Bancontact

Overview

Introduction

Bancontact is a payment method which allows you to process payments in euros by using payment cards in Belgium. This method supports purchases and refunds.

This article provides information about working with the Bancontact method: general insights are presented in the Overview section, while information about the actions required to process payments and perform other actions is presented in the sections that follow.

General information

Payment method type	bank payments
Payment instruments	payments cards
Countries and regions	BE
Payment currencies	EUR
Currency conversion	on the ecommpay side
One-time purchases	+
Credential-on-file purchases	–
Full refunds	+
Partial refunds	+
Payouts	–
Chargebacks	–
Notes	if the payment amount exceeds 500.00 EUR, then the Bancontact mobile application can't be used for purchase processing
Onboarding and access fee	refer to your ecommpay key account manager; additional information is available in ecommshop

Interaction diagram

Payment processing by using the Bancontact method involves the merchant's web service, one of ecommpay interfaces, the ecommpay payment platform, and technical facilities of the Bancontact service.

Operations support

Various platform interfaces can be used to process payments and perform operations using the Bancontact method. Purchases can be processed by using Payment Page, Gate and Dashboard (using payment links), refunds—by using Gate and Dashboard. At the same time, regardless of the interfaces used, the following properties and limitations are applicable.

When working with the Bancontact the following properties and limitations are applicable.

	Amounts, EUR		Times ¹
	minimum	maximum	basic	threshold
Purchases	1.00	–	–	30 days
Refunds	–	–	–	–

Note:

The base and threshold times are defined as follows:
- The base time is the average estimated time between the moment a payment is initiated in the payment platform to the moment the payment result is sent to the web service. The base time evaluation is made on the assumption of normal operation of all technical facilities and communication channels and typical customer behaviour (if any input from the customer is required). Use the base time to estimate when to react to the absence of payment result callbacks or when to check payment status (details).
- The threshold time is the maximum possible time between the moment a payment is initiated in the payment platform to the moment the web service receives the callback with the payment result. A payment is automatically assigned the decline status if it wasn't processed within the threshold time. For individual customisation of the threshold time limit, contact ecommpay technical support.

Processing scenarios

To perform a purchase by using the Bancontact method, you need to redirect the customer to the Bancontact service, while to make a refund, you need to receive a request from the customer and notify the customer about the result of the refund via the web service.

Figure: Purchase by using Payment Page

Figure: Purchase by using Gate

Figure: Refund by using Gate

Purchases by using Payment Page

General information

To process a purchase through Payment Page by using the Bancontact method, the merchant's web service is required to send a request with all required parameters and signature to the ecommpay URL and receive a callback with the result. The full sequence and special aspects of purchase processing are provided below.

Figure: Purchase processing by using Payment Page: step-by-step description

A customer initiates a purchase in the web service.
The web service sends the request for opening Payment Page to the specified ecommpay URL.
The request for opening Payment Page is sent to the payment platform.
The payment platform receives the request and validates the required parameters and signature.
Payment Page is generated based on the project and request parameters.
Payment Page is displayed to the customer.
The customer selects the Bancontact method.
The payment platform receives the request for processing the payment by using the Bancontact method.
The payment platform processes the request and sends it to the Bancontact service.
The request is processed on the Bancontact service side.
The data for redirecting the customer to the Bancontact service is sent from the Bancontact service to the payment platform.
The data for redirecting the customer is sent from the payment platform to Payment Page.
The customer is redirected to the Bancontact service.
The customer completes all required payment steps. If the payment amount is less than 500.00 EUR, then the QR code is displayed to the customer (fields for entering Bancontact card credentials are also displayed in this case). The customer can scan the code by using the Bancontact mobile application. If the payment amount is exceeds 500.00 EUR, then the QR code is not displayed and the purchase can't be processed by using the mobile application.
The purchase is processed in the Bancontact service.
The result information is displayed to the customer in the Bancontact service.
The customer is redirected to Payment Page.
The Bancontact service sends a notification about the result to the payment platform.
The payment platform sends the payment result callback to the web service.
The payment platform sends the result information to Payment Page.
The result information is displayed to the customer on Payment Page.

Information about the formats of requests and callbacks used for processing payments by using the Bancontact method via Payment Page is presented further in this section; general information about working with the Payment Page API is presented in Interaction concepts.

