visa’ or ‘Mastercard SecureCode’ (also known as 3D Secure).
- You must comply with legal restrictions if applicable i.e. sale of goods or services where age restrictions apply, or where the sale or goods or services is prohibited in the country or state of the cardholder or subsequent delivery address.
- If you ship goods out of New Zealand, you must comply with export restrictions, sanctions and legal restrictions (if applicable).
- You must process the CVV/CVC (3-digit code on the back of the card) for all e-commerce transactions each time a cardholder enters their card details on your website payment page. You must not store this information.
- You must clearly disclose surcharges where applicable to the customer.
- If the purchase will be delivered in multiple shipments, you must notify the cardholder and ensure the combined amount of all shipments does not exceed the total purchase amount agreed with the cardholder. You must gain the cardholder’s agreement to any increase in the purchase amount as a result of multiple or partial deliveries. Each shipment, and any increase to the original agreed purchase amount, must be processed as a separate authorised transaction.
- If the product or service purchased is not available at time of the transaction (for instance, the order was placed by the cardholder but by the time the transaction completed your business sold out of the product or service) you must inform the cardholder, specify the anticipated delivery date and gain the cardholder’s agreement to a delayed delivery before proceeding with the transaction or give the cardholder an opportunity to cancel the transaction.
- If you intend to share personal information with third parties, you must provide a tick box for the cardholder to provide consent for their information to be shared.
Follow these processing rules
Do:
- Use a hosted e-commerce page integrated with your website or app. This means your customers are directed to the hosted page to pay for their purchase, then redirected to your site once payment is complete
- Provide purchase receipts to the customer
- Be aware of unusual customer purchase behaviour, such as large orders or rush orders.
Don’t:
- Write down and/or store any card numbers for later use
- Store any verification numbers (i.e. the CVV number on the back of the card)
- Request card details to be sent to you by email or any other channel
- Use manual key-entry for your EFTPOS terminal when the cardholder can pay using your website payment page (e-commerce) or by payment link
- Impose a minimum or maximum amount on credit card or debit card transactions
- Use your personal or business card to process transactions or refunds through your merchant facility unless it is for a genuine purchase or refund
- Process transactions on behalf of another person or business
- Process transactions that are more than the value of your goods or services. For example, if you’re selling a mattress for $100 you can’t process a transaction for $110. Check the rules for surcharging if you want to add an additional amount to your transaction to cover the cost of processing certain card types through your merchant facility.
Storing card details for future use
Some payment gateways offer a ‘credential on file’ payment functionality. This means you can give cardholders the ability to store their card details (credentials) through your payment gateway for future use. For example, if a returning customer wants to make another purchase on your website, they can select their credit card details on your payment page – speeding up the checkout process.
You’ll need to contact your e-commerce payment gateway to find out if they offer credential on file payments and to enable this functionality. You don’t need permission from Westpac to set it up. However, once you have this functionality, you’ll need to:
- Disclose to cardholders how their card credentials will be used
- Gain cardholders’ consent to store the credentials
- Notify cardholders when any changes are made to the terms of use
- Clearly identify to your card issuer which transactions use stored credentials to ensure they are processed correctly.
You can find tips to help keep your e-commerce merchant facility secure on the Safely accept payments online page on our Merchant Risk Hub.
If you don’t have a website, you may be able to set up a payment link with an approved payment processor that you can send to customers by email. Your customer can then use the link to make a secure payment to your account with their scheme debit or credit card.
Find out more about this payment option.
Batch processing lets you process large numbers of credit card payments at one time. Contact Merchant Services to find out if you are eligible for this functionality.
What is authorisation?
Authorisation is built into all credit and debit card transactions. If a card is used to make a payment, it will be authorised and the payment completed if:
- The account number is valid
- The card has not been reported lost or stolen
- There are sufficient funds available to cover the transaction.
How to check if a card is valid
You can confirm a card is valid (not blocked or stolen) without holding money on the card by processing a $0.00 authorisation. Depending on your gateway provider, these transactions can be called 'account status check', 'account verification transaction' or 'validate'. Contact your gateway provider for further instructions. If you're a Westpac Get Paid customer, contact Merchant Services. Don’t process $1 authorisations (this is against card scheme rules).
