January 2021: Problems with online payments - and 4 things you can do

Since the beginning of the year, online shopping in Denmark has experienced many problems with online payments (Visa/Mastercard/Dankort).

Around 11 January, MobilePay joined the problems.

Updated Thursday 14 January at 14:46: Dansk Erhverv - Digital Handel says that MobilePay is working on an update (to be released tonight) that should remove the SCA requirement. This means that MobilePay should once again be easy and simple to use, without the requirement to complete NemID or SMS confirmation

Updated Thursday 21 January at 12:00: MobilePay seems to STILL require NemID or SMS confirmation for some payments. It depends on the customer's bank, and the number of people who "fall into this" extra confirmation should be decreasing

Updated Monday 25 January at 12:00: MobilePay should now work without requiring NemID or SMS confirmation. We also see that many more payments are now going through without any problems.

The explanation

Banks, card issuers and payment gateways must comply with new security requirements (PSD2). This is done by, among other things, requiring the buyer to confirm their identity with NemID, SMS code or a mobile code of their choice.

At the beginning of January, the option to use the NemID cardboard card for this was removed. This caused many problems for customers who were used to using the cardboard card.

Around 11 January, some banks also started requiring extra security checks when paying with MobilePay. This means NemID app, SMS code or a mobile code of your choice.

It is important to emphasise - as far as we can see - there are very few TECHNICAL errors. It is not because the payment does not work. It is primarily because the end customer has difficulty understanding and utilising these new payment procedures.

The solution

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. But there are some things you can do to "save" as many payments as possible.

- Help the customer - if an order hasn't been paid for, offer to let the customer try to pay again, possibly via a different payment method. You can make a copy of the customer's order and select an alternative payment method - then send the payment link to the customer

- Add MobilePay - not just as a separate payment method, but as an additional payment type on your existing payment card method. This way, your customers can switch from MobilePay to debit card or vice versa if they run into problems.

- Enlighten - for example, you can add a sentence to your payment method where you write: "Please note that NemID cardboard cards can no longer be used, instead you must use SMS confirmation or the NemID app"

- Recommend the customer to use a computer rather than a mobile phone - these new security procedures make payment more complex as multiple systems need to "talk to each other". This means more things can go wrong, and mobile phones are more vulnerable. It's possible that a PC or Mac can better handle the payment window.