Accepting qvik as a merchant

The central bank does not contract merchants. A merchant signs with an acceptance provider, which the rulebook calls a sub-aggregator: it generates the qvik code or link for the merchant and passes on the message that the transfer was accepted or rejected. The MNB lists OTP SimplePay, Raiffeisen, Fairpay (Granit Bank) and MBH Bank as acceptance providers, and Fairpay and Számlázz.hu as service partners.

qvik is contracted beside card acceptance, not inside it. The MNB states that a merchant does not need to modify its current card acceptance contract and can introduce qvik with a different provider. MBH Bank states that qvik acceptance requires its own contract with the bank. At OTP SimplePay the merchant signs up through an online contracting process.

qvik is a Hungarian method in forint, for online checkouts, physical points of sale and invoices. The MNB describes QR codes shown on a POS terminal, a cash register display, a tablet or a paper invoice, NFC on any NFC-capable device without a new POS installation, and links and requests for merchants with a mobile app. Contactless qvik works on Android and on iOS.

For the shopper it costs nothing. The MNB states that the law guarantees that all qvik payments are free for retail customers and bars banks from charging fees on qvik-initiated transfers. Every merchant that accepts qvik must display the qvik logo. The provider in the index offers qvik to merchants established in Hungary, so a group selling to Hungarian shoppers from an entity elsewhere should first establish whether qvik can be contracted on that entity and into which forint account it settles.

A qvik transfer is final within seconds, and a recall message cannot be used in the dispute procedure. Yet the GIRO rulebook for these payments, in force since 1 September 2024, gives the payer a dispute route through their own bank. Duplicate payment, wrong amount, goods not received, late execution, faulty execution and fraud can be raised up to 180 days after execution. Withdrawal from the purchase, technical error and other reasons can be raised up to 60 days after execution.

The route runs through the merchant. The payer first takes the dispute to the merchant, then to their own bank, which opens a case with the sub-aggregator. The sub-aggregator must answer the case within 30 calendar days. An accepted dispute is repaid within 5 working days by a new instant transfer from the merchant, and if the merchant does not pay, the sub-aggregator must refund the payer within 2 working days. The procedure covers payments from the account of a natural person only, so a business payer has no such route.

Because the money is credited at once, the exposure sits in funds already paid out. On 2 million euro of qvik volume a year, the payments still inside the 180-day window at any moment come to about 986,000 euro, and those inside the 60-day window to about 329,000 euro. That amount has already reached your account and remains open to a claim.

Because qvik is contracted apart from card acceptance, it can sit with a different provider, on a different crediting model and in a different settlement file. The MNB states this itself: qvik can be introduced with another provider, whatever the current card contract says.

It also creates a second line in reconciliation. The MNB refers to tax authority guidance that, in an online cash register, the payment method of an instant payment is stored as AFR. A merchant moving shoppers from card to qvik at the point of sale therefore shifts volume from the card acquirer's file to the sub-aggregator's file, and should agree the reference it matches on before the volume moves.

What you pay for qvik is set in your agreement with your acceptance provider, not by the MNB. Start by establishing whether you are overpaying your PSP, and where qvik carries a material share of your Hungarian volume, price the dispute handling and the crediting terms together with the rate before you sign.

Relevant markets: Hungary