Accepting Barzahlen/viacash as a merchant
Barzahlen/viacash lets a shopper pay an online order in cash at the checkout of a partner store. It is run by viafintech GmbH in Berlin, founded in 2011 and part of Paysafe since November 2021. The brand is Barzahlen/viacash in Germany and Austria and viacash elsewhere. The shopper receives a barcode by email, text message or post, and the cashier scans it. viafintech states that its platform connects more than 20,000 retail partner stores across Europe. For a merchant the payment is the simple part. The refund is not, because it goes back the same way: as a slip the shopper has to cash in at a partner store.
Published prices for Barzahlen/viacashPer provider, country and channel, further down this pageGo to the pricesHow to accept Barzahlen/viacash as a merchant
Barzahlen/viacash is contracted with viafintech, and the PSP connects it. Computop's documentation states that merchants first set up an account with Barzahlen and then send the division ID and payment key to Computop to activate the method. Payrexx states that the merchant holds the payment provider contract and the cash flow directly with Barzahlen/viacash. Novalnet offers it through its own APIs and plugins and publishes a price for it.
In Germany, Austria, Greece and Spain, viafintech's legal notice states that the payment service is provided by Grenke Bank AG. Check which entity your contract names and to which account your takings are paid, before the PSP route is built around it.
Rails
A barcode, a point of sale and a confirmation that can still be revoked
After the order the shop shows or sends a payment slip with a barcode. The shopper pays at a partner store, and the retailer transmits the payment confirmation in real time. No card scheme, issuer or acquirer sits in that chain, so there is no interchange, no 3DS and no SCA, and an unpaid slip is not a decline but a slip that expired.
viafintech's API documentation separates two moments. When the cash is taken the transaction is still pending. It moves to paid, its final state, only after a cool-down period in which the retailer can cancel the payment to correct a mistake, and the paid notification is sent after that period. PAYONE likewise documents that the final status arrives asynchronously.
Once paid, the payment is final. PAYONE states that a reversal is only possible while the customer has not yet paid. There is no chargeback cycle, and money goes back to the shopper only through a refund the merchant issues.
Where Barzahlen/viacash is used
viafintech's own site lists its retail network as active in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and Spain, with Portugal, Italy, Poland, Great Britain and France marked as coming soon. The viacash help pages name Rewe, dm, Penny, Budni and Billa among the partner chains, SBB ticket machines in Switzerland, Bazaar in Greece and Bonpreu and CSQ in Spain.
The method serves shoppers who do not want to pay online with a card or an account, or who cannot. Computop describes its use for online purchases, travel bookings and invoices. Its share of your checkout is visible in your own data, not in the size of the store network.
Pricing
viafintech prints no price, one PSP in the index does
viafintech's websites carry no merchant price list. In the index, Novalnet publishes 2.25% plus 0.30 euro for Barzahlen/viacash for merchants in Germany. Computop and PAYONE carry the method without a published price.
At Novalnet's published rate an 80 euro order costs 2.10 euro, a 20 euro order 0.75 euro and a 999 euro order 22.78 euro. On 600,000 euro of cash volume a year at an average order of 80 euro, that is 7,500 orders and 15,750 euro in fees: 13,500 euro from the percentage and 2,250 euro from the fixed part.
These are published list prices and the example is illustrative; the quoted rate decides what you actually pay. Where the route requires your own account with viafintech beside the PSP, ask for both fee lines in writing, because the PSP's price and viafintech's price are then two separate items.
Refunds
A refund is a payout slip, and it stays open until the shopper collects it
A Barzahlen/viacash refund does not land on a card or an account. viafintech issues a refund slip linked to the original payment, and the viacash site describes the shopper scanning the barcode at a partner store to receive a reimbursement. PAYONE documents that the final status of a refund arrives only after the customer has been paid out.
That creates three states for every refund: issued, collected and expired. PAYONE states that a further partial refund on the same transaction is possible only after the previous refund has been paid out, and that an expired refund is reissued as a new payout slip. On that route, a shopper who returns two items in two parcels therefore waits for the second refund until the first has been collected.
For finance this is an open position on the balance sheet, not a completed refund. Report issued, collected and expired refunds separately in your reconciliation, and give customer service a script for a shopper whose refund slip has lapsed.
Contract
Ship on paid, and have the cool-down written down
viafintech's documentation states that the cool-down period varies depending on the retailer, and that in that period the retailer can revoke the payment confirmation. A shop that releases an order on the first confirmation ships against money that can still be withdrawn.
Release orders on the paid state, not on the moment the cash is received. Ask in writing for the longest cool-down that applies in the retail network you use, and for who carries the loss if a confirmation is revoked after the goods have left.
The method stops just under 1,000 euro
Computop's set-up page states that payments are only possible up to 999.99 euro and that Barzahlen cannot be offered above that amount. PAYONE documents that transactions are limited to 999 euro per 24 hours.
So the method has to be hidden above the threshold, not offered and then rejected. PAYONE does not state whether the 24-hour limit is counted per shopper or per merchant account; ask your PSP in writing how it is counted before you decide what the checkout shows.
Which payment providers support Barzahlen/viacash
In the index, Computop, Novalnet and PAYONE offer Barzahlen/viacash to merchants established in Europe. Payrexx also documents an integration, with the contract held directly with Barzahlen/viacash.
The questions to put to each are the same: whether a direct account with viafintech is needed, which fee lines appear on the statement, how the paid state and the cool-down are passed to your shop, how a refund slip is reissued, and which amount ceiling applies on that route.
Retail Payment Methods Transparency Index
Published prices for Barzahlen/viacash, per provider
3 providers in the index offer Barzahlen/viacash to merchants established in Europe, and one of them publishes a price.
Each rate is shown as the provider prints it, and the provider's name links to the page it was read on. A published rate is a list rate: what a merchant actually pays is stated in the quoted rate and the contract.
The country where your business is established and from which you sell. Shoppers pay with Barzahlen/viacash in: Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Austria.
| Provider | Per transaction | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Computop Merchants in Germany | No price published | Online |
| Novalnet Merchants in Germany | €0.30 + 2.25%Percentage plus fixed amount | Online |
| PAYONE Merchants in Germany | No price published | Online |
Source: EcomStream, Retail Payment Methods Transparency Index, ecomstream.eu/payment-methods-transparency-index. Read at source between 22 September 2026 and 22 September 2026. A provider that believes a row is wrong can write to index@ecomstream.nl. Every reported correction is checked at the source.
Reviewing what Barzahlen/viacash costs you
What you pay for Barzahlen/viacash is set in your agreements with viafintech and with your PSP, not by a scheme. Start by establishing whether you are overpaying your PSP, and where cash is a material share of your German or Austrian orders, put both fee lines next to each other before you renew.
Relevant markets: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Spain
Payment set-up check
Taking cash orders in Germany or Austria? Let's check what Barzahlen/viacash costs you.
Enter your webshop. The check sets your checkout against what shoppers in each of your markets expect, and names the gaps. If you want, it then calculates what those gaps cost you in euros.
Ramon Helwegen
