As e-commerce continues to grow, tokenization is the technology of choice to keep payment data secure, reduce costs, and even improve authorization rates. BlueSnap takes care of tokenization behind-the-scenes, so you don't need to worry about any implementation effort.

Tokenization is the process of replacing sensitive payment data, like the primary account number (PAN) of a debit or credit card, with a unique digital identifier. You can take full advantage of tokenization through one-time tokens, multi-use tokens, or by using them both together.

BlueSnap leverages one-time and multi-use tokens in the following solutions:

1. Hosted Payment Fields
2. Vaulted Shoppers
3. Network Tokenization

Hosted Payment Fields

Hosted Payment Fields are iframes that use a one-time token to replace sensitive credit card data on your checkout page with a one-time token. As an additional benefit of using Hosted Payment Fields, you minimize your PCI compliance level to the simplest possible, SAQ-A.

One-time Token

When using Hosted Payment Fields with our Payment APIs, we leverage a one-time token (pfToken) so that when the shopper finishes entering their card information, BlueSnap will bind the sensitive card data to a token. Then, you can easily process payments and save shopper details by including the token in your BlueSnap API requests. Visit our Hosted Payment Fields Guide for full implementation details.

Multi-use Token

Multi-use tokens are useful to simplify future purchases and recurring charges for your shoppers along with being necessary to run subscription charges and are often created using a one-time token. For your shoppers' first visit to your site, you’ll want to use a one-time token to initially capture their payment information before sending it to BlueSnap for processing. As part of the transaction response, you’ll receive a multi-use token (vaultedShopperId) that can be used on future transactions. The multi-use token is used to reference your shoppers' previously captured payment data without their data having ever touched your servers. Once you have the (vaultedShopperId), you can use the multi-use token to prepopulate the checkout page with a reference to your shoppers' previously used payment information.

If you want to set up your shoppers' multi-use token without having to run a transaction, you can create a multi-use token by including the one-time token within the pfToken property in a Create Vaulted Shopper request. This will save the shopper's payment information and create a new vaulted shopper without requiring you to run a transaction.

If you use our Hosted Payment Page, we securely capture all returning shopper data automatically, so there are no additional steps you need to take during the sale. If you would then like to take advantage of our tokenization to simplify the checkout process for your returning shoppers, be sure to read our guide on how to implement this feature.

Vaulted Shoppers

Multi-use Token

BlueSnap also leverages tokenization with multi-use tokens to save returning shoppers and pre-populate the checkout page with the shopper's saved information. Learn more about how you can simplify the checkout experience for returning shoppers with various BlueSnap solutions:

• Hosted Payment Page
• Hosted Payment Fields
• Payment API

📘

Visa Cards and Tokenization

When sending Visa card details, the billing address will be validated before a tokenization attempt. It will only be included in the details sent to Visa if it is valid.

Network Tokenization

With network tokenization, the tokens are multi-use- however, they are provided by card networks. BlueSnap manages network tokenization behind the scenes, so you can take advantage of the benefits without worrying about the implementation effort.

Network Tokens

Network tokens are substitutes for a debit or credit card primary account number (PAN). Each network token is unique to the merchant, so network tokens cannot be used across different merchants. BlueSnap has integrated with payment networks like Visa and Mastercard for the purpose of tokenizing shoppers' card details. We also maintain those tokens so they remain current, even if the corresponding card data changes. For example, if a cardholder loses their physical card and receives a replacement card with a new PAN, BlueSnap will be notified by the card network to update the token so it continues to work without the cardholder or merchant having to make any updates.

Benefits of Network Tokens

Out-of-the-Box Token Management

BlueSnap has integrated with card networks and will request the network tokens on your behalf, saving you a considerable amount of development and implementation effort. We stay aligned with upcoming changes to network token services, allowing you and your business to concentrate on what matters.

Increased Authorization Rates

A Visa report shows that merchants can experience a 2.1% increase in authorization rates when using tokenization. This applies particularly to network tokenization since the issuing bank is also the entity issuing the network token, resulting in the shopper's network token automatically being trusted.

Increased Conversions and Revenue

Since customer data is always up to date for all the payment cards on file, tokenization helps to prevent declines due to card expiration, loss, or theft. This helps streamline the process of recurring transactions to improve conversion rates and prevent any interruptions in revenue.

Increased Security

Each transaction is protected using a one-time cryptogram, further increasing the authenticity of the transaction, leading to an increase in authorization rates and a decrease in fraud.

Merchant Experience

With network tokenization, tokens are dynamically updated in real-time, solving the problem of expired or canceled cards. Network tokens help ensure your customers' cardholder data is current, maximizing your authorization rates and providing the best possible customer experience.

Shopper Experience

Your shoppers' payment flow and experience remain the same with network tokenization. BlueSnap handles tokenization, so you and your shoppers can take advantage of added security benefits without any extra steps.

BlueSnap Network Tokenization vs. BlueSnap Tokenization

BlueSnap network tokenization differs from BlueSnap’s tokenization solution.

• BlueSnap Network Tokenization: The card networks provide a token service that creates a network token for a card. BlueSnap stores this network token and uses it in place of the card during the authorization. With network tokenization, your payment flow stays the same and BlueSnap manages the swapping of card details for a network token when necessary.
• BlueSnap Tokenization (fallback)*: We swap out card details for a vaultedShopperId, which you can then use to make payments. Learn more about how tokenization and vaulted shoppers work with our Hosted Payment Fields solution.

As you can see from the below image, when using BlueSnap’s network tokenization, the PAN is further removed from the payment ecosystem, reducing the risk of bad actors intercepting the sensitive data. This increases trust in the transaction, provides increased authorization rates, and reduces fraud.

*BlueSnap automatically decides when to use a network token and when to use the underlying PAN.