Request format

There are several things you need to consider when sending purchase requests by using the Bancontact method:

The following parameters required for any payment must be specified:
- project_id—project identifier obtained from ecommpay during integration
- payment_id—payment identifier unique within the project
- payment_currency—payment currency code in the ISO-4217 alpha-3 format
- payment_amount—payment amount in the smallest currency unit
- customer_id—customer identifier unique within the project
The following parameters required for any payment must be specified: project_id, payment_id, payment_currency, payment_amount, customer_id.
Additionally, it is recommended to specify the last name of the customer in the parameter customer_last_name (to avoid errors during payment processing it is recommended to set the following value length—from 3 to 100 characters). If any of these parameters are missing, the payment form may display input fields for entering the missing values (details are available in Submission of additional payment information).
If you need to have the payment form displayed with the Bancontact method selected, set the force_payment_method parameter to bancontact.
Additionally, any other parameters available for working with Payment Page can be used (details).
After all target parameters are specified, generate a signature (details).

Thus, a correct request for opening the payment form using the Bancontact method must contain the project identifier, basic payment information (identifier, amount, and currency code), customer identifier and last name, as well as signature.

{
   "project_id": 120,
   "payment_id": "580",
   "payment_amount": 1000,
   "payment_currency": "EUR",
   "customer_id": "customer1",
   "customer_last_name": "Johnson",
   "signature": "kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldOcZzUCwX6R\/ekpZhkIQg=="
}

Figure: Example of sufficient data in a purchase request

{
   "project_id": 120,
   "payment_id": "580",
   "payment_amount": 1000,
   "payment_currency": "EUR",
   "customer_id": "customer1",
   "customer_last_name": "Johnson",
   "signature": "kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldOcZzUCwX6R\/ekpZhkIQg=="
}

Callback format

The Bancontact method uses the standard format for callbacks to deliver purchase results. For more information, see Callbacks.

The following is the example of a callback with information about a 10.00 EUR purchase made in the 211 project.

Figure: Example of callback data indicating that the purchase has been processed

{
        "project_id": 211,
        "payment": {
            "id": "ECT_TEST_1562051806691899",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2019-07-02T09:28:29+0000",
            "method": "bancontact",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "description": "ECT_TEST_1562051806691810"
        },
        "customer": {
            "last_name": "Johnson"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 37493000003351,
            "type": "sale",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2019-07-02T09:28:29+0000",
            "created_date": "2019-07-02T09:28:24+0000",
            "request_id": "7e08d48c4f5da3692b65e5426f44ed36896e569c",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "provider": {
                "id": 1241,
                "payment_id": "",
                "auth_code": ""
            },
            "code": "0",
            "message": "Success"
        },
        "signature": "e7wGQAoo1wKMPwsJVCg4zwpWiZVR83hnRnYsIZ84g=="
    }

The following is the example of a callback with information about a declined purchase.

Figure: Example of callback data indicating that the purchase has been declined

{
        "project_id": 211,
        "payment": {
            "id": "ECT_TEST_1562051806691810",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2019-07-02T09:28:29+0000",
            "method": "bancontact",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 50,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
        },
        "customer": {
            "last_name": "Johnson"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 37493000003351,
            "type": "sale",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2019-07-02T09:28:29+0000",
            "created_date": "2019-07-02T09:28:24+0000",
            "request_id": "7e08d48c4f5da3692b65e5426f44ed36896e569c",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 50,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 50,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "provider": {
                "id": 1241,
                "payment_id": "",
                "auth_code": ""
            },
            "code": "20101",
            "message": "Decline due to amount or frequency limit"
        },
        "signature": "e7wGQAoo1wKMPwsJVCghpAH3AqwpWiZVR83hnRnYsIZ84g=="
    }

Useful links

The following articles can be useful when implementing purchases via Payment Page:

Interaction concepts—about the interaction with the payment platform by using Payment Page.
Signature generation and verification—about the procedure of generating and verifying signatures in requests and callbacks.
Payment models and statuses—about the types, processing models, and possible statuses of supported payments and operations.
One-time one-step purchase—about processing of one-time one-step purchases by using Payment Page.
Information of operations performing—about error and response codes that are used in the payment platform to record information about performing of operations.