Does authorisation protect against fraudulent payments?
When a card payment is authorised, it’s not a guarantee that the person making the payment is the rightful cardholder. This means authorisation won’t protect you from the risk of card fraud or chargebacks.
What is a pre-authorisation?
A pre-authorisation is typically used by merchants who offer goods and services in advance of taking payment. It confirms a cardholder has enough credit available to pay the expected cost of your goods or services and that the card isn’t blocked due to being stolen.
When you process a pre-authorisation, it puts a temporary hold on a specific amount of money on your customer’s credit or debit card. No money is taken from their account until the transaction is completed and final payment is processed.
For example, a hotel may use pre-authorisation to hold money from the customer’s card to cover the cost of the room. Once the customer has checked out, the hotel staff can complete the transaction by taking the pre-authorised funds as payment. Preauthorisation transactions must be for the estimated value of the transaction to be completed.
How to process a pre-authorisation transaction
- Inform the cardholder of the amount that will be held on their credit or debit card before you proceed with the pre-authorisation transaction.
- If you want to charge the cardholder, inform them of the total amount that will be taken out of their credit or debit account. You can charge up to the value of the pre-authorised amount. You can’t charge more than the pre-authorised amount. For example, if you have pre-authorised $2,000 for a hotel stay, you can charge any amount up to $2,000 at check-out but you can’t charge more than $2,000.
- Process the pre-authorisation according to your payment gateway’s instructions.
- If you have not delivered the goods or services and don’t want to charge the cardholder, complete the pre-authorisation for $0.00.
- Pre-authorisation must be completed within 30 days. If you need to extend the time frame of the pre-authorisation, complete the original authorisation by following instructions from your payment gateway then process a new pre-authorisation.
What is incremental authorisation?
An incremental authorisation can be used to increase the pre-authorised amount. It’s based on a revised estimate of what the cardholder may spend. For example, a hotel guest might book for one night, but then decide to extend the reservation for an additional night. It’s important to include incremental authorisations in your terms and conditions to reduce the risk of a chargeback.
How to process an incremental authorisation
- Contact the cardholder (by phone, email or in person) to gain their consent before processing an incremental authorisation.
- An incremental authorisation can be used multiple times. You need to gain and record the cardholder’s consent for every incremental authorisation you process.
- Incremental authorisations don’t extend the time frame that the original authorisation is valid for. For example, if an extended hotel stay, cruise or car rental is longer than the validity period of the original authorisation e.g. 30 days, the original transaction must still be finalised and charged to the cardholder within 30 days.
- You can request a new authorisation (reauthorisation) for additional charges. A reauthorisation works in the same way as a pre-authorisation. It can be for an estimated amount, and you can use incremental authorisations to increase the amount if needed.
How can I turn on pre-authorisations and incremental authorisations?
The pre-authorisation function needs to be approved by Westpac and switched on by your payment gateway. Contact Merchant Services or your Westpac Relationship Manager to find out whether your business is eligible.
How surcharging works
You can add a fixed or variable surcharge fee to contactless and credit card transactions. This is applied at the time of payment.
Your surcharge fee should be based on your average merchant service fee, as per guidance from the Commerce Commission. For example, if your average merchant service fee is 1%, your surcharge fee should be no more than 1%.
Where can I find my average merchant service fee?
If you’re on a blended rate or you’re a Get Paid customer, you can find your average merchant service fee under the ‘MSF rate’ column on your merchant statement.
In the example below, the average merchant service fee is 0.96%. You will need to refer to your statement to find the rates relevant to you.
If you’re on an Interchange Plus (unbundled) rate, you can find your average merchant service fee under the ‘average rate’ column on your merchant statement.
In the example below, the average merchant service fee is 1.22%. You will need to refer to your statement to find the rates relevant to you.
How your average merchant service fee is calculated
Your average merchant service fee is a weighted average. This means your merchant service fees are calculated individually, then added up and divided by your total net sales amount. To get to a percentage, the total figure is then multiplied by 100.
