📘

Please reach out to BlueSnap Merchant Support to enable this payment method.

Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD) is a popular Canadian debit payment method where money is electronically withdrawn from the shopper’s bank account and then deposited into the merchant’s own bank account. PAD payment transactions are monitored by our built-in fraud prevention capabilities, just like credit card transactions.

Benefits

• Boost your sales in Canada by reaching additional shoppers who do not use credit cards or other payment methods.
• Eliminate the need for paper checks and instead enable customers to provide their payment info online.
• Store shopper account information for easier repeat purchases.
• Enjoy transaction costs that are typically lower than credit card transactions.
• Reduce issues with failed payments due to failed or invalid cards, since bank accounts do not have an expiration date, and your shoppers rarely switch banks.
• Solution for B2B transactions and other payments for high-cost items where a credit card limit could be exceeded.

Supported Currencies

Canadian (CAD)

Supported Shopper Countries

Canada

Transaction Processing

These are the main steps involved in processing Pre-Authorized Debit payments:

1. On the checkout page, your shopper selects Pre-Authorized Debit and enters their routing number, account number, and personal details.
2. Once they have entered their info, the shopper accepts the mandate authorizing their account to be debited and submits the payment.
3. When your shopper submits the transaction, BlueSnap verifies that the routing number corresponds to a financial institution and that the bank account number is valid.
   • If both are valid, BlueSnap creates an invoice in pending status and sends the transaction for processing.
   • If the BSB number is not valid, BlueSnap returns an error message and the transaction is not sent for processing.
4. Within 3 business days, the bank will notify BlueSnap if the payment was declined.
   • If the payment was declined, BlueSnap will update the status of the invoice to be canceled and a Decline IPN will be sent.
   • If BlueSnap does not receive the notification within this timeframe, the invoice status will be set to approved.
5. If the bank sends a declined status after 3 business days, the invoice status will be set to refunded.

📘

Notes

• We have validation criteria in place and will return an error if an invalid account number is entered.
• We recommend delivering the product only after you receive the approval.
• Shopper Identity Verification: For PAD transactions of $1,000 or more, banks in Canada must verify the identity of persons or entities involved in the transaction. The Canadian AML guidance on EFTs can be found in item 1(f) here. See section95(1)(b) for the full legislation.
  
  In order to minimize the potential for PAD transaction declines, we recommend you pass your shoppers' name and as much address data as possible.

Chargebacks

Your shopper has 90 days to dispute the debit on their account. If this occurs, BlueSnap removes the funds from your account, and the invoice status is updated to refunded. Please note that some banks might allow a longer timeframe for reversals.

BlueSnap Declines

We have improved our validation, making it more comprehensive. With these validations in place, there is less of a chance of rejection from the banks. You might see higher decline rates from Bluesnap, but keep in mind that these declines act as protection from a rejection fee, since the transaction likely would have been declined by the bank.

Resolving Payment Rejections

Payments can be rejected for a variety of reasons, including insufficient funds. To resolve a payment rejection, the shopper may provide an alternative payment method and resubmit the charge.

BlueSnap Checkout and API Integrations

To process Pre-Authorized Debit transactions via BlueSnap Checkout or API Integrations, make sure that you enable this payment method. Learn more about how to do that here.

If you are using the BlueSnap Checkout, this payment option automatically appears to shoppers in Canada once it has been enabled. BlueSnap supports this payment method with BlueSnap Checkout only.

If you are using BlueSnap's API, please see our API guide for Pre-Authorized Debit Payments.

Sandbox Testing

You may use the following bank credentials to test various scenarios.

Simulate declined transaction*
Account Number: 9990000004
Routing Number: 001004820

Simulate approved transaction*
Account Number: 9990000001
Routing Number: 001004820

Note: After the initial transaction request, you will see the status change within an hour.

Transaction Amount Requirements

Pre-Authorized Debit Payments require that transactions don't exceed $ 99,999,999.99 CAD.

Subscriptions

BlueSnap supports subscriptions with Pre-Authorized Debit Payments.

Note that the following types of subscriptions are not supported:

• Daily Subscriptions
• Weekly Subscriptions
• Subscriptions with Trial

Refunds

Refunds can only be processed after the shopper's account has been debited and the invoice status has changed to approved:

• If you request a refund while the invoice is pending (before the shopper's account has been debited), you will receive an error message informing you the transaction has not yet settled.
• If you request a refund after the invoice status has been updated to approved, BlueSnap removes the funds from your account and updates the invoice status to refunded.

Keep in mind that partial refunds and multi-partial refunds are not supported. If either is attempted, you will receive an error message.

Chargebacks

Chargebacks can be requested by the shopper after the date on which their account was debited (i.e., debit date). The way chargebacks are handled depends on how long after the debit date the chargeback was requested.

Within 90 days of debit date

Chargebacks requested within 90 days of the debit date are automatically honored. This means that if a chargeback occurs within these 90 days, the shopper's account is credited. BlueSnap removes the funds from your account and the invoice status updates to refunded. Merchants who wish to challenge or represent chargebacks should contact BlueSnap support to request the relevant payment details and then contact the shopper's issuing bank directly.

More than 90 days after debit date

Chargebacks cannot occur more than 90 days after the debit date.

Return Codes

A transaction may be returned or reversed by a bank for various reasons. The following is a list of PAD return codes, or reasons for reversal: