Using Safepay for pre-orders and deposits

Businesses sometimes need to be paid in advance before they start work on a product. This usually applies to bespoke clothe manufacturers but can also apply to other types of businesses such as catering or furniture manufacturers. 

Safepay is not a bank and we cannot accept deposits. If you accept payment for products or services (including bookings for events) not immediately deliverable to your customer, we may, in our sole discretion, initiate a reversal. It is very important that as part of your onboarding with Safepay that you mention if your business is involved in taking pre-order advances from your customers. You can mention this as part of the KYC call that our onboarding agent will have with you as part of our KYC policy.

In the case that you do use Safepay for receiving a pre-order we would expect to see any invoice that you generate for your paying customer to include the following information; "“Any deposit payment is non-refundable. This order is subject to our general terms and conditions (available on our website)". The reason for requiring this is to avoid a dispute from your paying customer for whatever reason. By having this statement clearly written on an invoice, this can form part of evidence that can be submitted to the payment scheme to show that a customer has agreed to the deposit amount being non-refundable. This is particularly important if your customer has paid a deposit amount using Safepay, but for some reason is not satisfied with what will be delivered to them and decides to file a chargeback through their issuing bank to claim back the amount paid as a deposit.

For more information regarding disputes, and how you as a merchant can protect yourself from chargebacks, read this guide.