For example: Total merchant services fees (MSF): $150 / total sales: $10,000 x 100 = average merchant service fee of 1.50%.
What should not be included in a surcharge?
The associated costs of processing payments such as point of sale (POS), staff costs or payment terminal rental fees should be excluded.
What to do when applying a surcharge
- You must clearly display notices, signs or decals at your premises that inform the customer if they choose to pay by card there will be a surcharge fee added to the sale price and how the surcharge cost has been calculated.
- The surcharge fee must not be described as a fee that is passed on from a card scheme or Westpac.
- The surcharge fee must be included in a single transaction and not collected separately.
- You must provide an alternative payment option that does not have a surcharge applied.
- You must give the customer an opportunity to cancel the transaction before it’s processed.
How to issue refunds through your online facility
- You may need a refund PIN to authorise a refund through your e-commerce facility. This depends on your payment gateway.
- Process the refund using the same merchant facility you used for the original transaction.
- Process the refund to the same card used for the original sale.
- Never provide cash refunds for card transactions.
- Don’t refund more than the amount of the original transaction. If you want to provide compensation to the cardholder that is more than the amount of the original sale, use a different payment method such as a bank transfer to pay the cardholder the additional compensation.
- Don’t exceed your daily refund limit.
- Be aware of refund fraud. You can find out more about refund fraud on the Safely accept card payments online page on our Merchant Risk Hub.
How to issue and manage receipts
- Send the cardholder a copy of the receipt immediately following completion of the transaction.
- The receipt may be sent by email, SMS, fax or post.
- If you provide a link to a website, you must provide clear instructions to explain how the cardholder can access the receipt from the website.
- If you’re a travel and entertainment merchant (accommodation, car rental, airline, cruise line or travel agent), find out about the additional information you need to include on your card not present transaction receipt in ‘Travel & entertainment merchants: Additional services & responsibilities’.
What is prepayment?
If you accept card payments from your customers before your goods have been delivered or your services have been provided, this is known as prepayment.
How prepayment works
- If you accept prepayment, this must be recorded in your application form.
- We use the information you provide to identify any risks associated with taking prepayment and will let you know what you need to do to mitigate those risks.
- If our records show that you are taking prepayment, we’ll contact you quarterly and/or annually to verify the information we have about your prepayment transactions.
You must contact Merchant Services immediately if there is any change in:
- The percentage of credit card sales that are accepted through prepayment
- The number of days between prepayment and delivery (start counting from the day you accept prepayment to the day your goods and services are delivered).
3D Secure helps reduce fraudulent transactions by verifying your cardholder. It’s a protocol designed to be an additional security layer for online credit and debit card transactions.
To complete a transaction using a credit or debit card, a cardholder must provide additional proof of identity such as a password or other information known by the cardholder. The bank who issued the cardholder's card controls what details are needed to verify the cardholder.
Recurring payments merchant guide.
The recurring merchant guide explains how to deduct ongoing payments from your customers’ credit or debit cards (for subscription-based services such as gym memberships or regular payments like utility bills).
You can also find guides for accepting in store payments, MOTO (mail order/telephone order) payments and online payments.
A recurring facility gives you the ability to deduct payments from your customers’ debit or credit cards on an ongoing basis.
To protect cardholders and our merchants, you’ll need approval from Westpac to use your recurring facility. You’ll also need to have a MOTO with virtual terminal merchant facility or an e-commerce merchant facility already set up and check whether your payment gateway offers this functionality.
Once you’re approved for recurring payments, we’ll set up a separate merchant ID for your recurring facility which can then be integrated with your existing online MOTO merchant ID or e-commerce merchant ID.
Contact your payment gateway and our Merchant Services team to find out if your business is eligible.
What to provide to your customers
- Your general sales terms and conditions.
- A separate recurring billing agreement and/or free trial billing agreement.
- Once signed, a copy of your terms and conditions along with your recurring agreement and/or your free trial billing agreement.
How to get started
- Ensure you have approval from Westpac to use your recurring facility.
- Contact your gateway provider to enable the recurring option. You may need to provide your recurring merchant facility ID to your gateway provider.
- Select the recurring option in your online merchant portal and enter the customer’s card details while they are on the phone with you (never write down card details to enter later).