Purchases by using Gate

General information

To process a purchase through Gate by using the Bancontact method, the merchant's web service is required to do the following:

Send a request with all the required parameters and signature to the ecommpay URL.
Receive an intermediate callback from the payment platform and redirect the customer to the Bancontact service.
Receive the final callback from the payment platform.

The full sequence and special aspects of purchase processing are provided below.

Figure: Purchase processing by using Gate: step-by-step description

A customer initiates a purchase by using the Bancontact method in the web service.
The web service sends the request for processing the purchase by using Gate to the specified ecommpay URL.
The payment platform receives the request.
The payment platform validates the required parameters and signature in the request.
The payment platform sends the response to the web service with information about the receipt of the request and its validity (details).
The payment platform performs further processing of the request (with parameter consistency check) and sends it to the Bancontact service.
The request is processed on the Bancontact service side.
The Bancontact service sends the redirection data to the payment platform.
The payment platform sends the callback with the redirection data to the web service.
The customer is redirected to the Bancontact service.
The customer completes all required payment steps. If the payment amount is less than 500.00 EUR, then the QR code is displayed to the customer (fields for entering Bancontact card credentials are also displayed in this case). The customer can scan the code by using the Bancontact mobile application. If the payment amount is exceeds 500.00 EUR, then the QR code is not displayed and the purchase can't be processed by using the mobile application.
The purchase is processed in the Bancontact service.
The result is displayed to the customer.
The customer is redirected to the web service.
The Bancontact service sends the payment result notification to the payment platform.
The payment platform sends the payment result callback to the web service.
The customer receives the payment result information from the web service.

Information about the formats of requests and callbacks used for processing payments by using the Bancontact method via Gate is presented further in this section. General information about working with the Gate API is presented in Interaction concepts.

Request format

There are several things you need to consider when sending purchase requests by using the Bancontact method:

To initiate each purchase, send a separate POST request to the /v2/payment/bancontact/sale endpoint.
Each request must include the following objects and parameters:
- Object general—general purchase information:
  - project_id—project identifier obtained from ecommpay during integration
  - payment_id—payment identifier unique within the project
  - signature—request signature generated after all required parameters are specified (details—in the Signature generation and verification) (details)
- Object payment—payment information:
  - amount—payment amount in the smallest currency unit
  - currency—payment currency code in the ISO-4217 alpha-3 format
- Object customer—customer information:
  - id—customer identifier unique within the project
  - ip_address—customer IP address relevant for the initiated payment
  - last_name—customer last name (to avoid errors during payment processing it is recommended to set the following value length—from 3 to 100 characters). If the parameter is not specified in the request, a callback containing this parameter is sent for additional payment information submission (for more details, see Submission of additional payment information)
- Object return_url—contains the URLs to which customer is redirected while or after payment processing:
  - return—URL to return customer to the web service during any step before the payment is completed with a click of the return button.
Additionally, any other parameters included in the specification can be used.

Thus, a correct purchase request by using the Bancontact method must contain the project identifier, basic payment information (identifier, amount, and currency code), customer identifier, IP address and last name, as well as URL for redirection and signature.

{
    "general": {
      "project_id": 211,
      "payment_id": "payment_id",
      "signature": "PLwY3T\/pOMeSaRfBaNIipTv+AWoXW\/9MTO8yJA=="
    },
    "payment": {
      "amount": 1000,
      "currency": "EUR"
    },
    "customer": {
      "last_name": "Johnson",
      "id": "123",
      "ip_address": "192.0.2.0"
    },
    "return_url": {
      "return": "http://example.com/return"
    }  
}

Figure: Example of sufficient data in a purchase request

{
    "general": {
      "project_id": 211,
      "payment_id": "payment_id",
      "signature": "PLwY3T\/pOMeSaRfBaNIipTv+AWoXW\/9MTO8yJA=="
    },
    "payment": {
      "amount": 1000,
      "currency": "EUR"
    },
    "customer": {
      "last_name": "Johnson",
      "id": "123",
      "ip_address": "192.0.2.0"
    },
    "return_url": {
      "return": "http://example.com/return"
    }  
}

Formats of intermediate callbacks for customer redirection

Each payment made with the Bancontact method requires redirection of customers from the merchant's web service to the Bancontact service. To redirect a customer it is necessary to receive an intermediate callback from the payment platform and use the information included in the redirect_data object. The format of such callbacks is standard (details), and the following objects and parameters are included in the redirect_data object:

body—object with data to be sent in the request body
method—parameter specifying the HTTP method for sending the request (GET or POST)
url—parameter containing a link for redirection

Figure: redirect_data example

"redirect_data": {
      "body": [],
      "method": "GET",
      "url": "https://bancontact.girogate.be/bi/t0bc?tx=example

Callback format

The Bancontact method uses the standard format for callbacks to deliver purchase results. For more information, see Callbacks.

