The payments provider Clik2pay has unveiled a refund processing feature, designed to allow retailers to refund money using its service.
As the Toronto company said in a news release Monday (Dec. 13), the feature lets business owners safely and easily issue refunds to customers when products are out of stock or there is a problem with the order, with money going directly into the customer and account, processed in near real-time.
“Right now there is a heightened focus on the fees retailers are paying for credit card payments,” said Mike Bradley, founder and CEO of Clik2pay.
“Retailers are excited about an easy, secure and cost-effective payments solution, and that is where we come in. Clik2pay is the only fast, flexible and secure solution for seamless payments directly from a bank account — and it comes at a fraction of the cost of credit cards.”
The company notes that in-store debit card transactions tend to be affordable for retailers, typically just pennies.
With COVID-19 shifting buying volume online, retailers have found themselves facing higher costs, with consumers spending with credit cards online, which can cost a hundred times more than in-store debit transactions.
Clik2pay says its service facilitates bill, invoice and online payments directly from a customers bank account “at a fraction of the cost of other payment types.”
The launch of Clik2pay’s new refund option comes at a time when a growing number of merchants are offering guarantees and refunds, as a recent PYMNTS study found.
Read more: What Online Merchants Get Right and Wrong at the Checkout
The number of retailers offering these services rose from 86% in the second quarter of 2021 compared to 77% in Q1. The increased availability of these features, as well as features that quickly add items to online shopping carts, could be a way of compensating for some merchants’ decision to cut back on the availability of free shipping.
A bulk of the customers surveyed – 85% – who were offered guarantees and refunds on their most recent online buying experience said they were “very” or “extremely” satisfied with the feature.