- You can agree the terms of the recurring payment with your customer – payments can be made periodically or on an ad hoc basis, and can be a fixed or variable amount.
What to provide to your customers
- Your general sales terms and conditions.
- A separate recurring billing agreement and/or your free trial billing agreement.
- A way for the cardholder to view and accept your terms and conditions as well as your recurring agreement and/or your free trial billing agreement (for example, an ‘accept’ button on your website).
How to get started
- Ensure you have approval from Westpac to use your recurring facility.
- Agree the terms of the recurring payment with your customer – payments can be made periodically or on an ad hoc basis, and can be a fixed or variable amount.
- Ensure your payment gateway clearly identifies recurring transactions so they are processed correctly.
You must provide your customer with a separate billing agreement in addition to your general terms and conditions that details:
- Description of goods/services that will be charged to your customer
- The transaction amount that will be charged to the customer (including all tax and additional charges) or a description of how the transaction amount will be calculated
- Transaction currency
- Any surcharges that will be charged to the customer and how they’ve been calculated
- Your cancellation and refund policies
- Your physical business address and contact details
- Fixed dates or intervals of when recurring transactions will be processed
- The event/scenario that will prompt an unscheduled card-on-file transaction (for example, if the cardholder’s balance falls below a certain amount or the recurring payment was unsuccessful)
- The last four digits of the account number that will be used to make payment (do not include full account number)
- How the cardholder will be notified of any changes to the agreement
- How the stored card numbers will be used
- The expiration date of the agreement, if applicable.
You must provide a simple cancellation procedure.
If you offer a free trial period that results in a recurring charge, you must provide the cardholder with the following information in addition to your general terms and conditions:
- Length of time of the trial period (for example, three months)
- The date the trial ends
- Clear disclosure that the cardholder will be charged after the trial period ends unless they clearly reject the charge or cancel before the trial period expires.
- Clear and simple steps to be taken by the cardholder to cancel the transaction before the end of the trial period.
- General cancellation policy.
You must also send the cardholder a reminder notification (such as an email or SMS) with a link to your online cancellation policy at least seven days before commencement of the recurring agreement and provide the cardholder with the ability to opt out and cancel before commencement of the recurring agreement if:
- A trial period, introductory offer, or promotional period is about to expire
- The nature of the recurring agreement has changed (for example the pricing or billing period).
Merchant risk.
Merchants who process card transactions must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Find out how to help your business become compliant.
Find out how an account data compromise (ADC) can impact your business, what you can do to help prevent it and what to do if your business has been compromised.
Chargebacks allow cardholders to dispute scheme debit or credit card charges and potentially have them refunded. Find out how chargebacks work and how to manage them in your business.
Statements & settlements.
Your statement will show the settlement transactions you’ve processed during the month and the merchant service fee(s) you’ve been charged. (Westpac bills in arrears, which means you pay for the transactions you processed the previous month.)
Statements are emailed or posted on the second or third business day of the month. It’s important to check your statement regularly and contact us if you notice any irregularities.
Merchant service fees (MSF) are charged for certain types of card transactions processed through your merchant facility. A percentage of each sale is paid to Westpac for the processing of your monthly transactions.
Your merchant service fee will vary based on several factors, including what type of business you have, how many transactions you process, and what card types you accept. You can find your current rate on your monthly statement.
A minimum monthly MSF will be charged whether you’re using the facility or not and Westpac reserves the right to change fees. If you have a question about your fees, get in touch with our Merchant Services team.
Your merchant service fee will be charged to your bank account each month.
Find out more about Merchant Services Fees.
EFTPOS terminal transaction settlements
- Transactions processed through your terminal will be credited to your nominated settlement bank account daily.
- You’ll be given or can select a ‘settlement window’ time. This timeframe is specific to a terminal and when you can end your trading day and settle the day’s transactions.
- If you settle your daily trading before 10.29pm, funds will be credited to your nominated settlement bank account the same day.
- If you settle your daily trading after 10.29pm, funds will be credited to your nominated bank account the next day.
Online (e-commerce) transaction settlements
- Transactions processed through your e-commerce facility will be credited to your nominated settlement bank account daily.
