How can one make online payment using debit card? Do you want to know how to use debit card for online payment? Are you’re paying  for your PG form, transcript, conference, products, goods or services online using debit Card but you don’t know how to go about it. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! This article will help you on the steps to take to achieve this.

Many online businesses and institutions are now making use of online payment platform to receive payment for their sales of products, goods and services. And if you’re going to be making an online purchase often, then you definitely need to learn how to use debit card for online payment.

There are more than twenty online payment gateway platform available in Nigeria today. These, any merchant or webmaster can integrate into their website.

80% of these online payment platform, if not all accept debit card (MasterCard and VISA Card) as their payment option. However, in most cases little or no guideline are provided by merchants, banks and website owners on how to pay for product or goods using the debit cards.

So, today I will throw some light on how to use debit Card for online payment. But before I proceed to show you how to use debit card for online payment, let us first look at the terms you may encounter when making online payment.

Terminologies Encounter when using Debit Card for Online Payment

Some terminologies you may encounter when using debit card to make an online payment on a local site. I mean when paying for product, goods or services on Nigerian websites include:

One time password (OTP)/Softoken – A secret code only to be used once and it is generated at the time you initiated an online transaction (esp. via Quickteller) on a local site.

CVV number – CVV Number means Card Verification Value. It is a 3 digit number found at the back of MasterCard, VERVE or VISA credit or debit card. Providing your CVV number to an online merchant proves that you actually have the physical ATM debit card and this helps to keep you safe while reducing fraud.

MasterCard or Visa Card Serial Number – there are three major ATM card companies in Nigeria. They are Interswitch, MasterCard and Visa. Most of the Debit cards issued by Nigerian banks are usually from one of these three companies. The cards include Interswitch card, Mastercard and Naira Visa Card. To know which type of card you have, check the front and back of the card to see their logos.  Each cards’ serial numbers is on the front of the card.

PIN (Secret code) – PIN which means personal identification number is provided by your bank when the debt card or credit was first issued to you. PIN numbers allow you to use your credit or debit card at an ATM or when making an in-person purchase with your debit card.

Some terminologies you may encounter when using debit card to make an online shopping on a foreign or international websites. I mean when paying for product, goods or services on websites outside Nigeria. Websites like Amazon, Aliexpress, Alibaba, jd, and so on.

• Secured code (TOKEN)
• CVV / CVV2 / CSC / CID number – CVV numbers are also known as CSC numbers (“Card Security Code”), as well as CVV2 numbers, which are the same as CVV numbers, except that they have been generated by a 2nd generation process that makes them very difficult to “guess”.
• MasterCard or VISA Card Serial Number
• PIN (Secret code)

Online Payment for products and services are usually carried out through a secure online payment platform and just as I have told you, there are more than twenty online payment processor platforms available for Nigerians. And we have recently review the 10 best online payment gateways website owners can integrate into their sites.

To make an online payment on any website, the steps are usually similar irrespective of the online payment gateway being used by the merchant, institution or webmaster.
When you click on the Payment button on the merchant’s website, the payment gateway on webmaster’s website connects you via a secure tunnel to your debit card company which then connects to your bank to process the transaction and deduct the amount from the money in your bank account.

Here is simple step on How to use Debit Card for Online Payment.

How to use Debit Card for Online Payment

Click on Payment Button

On the payment page for the product or services that you are buying or paying for, you will find a payment button. To begin the online payment process, click on the payment button.

Select Payment Type

Select the payment option, to pay with debt card. To pay using a different option, select the appropriate option. Click on Proceed.

Enter the amount

Enter the amount of product you are purchasing. N.B: Your email address may be requested at this junction depending on the merchant’s online payment platform

Select Your Card Type

Click on the drop down box or if shown, select your card type. For local online payment, most sites accept Interswitch cards, Mastercard or Visa card.
For payment of products and services online on a foreign website, MasterCard and VISA card are usually accepted.

Fill in Your Debit Card Details

After selecting your type of card, the actual payment console appears below. In it you will be expected to fill in your ATM card details. If you are using a Visa card, you need to first accept the Visa terms and conditions before proceed.

To fill in your debit card details
• Card serial Number: type in your card serial number. It can be found on the front of your ATM card as shown in the following picture (red box).

• Expiry Date: The expiry date for your card can usually also be found on the front of the card. If it is not on the front of your card, check the back.

• Entering your PIN: Your PIN is the same as the ATM PIN which you use when you withdraw from an ATM machine. For security, entering the PIN cannot be done by typing but by clicking on the numbers in the numeric keypad (or PIN pad) as shown below.

• Enter your Card Verification Value (CVV2): The CVV2 (or CVV) is a set of 3-digit number found at the back of your card. The CVV2 is another security measure meant to protect the card from unauthorized use. To get your CVV2 code, turn to the back of your card and you will see the numbers. If there are more than three numbers then the CVV code is the last three numbers in the set.

Click on Pay or make payment button

After filling out the entire form, confirm all details; especially the card serial number, expiry date and CVV2. After making sure that your details are correct, click on Pay
When you click on the make Payment button; if you are making payment on a local site, an SMS message containing one-time-password (OTP) will be sent to the phone number that is link to your account. Check your phone and enter password on security box that will be displayed. If you are making payment on a foreign website, you will need a secure code. You can generate a secure using a Token issued by your bank. Input the secure code.

Tip: Do not refresh the page or use the back button while processing a payment. If you make an error or there is a network failure, instead of refreshing the page, close it, open a new window or tab, go to the initial page having the payment button and start from Step 1 again.

If the transaction is successful, you will get a message that says Transaction Successful. This means that your Debit card was successfully billed and your payment successful.

How to Use Visa Debit Card for Online Shopping

First, you need to send fund to the VISA card.  The Visa debit card has its own account number. The card is more like a standalone card. So, to use the visa card for online shopping on a foreign website you need to first of all send money to the account number associated with the VISA card. And this, you can do through the bank account that is link to the card using the bank app or bank branch.

NOTE: if there is no fund on the visa debit card, the transaction will fail.

Next, proceed to the online shopping site. Check their payment methods to confirm they accept VISA debit card.

Select all the products you’re purchasing and click on payment.

Then, select your payment method and Pay with VISA card (visa card logo is always visible)

Fill in your VISA card details and proceed to make your payment. An OTP will be send to your registered phone, enter it to complete the transaction.

That’s all!

Warning: any online payment platform that does not request OTP/secure code is not fully secure. Please, don’t make any payment on such website. You may have problems receiving your OTP on time, See How to Resolve OTP Problems

Common Errors Encounter when using Debit Card for Online Payment

When paying with your debt card, you might experience error or some sort of challenge. These may range from bank faults to personal faults:

• Lack of funds on your account
• Incorrect PIN
• Expired Card
• Withdrawal Limit Exceeded
• OTP (Not receiving OTP your phone)

For questions or comments, you can use the comment box below this article. If you have encounter problem while making an online payment, don’t hesitate to drop your challenge on the comment box below. We’re respond to you fast and help you to resolve the challenge.