Split Payments – Rey Pasinli Featured in CreditCards.com Article
Most online merchants won’t allow split payments between multiple cards. Technology, security, and expenses are among the probable stumbling blocks preventing e-commerce sites from supporting multiple card payments.
CreditCards.com checked 10 online retailers to find out who allows split payments and they only found one, Crate and Barrel.
“In the 17 plus years I’ve been involved with online payments, I’ve never seen a single shopping cart offer me the option to use multiple credit cards at checkout,” said Rey Pasinli, executive director at Total-Apps.
Reasons why retailers do not offer split payments:
- Verification Issues: Gift cards don’t require the same verification that credit cards do.
- Technical Obstacles: Many systems including tax, ecommerce, fulfillment, and promotion, do not support split payments.
- Restrictions on Merchants: Combining credit cards may allow a sale to exceed the processing limit set by their payment processor. Merchants cannot split a transaction to circumvent that max.
- Consumers find Workarounds: A site called EasySplitPay offers articles on how to split online payments at several merchants, and the advice boils down to purchasing gift cards with credit or debit cards.
On the customer’s end, a split payment occurs when a product is purchased with multiple credit cards.
While some brick-and-mortar stores allow customers to split payments, the majority of ecommerce payment processors do not allow it. This rarity is due to many of the issues mentioned above.
But what about when processors themselves split payments?
A split payment also occurs when a payment processor takes in a customer’s purchase and then pays out multiple beneficiaries.
When a payment processor has the ability to split payments between merchants and sub merchants, the platform is much more flexible. This is perfect for businesses who manage multiple sellers and you can pay out several partners with ease!
