Local Shopify payment options for global selling

[MBishop]

Hello,

Just trying to evaluate whether Shopify would work for us. I can see that Shopify payments can offer local payment options for stores located in certain countries (For example Klarna payments - For Merchants in Germany, Austria, Sweden etc.). What defines where a merchant is based? Does this mean that if the company address is not located in Germany then our customers won't be able to use Klarna (or Sofort, iDeal, EPS, Bancontact)? We are a UK company (so have a UK company address) but currently have 9 continental european stores. These transact in Euros which resolve in to our EUR bank account. So we have a UK company location but obviously want to offer our customers local payment options. Could someone clarify whether this would mean we can offer local payments using Shopify payments or not?

thanks

Martin

[Don]

Hi there @MBishop!

Don here from Shopify.

Thanks for outlining your query here on our Community forums.

I checked in with the relevant internal specialist teams here to see what you'd need to do so set up Shopify Payments in a country where local payment methods are included via Shopify Payments.

You would need to have a business presence established in the target country in order to apply to use Shopify Payments there and access the local payment methods you mentioned.

In order to verify this and check your eligibility, we would usually include the following:

• Photo ID
• Government Photo ID 2
• Proof of address (Utility bill (e.g. water, electricity, or gas bill from the past 3 months), lease agreement (dated), or property insurance (dated))
• Business license, business registration documents (with company number), or business tax filing record
• Proof of Inventory
• Shipping information
• Social media links (related to your business)

These would all need to be for the country in question (for example, for Germany for the use of Klarna or Sofort via Shopify Payments there) so UK company info and documents would not suffice for this purpose.

Have a look at those requirements and think about whether you'd be able to meet those requirements and if you'd wish to take steps to establish presences in the target countries in order to be able to use Shopify Payments and, by extension, local payment methods there. 

All the best!

Regards,

Don

[MBishop]

Hi Don,

thanks for the quick reply. That sounds like it could be a show stopper.

So to clarify....we are registered in Germany to pay tax (with a German tax number), accept transactions in EUROS in to our EUR bank account, we distribute from a German warehouse partner (Rhiem) and can provide proof of inventory, we market directly to Germany using German social channels in German. But even with these as we don't have a registered company address in Germany we couldn't use Klarna through Shopify payments? Is that right?

If so does that mean that we could only use Klarna on our German store (for example) if we add it as a third party integration? Which as I've read comes at extra cost?

thanks

Martin

[Don]

Hi again Martin!

Don from Shopify once more.

Thanks for that extra info here.

I checked in again with our escalated teams to confirm that, despite having all of those other points of data in place, without having a business address in the target country (Germany for our example here) it would not be possible.

The physical address is one of the hard requirements, and I confirmed with our specialists that it would not be possible to grant an exception or look for a workaround here.

I'm sorry that there isn't more I can do for you on this, but I'm sure you understand the nature of doing business with Know Your Customer laws for payment processors and other requirements in place

I also tried to determine how you could add Klarna as a third-party option, but this would fall outside of our scope to support.

I checked online for any info from Klarna on this but was only able to find information relating to the USA specifically.

Your best bet would be to reach out to them directly so they can confirm how they might be able to provide service in your instance.

If they provide instructions we can help to implement them from our side if possible, or if a more complicated integration is required you may need to consider a Shopify Expert creating one for you.

Let me know if there's anything else at all I can do from here for you!

Regards,

Don

[KristiAtKlarna]

Hi @MBishop ,

Klarna sales (e.g. https://www.klarna.com/de/verkaeufer/) can help regarding contract questions, and assuming that all works out well, the Klarna Payments as an alternative payment method for Shopify integration is a simple guided install wizard more details at: https://x.klarnacdn.net/plugins/Klarna%20Payments%20on%20Shopify%20-%20Merchant%20Guide.pdf

but please be aware of 
Known Issues: 1. Klarna Payments accepts orders only for customer billing addresses in the markets that match the store base currency

[MBishop]

Hi @KristiAtKlarna 

Thanks very much for the extra info.

We currently already use Klarna for our DE and SE stores on a different platform where the customers pay in EUR and SEK respectively as the base currency so I think it should be fine in that respect but yes I'll contact Klarna to see what they suggest (and iDeal, Sofort etc. as these will create the same issues I guess). Just not that happy having to pay the extra .5% to Shopify even though Klarna will accept us direct but I suppose they have to draw the line somewhere.

[stanley2001]

Hey Martin,

How dit you manage to fix this problem?

I am in the same position as you. I just started an UK LLP. I have several websites in The netherlands and Germany. 
But i noticed that its not possible to use local payments such as ideal and klarna with an UK company for a german or dutch website.

Also its not possible to deactivate shopify payments and use stripe instead because shopify doesnt let me.

Any help would be appreciated.