The following is the example of a callback with information about a 10.00 EUR purchase made in the 211 project.

Figure: Example of callback data indicating that the purchase has been processed

{
        "project_id": 211,
        "payment": {
            "id": "ECT_TEST_1562051806691899",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2019-07-02T09:28:29+0000",
            "method": "bancontact",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "description": "ECT_TEST_1562051806691810"
        },
        "customer": {
            "last_name": "Johnson"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 37493000003351,
            "type": "sale",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2019-07-02T09:28:29+0000",
            "created_date": "2019-07-02T09:28:24+0000",
            "request_id": "7e08d48c4f5da3692b65e5426f44ed36896e569c",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "provider": {
                "id": 1241,
                "payment_id": "",
                "auth_code": ""
            },
            "code": "0",
            "message": "Success"
        },
        "signature": "e7wGQAoo1wKMPwsJVCg4zwpWiZVR83hnRnYsIZ84g=="
    }

The following is the example of a callback with information about a declined purchase.

Figure: Example of callback data indicating that the purchase has been declined

{
        "project_id": 211,
        "payment": {
            "id": "ECT_TEST_1562051806691810",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2019-07-02T09:28:29+0000",
            "method": "bancontact",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 50,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
        },
        "customer": {
            "last_name": "Johnson"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 37493000003351,
            "type": "sale",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2019-07-02T09:28:29+0000",
            "created_date": "2019-07-02T09:28:24+0000",
            "request_id": "7e08d48c4f5da3692b65e5426f44ed36896e569c",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 50,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 50,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "provider": {
                "id": 1241,
                "payment_id": "",
                "auth_code": ""
            },
            "code": "20101",
            "message": "Decline due to amount or frequency limit"
        },
        "signature": "e7wGQAoo1wKMPwsJVCghpAH3AqwpWiZVR83hnRnYsIZ84g=="
    }

Useful links

The following articles can be useful when implementing purchases via Gate:

Interaction concepts—about the interaction with the payment platform by using Gate.
Signature generation and verification—about the procedure of generating and verifying signatures in requests and callbacks.
Payment models and statuses—about the types, processing models, and possible statuses of supported payments and operations.
One-time one-step purchase—about processing of one-time one-step purchases by using Payment Page.
Information of operations performing—about error and response codes that are used in the payment platform to record information about performing of operations.

Refunds by using Gate

General information

To perform a refund through Gate by using the Bancontact method, send a request with all required parameters and signature to the ecommpay URL and receive a callback with the result. The full sequence and special aspects of refund performing are provided below.

Figure: Refund performing by using Gate: step-by-step description

A customer initiates a refund.
The web service sends the request for performing the refund by using Gate to the specified ecommpay URL.
The payment platform receives the request.
The payment platform validates the required parameters and signature in the request.
The payment platform sends the response to the web service with information about the receipt of the request and its validity (details).
The payment platform performs further processing of the request (with parameter consistency check) and sends it to the Bancontact service.
The refund is processed on the side of the Bancontact service.
The Bancontact service sends the result notification to the payment platform.
The payment platform sends the result callback to the web service.
The customer receives the refund result information from the web service.

Information about the formats of requests and callbacks used for performing refunds by using the Bancontact method via Gate is presented further in this section. General information about working with the Gate API is presented in Interaction concepts.

Request format

There are several things you need to consider when sending refund requests by using the Bancontact method:

To initiate each refund, send a separate POST request to the /v2/payment/bancontact/refund endpoint.
Each request must include the following objects and parameters:
- Object general—general refund information:
  - project_id—project identifier obtained from ecommpay during integration
  - payment_id—identifier of the payment that needs to be refundedpayment identifier
  - signature—request signature generated after all required parameters are specified (details—in the Signature generation and verification)
- Object payment—refund information:
  - description—refund description or comment
  - amount—refund amount in the smallest currency unit (required for a partial refund)
  - currency—refund currency code in the ISO-4217 alpha-3 format (required for a partial refund)
- Object customer—customer information:
  - ip_address—customer IP address relevant for the initiated refund
Additionally, any other parameters included in the specification can be used.