- Transactions processed before 10pm will be credited to your account the same day.
- Transactions processed after 10pm will be credited to your account the next day.
If the transaction has been properly authorised and the transaction successfully completed, we will credit cleared funds to your nominated account.
However, this payment may be reversed if a chargeback event happens, or the transaction is later discovered to be invalid.
Travel & entertainment merchants: Additional services & responsibilities.
The following businesses are classed as travel and entertainment (T&E) merchants by the card schemes (Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay International). Specific card scheme rules apply for services offered by these types of merchants.
- Full-service lodging accommodation: Includes cleaning and room service.
- Serviced accommodation: Includes cleaning.
- Bed and breakfast.
- Car rental agencies.
- Airlines.
- Cruise lines.
- Travel agents – must be a direct agent for an airline, accommodation, car rental or cruise line industry merchant and accept card transactions on behalf of that merchant.
In addition to the standard card not present transaction rules for MOTO or online, you must also record the following details on the transaction statement or receipt if you accept card payments over the phone (MOTO) or through an e-commerce facility.
Airline
- Passenger, or guest name, if different to the name displayed on card.
- Description of goods and/or service: flight information including flight numbers and dates of travel.
Accommodation
- Passenger, or guest name, if different than the name displayed on card.
- Description of goods and/or service: dates of stay, check-in, check-out and daily room rate.
- Itemised and amended charges such as room rate, tax, food, beverage, damages and incidental charges.
Cruise line merchants
- Passenger, or guest name, if different than the name displayed on card.
- Description of goods and/or service: cruise embarkation date and disembarkation date.
- Itemised and amended charges such as room rate, tax, food, beverage, damages and incidental charges.
Car rental merchants
- Cardholder’s address.
- Rental return dates.
- Rental return location.
- Rental agreement number.
- Description of goods and/or service: Type of car, mileage, rental rate, actual rate, refuelling and insurance charges, adjustments, tax, cash payments received, billing method and rental agent ID number if applicable.
- Itemised and amended charges such as tax, petrol, damages and incidental charges.
Merchants can accept a card to secure and hold a reservation made by the cardholder to ensure that accommodation, merchandise, or services will be available as reserved and agreed with the cardholder. The following procedures must be complied with when accepting card details as security for holding a reservation booking:
Before confirming the booking
- Disclose the date and time the stay or rental will begin and the location where the accommodation, merchandise, or services will be provided.
- Agree to hold the reservation unless it is cancelled according to the agreed policy. That policy must include, but is not limited to the following:
- Date and time by which the cardholder must cancel the reservation to avoid a penalty.
- Amount the cardholder must pay if the reservation is not properly cancelled by the deadline and the cardholder does not claim the accommodations, merchandise, or services within 24 hours of the agreed time.
Confirming the booking
Verbal confirmation
If you choose to provide your confirmation verbally (over the phone or face to face), you must provide:
- Confirmation reference code or other identifiable reference
- Instruction to keep the confirmation code or reference in case of a dispute.
Written confirmation
If your cardholder requests the confirmation in writing, you must provide:
- Confirmation code or other identifiable reference
- Instruction to retain the confirmation code or reference in case of a dispute
- Card details: Cardholder name, truncated account number and card expiry date
- Exact name and physical address of the business where the car or accommodation reservation is held
- Expected arrival and departure dates
- Daily room rate charges (for accommodation merchants)
- Your cancellation policy, including exact date and time the cancellation period ends
- Any other reservation details.
Reservations made by fax must be signed by the cardholder.
Cancelling the booking
- You must provide the cardholder with your cancellation policy. Your policy must include the following:
- Date and time by which the cardholder must cancel the reservation to avoid a penalty.
- Amount the cardholder must pay if the reservation is not properly cancelled by the deadline and the cardholder does not claim the accommodation or services within 24 hours of the agreed time.
- You must accept all cardholder cancellations within the time limits you have specified and previously advised to the cardholder.
What to provide with a cancellation confirmation
If the reservation is properly cancelled within the cancellation period, you must provide the customer with a cancellation code and an instruction to retain the code in case of a dispute.
