You can keep up with the trend of electronic payments with a payment terminal. From security to higher turnover, this kind of device offers your business lots of advantages. If, that is, your transactions are successful! How do you ensure the bank transfers the money to your account? Our tips will help you get started.

This year, the Belgian Financial Forum asked respondents how they had been paying over the last week. 66% paid with a bank card in a terminal, 55% made contactless payments. Just 17% preferred cash payments. The figures don’t lie: electronic payments have become the preferred payment method in Belgium.

To keep up with this trend, companies like yours need to offer at least one electronic payment system. This has been the case since July 1, 2022 (source: Febelfin).

Payment terminals have several advantages for you as an entrepreneur (source: FPS Economy). They are easier, faster and safer than cash payments. They also reduce the amount of admin you have to do and make accounting simpler. Furthermore, They can even boost your turnover, as customers spend more on average with a bank card.

Tips for checking your transaction status

How can you be 100% sure that a transaction has been successful? You can start by monitoring the signals from your Axepta BNP Paribas terminal and viewing reports: 

1. Hold the card over the terminal or in the card reader until you hear three beeps. This means your transaction has been successful. One long beep tells you the transaction didn’t go through.  

2. After a successful transaction, your terminal prints a ticket saying ‘APPROVED’ or ‘ACCEPTED’. If it doesn’t say that, the payment won’t be taken – even if the amount is marked as ‘pending’ in your customer’s banking app. Note: If the paper runs out, your device will display an error message. You must then replace the roll of paper to process any new transactions.

3. You can check the details of the last transaction using the F4 key on your terminal. In the menu that appears, click on ‘last transaction’. You will find the date and time, the status ‘APPROVED’ or ‘CANCELLED’, the transaction amount and type (for example, debit or credit card).

4. Open myPortal the online portal of Axepta BNP Paribas, and select ‘transactions’. If you filter the list by ‘status’, you will see an overview of transactions that have been processed, refused or paid out. Important: Transactions made today will not be visible in the tool until tomorrow.

Possible reasons for refused transaction

A refused transaction indicates a problem with transaction processing. In general, the flow looks like this:

Step 1: Your device contacts the acquirer or transaction processor as soon as your customer inserts the card into the card reader or holds the card over the terminal. The bank or financial institution is what lets you accept payments made with debit and credit cards. In your case, the acquirer is Axepta BNP Paribas.

Step 2: The acquirer refers to the payment card scheme managed by the transaction network, such as Bancontact, Visa or Mastercard. Card schemes check that everything works according to the rules and give licenses to the acquirer so payments can be processed.

Step 3: The card scheme contacts the card issuer. The bank or financial institution provides debit or credit cards to customers. Once the issuer approves the transaction, the acquirer will allow the transaction to proceed on your payment terminal.

You will see that when your customer pays electronically, your terminal exchanges information with other parties. Because there are so many criteria, sometimes things go wrong. These include the following: 

• Wrong PIN
• A card that has expired or is blocked
• A credit card that your terminal does not accept
• Insufficient balance on your customer’s account
• Technical problems due to Wi-Fi or network problems

Need help?

Do you have any questions about how to use your terminal, or its technical features? Or are you looking for administrative support, for example, with accepting card payments? Our customer service team is ready to help. You can call +32 (0)2 828 06 06 or e-mail support@axepta.be.

For technical support
Monday to Friday: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday and public holidays: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For administrative support
Monday to Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

When contacting us, please state your terminal ID (TID). You can find it in myPortal under ‘terminal’.

Looking for more information about secure card payments? Learn all about it in our free Welcome Guide.