Thus, a correct refund request by using the Bancontact method must contain the project and payment identifiers, description of the refund, the customer IP address, signature, and, if necessary, currency code and refund amount.

{
  "general": {
    "project_id": 210,
    "payment_id": "test_payment",
    "signature": "PJkV8ej\/UG0Di8hTng6JvipTv+AWoXW\/9MTO8yJA=="
  },
  "payment": {
    "description": "test refund",
    "amount": 1000,
    "currency": "EUR"
  },
  "customer": {
    "ip_address": "192.0.2.0"
  }
}

Figure: Example of sufficient data in a refund request

{
  "general": {
    "project_id": 210,
    "payment_id": "test_payment",
    "signature": "PJkV8ej\/UG0Di8hTng6JvipTv+AWoXW\/9MTO8yJA=="
  },
  "payment": {
    "description": "test refund",
    "amount": 1000,
    "currency": "EUR"
  },
  "customer": {
    "ip_address": "192.0.2.0"
  }
}

Callback format

The Bancontact method uses the standard format for callbacks to deliver refund results. For more information, see Callbacks.

The following is the example of a callback with information about a 10.00 EUR refund made in the 211 project.

Figure: Example of callback data indicating that the refund has been processed

{
        "project_id": 211,
        "payment": {
            "id": "refund_02",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "refunded",
            "date": "2019-02-19T14:25:25+0000",
            "method": "bancontact",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "description": "test_02"
        },
        "account": {
            "number": "035209875690435"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 14153000003282,
            "type": "refund",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2019-02-19T14:25:25+0000",
            "created_date": "2019-02-19T14:25:24+0000",
            "request_id": "9d11b2ca618ec3ba0f588af8af3c4fc9f5fa58f174",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 1000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "provider": {
                "id": 1169,
                "payment_id": "105887607",
                "date": "2019-02-19T14:25:24+0000",
                "auth_code": ""
            },
            "code": "0",
            "message": "Success"
        },
        "signature": "of8k9xerKSKpFBR4XL1QFaDH3p9ZYO56lCv+f1M0Sf/7eg=="
    }

The following is the example of a callback with information about a declined refund.

Figure: Example of callback data indicating that the refund has been declined

{
        "project_id": 211,
        "payment": {
            "id": "refund_02",
            "type": "purchase",
            "status": "success",
            "date": "2019-02-19T14:25:25+0000",
            "method": "bancontact",
            "sum": {
                "amount": 100000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "description": "test_02"
        },
        "account": {
            "number": "035209875690435"
        },
        "operation": {
            "id": 14153000003282,
            "type": "refund",
            "status": "decline",
            "date": "2019-02-19T14:25:25+0000",
            "created_date": "2019-02-19T14:25:24+0000",
            "request_id": "9d11b2ca618ec3ba0f588af8af3c4fc9f5fa58f174",
            "sum_initial": {
                "amount": 100000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "sum_converted": {
                "amount": 100000,
                "currency": "EUR"
            },
            "provider": {
                "id": 1169,
                "payment_id": "105887607",
                "date": "2019-02-19T14:25:24+0000",
                "auth_code": ""
            },
            "code": "3283",
            "message": "Refund amount more than init amount"
        },
        "signature": "of8k9xerKSKpFwKJ7KLTZYO56lCv+f1M0Sf/7eg=="
    }

Useful links

The following articles can be useful when implementing refunds via Gate:

Interaction concepts—about the interaction with the payment platform by using Gate.
Signature generation and verification—about the procedure of generating and verifying signatures in requests and callbacks.
Payment models and statuses—about the types, processing models, and possible statuses of supported payments and operations.
Purchase refunds—about performing of refunds by using Gate.
Information of operations performing—about error and response codes that are used in the payment platform to record information about performing of operations.

Analysis of payments results

To analyse information about payments made with the Bancontact method and other methods, you can use:

Dashboard interface toolkit with various lists and analytic panels.
Reports in CSV file format, available via the Reports section (one-time and periodically).
Data in JSON format, sent by program requests to a specified URL available by using the Data API interface.

If you have any questions, refer to the documentation (Dashboard and Using Data API) and ecommpay technical support.