If you choose to provide your cancellation verbally (over the phone or face to face), you must provide the cardholder the following information:
- Cancellation code
- Instruction to retain the code in case of dispute.
If the cardholder requests the cancellation in writing (letter, email or fax), you must provide the following information:
- Cancellation code
- Instruction to retain the code in case of dispute
- Card details: cardholder name, truncated account number and card expiry date
- Any other cancellation details or other important information.
Unavailable accommodation or car rental
If the guaranteed reservation is unavailable, scheme rules require you to provide the cardholder with at least the following services at no charge:
- Comparable accommodation for one night at another business/comparable car rental
- If requested by the cardholder, a three-minute telephone call and message forwarding to the alternate accommodation or car rental business
- Transport to the alternate accommodation or car rental business premises.
‘No show’ accommodation or car rental
- You must hold the guaranteed reservation according to the reservation request for at least 24 hours after scheduled arrival.
- If the cardholder has not claimed or cancelled the guaranteed reservation by the specified time, you may cancel any further reservation and complete a transaction record for a ‘no show’ (the cost of one night’s accommodation/car rental).
- The ‘no show’ charge must not, under any circumstances, exceed the quoted rate for one night’s accommodation or car rental regardless of the length of time for which the original reservation was made.
The receipt or transaction statement must contain the following information:
- Amount of one night’s lodging/car rental plus applicable tax
- Card details: Cardholder name, last four digits of the card account number and card expiry date
- The date of the guaranteed reservation and the confirmation code
- The words ‘Guaranteed Reservation – No Show’ on the signature line of the transaction record.
Transaction disputes
The cardholder has the right to dispute a transaction with the issuing bank. You must not require the cardholder to waive this right. Find out how to manage disputes.
Accommodation and cruise line merchants can offer an advance deposit service to a cardholder if the cardholder agrees to confirm their reservation by paying a deposit.
Billing information required from cardholder
You must receive the following billing information from the cardholder (or travel agent authorised to act on behalf of the cardholder):
- Card details: Cardholder name, card account number and card expiry date
- Customer name if different from the cardholder’s name on the card
- Cardholder contact details including telephone numbers and mailing address
- Scheduled date of arrival for accommodation or embarkation date for a cruise line
- Intended length of stay or voyage
Deposit amount
You must notify the cardholder of the deposit amount required.
- For accommodation merchants: The deposit amount cannot exceed the cost of the intended length of stay
- For cruise line merchants: The deposit amount cannot exceed the cost of the cruise.
The advance deposit amount must be deducted from the total amount of the cruise or accommodation.
Transaction statement or receipt
You must provide a copy of the receipt or transaction statement and your cancellation policy to the cardholder within three business days of the card sales transaction date. Your receipt or statement must show:
- The words ‘advance deposit’ on the signature line
- Confirmation code for the reservation
- Instruction for cardholder to keep confirmation code
- If applicable, the date and time the cancellation period ends after which the cardholder will lose their deposit for unused accommodation.
Reservation confirmation
You must provide the following information to the cardholder:
- Card details: Cardholder name, truncated account number and card expiry date
- Confirmation code for the reservation
- Instruction for cardholder to keep confirmation code
- Exact name and physical address of the business where the reservation for the accommodation or cruise is held
- Expected arrival and departure dates
- Daily room rate charges
- Your cancellation policy including exact date and time the cancellation period ends
- Any other reservation details
- Name of the cruise ship and point of embarkation
- Your intention to hold the accommodation for the number of nights paid for
- That you will retain part or the entire advance deposit transaction amount if the cardholder has not:
- registered by checkout time the day following the specified last night of the lodging for accommodation (the cardholder will lose the unused amount of the reservation)
- checked in by embarkation time for a cruise line; or
- cancelled the reservation within the time limit specified by you
- Under the advance deposit service, a cardholder may forfeit the advance deposit. You must not charge the cardholder any additional ‘no show’ amount.
- Reservations made by fax must be signed by the cardholder.
Cancellation period
You must accept all cardholder cancellations within the time limits specified. If you need notification of cancellation that is more than 72 hours, you must advise in writing to the cardholder the time and date the cancellation period ends.
