Online Sales Platform Digistore24 Adds Instant Bank Payments – Digital Transactions

E-commerce platform Digistore24 Inc. is adding another payment option, one that allows consumers to pay directly from their bank accounts for purchases made at merchants that use the platform. Dubbed Instant Bank Payments, the service is available for U.S. transactions and is enabled by a Stripe Inc. service, Stripe Link.

St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Digistore24 says shoppers simply select the Instant Bank Payment option at checkout. Following a prompt, shoppers log into their bank account and approve the transaction. Stripe says the service is different from direct-debit payments made via the automated clearing house network. Its option is instantly confirmed, where direct-debit ACH transactions may take up to four days to settle, Stripe says.

Digistore24, in a blog from Nick Eubanks, chief marketing officer, says the bank-account payment offering is in addition to credit and debit card options.

“Some buyers prefer bank payments,” Eubanks says. “Others may have a temporarily blocked card despite having funds available. But in most cases, buyers will simply gravitate toward payment methods they already recognize and trust. The goal isn’t to replace existing payment methods. It’s to give buyers another path to completing checkout. Adding another trusted payment option creates more opportunities for buyers to complete purchases they already intended to make.”

The Instant Bank Payment option is available for one-time and recurring payments. The pay-by-bank payment option has been automatically added to the Digistore24 platform so merchants don’t need to make any updates. Settlement happens in two days, Stripe says.

Stripe, in documentation for the service, says new users are asked to log into their bank accounts for authorization, but returning users are presented with the bank account as an option. Once the existing user has verified ownership of a Link account, he or she usually does not need to log into the bank again on subsequent uses.

Stripe says that, of the two types of returns associated with the payment method, it guarantees settlement for bank-initiated ACH returns. For customer-initiated disputes, Stripe debits the merchant’s balance for the payment amount and the dispute fee. Merchants then use the Stripe portal to respond to the type of dispute. Stripe launched Link in 2021.