Regional considerations

Integrate Terminal in Belgium

Stripe supports Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover payments in Belgium. All transactions must be made in euros (EUR). To accept Terminal charges in Belgium, either your platform account or connected account must be in Belgium.

Bancontact payments

Bancontact is the interbank network that handles routing of debit payments in Belgium. Consumer debit cards in Bancontact are branded with a Bancontact logo and may also be co-branded with Visa or Mastercard. Stripe can support co-branded Bancontact over the co-brand rails.

Use locations

Create Locations for your business with addresses in Belgium and associate your readers to them. This will ensure that they automatically download the configuration needed to properly process charges in Belgium. A valid address for a Location in Belgium must contain the line1, city, postal_code, and country properties.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/terminal/locations \
  -u 
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
: \
  -d "display_name"="HQ" \
  -d "address[line1]"="Rue du Lombard 5-9" \
  -d "address[city]"="Bruxelles" \
  -d "address[country]"="BE" \
  -d "address[postal_code]"="1000" \

Reader software version

BBPOS WisePad 3 readers operating in Belgium must use the reader software version 4.01.00.54_Prod_EU_W1_on_v24_510001 or later. Read about BBPOS WisePad 3 software updates for details.

Translation

Default reader language

The BBPOS WisePOS E and Stripe Reader S700 support changing reader language in the Settings panel. Swipe right across the screen to access the Settings panel, and select your language.

The BBPOS WisePad 3 supports changing reader language directly in the reader interface. After you have registered your reader to a Location with an address in Belgium, the reader installs a language pack relevant for your region if one isn’t already in place. To view available language options and to select a language, click the Power / Settings button and scroll down using the arrow keys until you reach the language selection menu. Highlight your desired language and press the green Enter key.

Other translations

If you would like to translate text into Dutch, French, and German in addition to English, ensure that your custom reader screens and receipts display the appropriate translations.

Strong Customer Authentication

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a European regulatory requirement to reduce fraud and make payments more secure. SCA is or will be required for customer-initiated electronic payments within the European Economic Area (EEA). For more information about this European regulation, you can read Stripe’s PSD2: SCA guide.

Transactions below 50 euros (or the local currency equivalent) are considered low value and may be exempted from SCA. However, banks need to request authentication if the low value exemption has been used five times since the cardholder’s last successful authentication or if the sum of previously exempted payments exceeds 150 euros (or the local currency equivalent).

In Belgium, all transactions authenticated with a PIN satisfy the SCA requirements. The card represents the first authentication element of the transaction (possession) and the PIN represents the second (knowledge). Some contactless cards may support PIN validation with a single tap; however, others may require initiating an authenticated Chip and PIN contact transaction to comply with the SCA requirements, which requires inserting the card into the reader.

When using Terminal hardware, the reader prompts the customer to enter their PIN or insert their card for a chip-and-PIN transaction. You see two charges associated with SCA-authenticated transactions. The first is a soft-declined charge with an error message online_or_offline_pin_required or offline_pin_required, depending on the card’s capabilities. The second is the authorized or hard-declined charge.

When using Tap to Pay, the device prompts the customer to enter their PIN if contactless PIN validation is supported. If contactless PIN is supported, you see two charges associated with SCA-authenticated transactions. The first is a soft-declined charge with an error message online_or_offline_pin_required. The second is the authorized or hard-declined charge. If contactless PIN is not supported, the payment will be hard-declined before the PIN screen appears, with the reason online_or_offline_pin_required or offline_pin_required. If the card is hard-declined we recommend asking the customer to try a different card or collecting payment in a different way. For example, by sending a Payment Link.