Cancellation confirmation
You must provide the cardholder with a copy of the cancellation confirmation in writing within three business days, and advise the cardholder to retain the cancellation advice in case of dispute. Your cancellation must include the following:
- Card sales transaction amount and transaction date
- Cardholder name, and payment method
- Cardholder contact details
- The words ‘advance deposit cancellation’ on the signature line.
Unavailable accommodation
Scheme rules require you to provide at least the following services without charge to the cardholder if the reserved accommodation is unavailable:
- Credit refund for the entire card sales transaction amount
- Transaction receipt or statement
OR
- Comparable accommodation at an alternate business for the number of nights specified in the reservation or until the reserved accommodation becomes available at the original business
- If requested by the cardholder, two three-minute telephone calls and message forwarding to the alternate business
- Transportation to the alternate business location and return to the original business. If requested, you must provide daily transportation to and from the alternate business.
Unavailable cruise line accommodation
If the reserved accommodation is unavailable, and no comparable accommodation is available on the ship, scheme rules require you to offer the cardholder at least a comparable cruise of similar itinerary and embarkation date at no additional cost to the cardholder.
If the cardholder accepts the alternate accommodation scheme rules require you to provide at least either an additional night’s accommodation or airfare to a different port city at no additional cost.
If the cardholder declines the alternate accommodation, scheme rules require you to provide a credit refund for the entire advance deposit transaction amount. In addition, scheme rules require you to provide the cardholder all the following without charge:
- one night's hotel accommodation if the cardholder requests it
- transportation to the hotel and airport
- airline transportation to the airport nearest the cardholder’s residence
- reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the cardholder.
Accommodation and cruise line merchants can offer a priority check-out service to cardholders to avoid delays or inconvenience at the time of checkout from the merchant’s accommodation. If the cardholder agrees to this service, you must follow these procedures:
- Ask the cardholder to complete, sign and return a ‘priority check-out agreement’ that contains the following information:
- Room number occupied and departure date from room
- Statement authorising you to charge costs incurred by the cardholder to their card account without the need for the cardholder’s signature on the transaction statement or receipt
- Cardholder details including: Cardholder's name, copy of the truncated card account number and card expiry date, cardholder’s signature and cardholder's mailing address
- Complete an electronic receipt that shows the truncated card details
- Include the cardholder’s total obligation amount and the words ‘priority check-out’ on the signature line
- Follow normal authorisation and deposit procedures for processing payments in store, over the phone or online
- Ensure the card number on the ‘priority check-out agreement’ matches that part of the card number on the receipt or transaction statement
- Provide the cardholder with a copy of the transaction statement or receipt, itemised bill and signed ‘priority check-out agreement’ either at the time of check-out or by mail or email within three business days of the cardholder’s departure
- Keep the itemised bill and signed ‘priority check-out’ agreement for a minimum period of 18 months after the card sales transaction date. There may be other retention periods that should apply to your business.
Get in touch.
New customers
Call the Westpac Merchant Services team on 0800 888 066 (option 1), weekdays from 8:30am to 5pm, or email merchant@westpac.co.nz
Existing customers
Contact your Westpac Relationship Manager, or contact our Merchant Services team on 0800 888 066 (option 2), weekdays from 8.30am to 5pm, or email merchant@westpac.co.nz
0800 888 066
- Option 1. New or additional merchant facilities, or to change ownership of an existing facility.
- Option 2. General enquiries on your existing merchant facility including suspicious transactions.
- Option 3. Westpac Get Paid on-the-go or Westpac Get Paid in-store technical support.
- Option 4. Westpac Get Paid online technical support.
- Option 5. Terminal faults that aren't related to Westpac Get Paid.
Things you should know.
Westpac’s Merchant Services Agreement applies. Fees and charges, eligibility and credit criteria apply. Mastercard® is a registered trademark and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. Westpac Get Paid® is a registered trademark of Westpac Banking Corporation.
This guide is provided by Westpac to support our customers with some of the transaction processing requirements that apply, but it does not cover all obligations that may apply to your business. Westpac does not warrant the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of this guide for your business.