How Does OXXO Pay Work?

OXXO Pay enables Mexican consumers to shop online and pay for their purchases in cash. When a customer chooses OXXO Pay at checkout, the system generates a payment voucher carrying a barcode and a unique reference number. The customer takes the voucher to an OXXO convenience store, pays in cash, and the merchant receives payment confirmation within one business day. Settlement of the funds follows a separate timeline and is dependent on the provider.

How OXXO Pay works, step by step

After incorporating OXXO Pay into a merchant’s checkout page, it works as follows.

Step 1: The customer chooses OXXO Pay as their preferred payment method at checkout.

Step 2: The system generates a payment voucher with a barcode and a unique reference number, displays it on the screen, and emails a copy.

Step 3: The customer visits an OXXO store and pays in cash at the counter.

Step 4: The merchant receives payment confirmation, and the payment status updates from pending to paid.

Step 5: Funds settle into the merchant’s account according to the provider’s settlement cycle.

What the customer sees at checkout

OXXO Pay users typically fall into the 15 to 35 age group and are in the lower-middle to middle-income bracket. Seven out of 10 consumers in this segment prefer cash payments, and nearly 45.75 million of them are unbanked.

OXXO Pay was designed to enable merchants to tap into this broader customer base. For this reason, Mexican customers don’t need to enter credit or debit card details, provide bank account information, or have an OXXO account to complete payment.

At checkout, the customer sees OXXO Pay as a payment option alongside credit and debit cards. When they select OXXO Pay, the usual card payment form is replaced with a payment voucher containing a barcode and a reference code. There’s generally no need to print the voucher. The customer can take the voucher to their nearest OXXO store and present it to the cashier on their mobile device.

How the payment voucher works

The payment voucher includes a unique barcode and a reference number, which are required for customers to complete a payment and for merchants to identify a specific order and track an OXXO Pay transaction.

When the customer pays at an OXXO counter, the cashier scans the barcode, and the reference number links the payment to the corresponding order in the merchant’s system.

Each voucher is valid for a single payment. Hence, the same voucher can’t be reused for another transaction. This single-use, reference-based structure makes OXXO Pay a voucher-based payment method rather than a payment processed like a card transaction.

How long is a payment voucher valid?

A payment voucher typically expires within three to seven business days, depending on merchant configuration. There’s no automatic retry once the deadline passes. 

This means that merchants should release or cancel an order once expiry hits, rather than leaving it pending indefinitely. Additionally, a reminder sent before the deadline can reduce the number of vouchers that lapse unpaid.

Where and when customers can pay in cash

OXXO is one of the largest convenience store chains in Mexico. OXXO operates over 20,000 stores where Mexican consumers can buy daily essentials, pay utility bills, and redeem OXXO Pay vouchers in cash.

Many OXXO stores operate round-the-clock for general retail, while others close at night.

How merchants receive payment confirmation

Once the customer pays for the voucher, the merchant is notified via their payment gateway or payment service provider (PSP), and the payment status typically changes from pending to paid.

OXXO doesn’t notify a merchant directly. Instead, the confirmation is routed through the payment processor. Meaning, confirmation times can vary between providers, even for the same underlying OXXO payment. Until the payment confirmation arrives, the order should be treated as unpaid and fulfilment should be held.

If the voucher expires without being paid, the order should move to a separate expired or cancelled status rather than remaining pending indefinitely.

How long does settlement take?

Payment confirmation and fund settlement are two separate events. Payment confirmation is the notification that the customer has paid for the voucher, and it typically takes one business day.

Settlement is when the payment gets credited to the merchant’s account. It typically happens within 24 to 48 hours, but it can vary between providers. Merchants should check both the confirmation and settlement timelines with their payment provider rather than assuming funds will be available at the same time as payment confirmation.

What are the limits on OXXO payments?

OXXO Pay is limited to the Mexican market and supports transactions in Mexican pesos. It is also a one-way payment method that moves funds from the customer to the merchant. OXXO Pay doesn’t provide a mechanism for merchants to send refunds, payouts or other transactions back to customers through the same payment rail.

Does OXXO Pay support recurring payments?

OXXO Pay doesn’t support automatic debit. Merchants running subscription-based services have to issue a new payment voucher for each billing cycle, and the customer must actively pay each voucher.

The same limitation applies to payouts. OXXO Pay is designed to collect payments from customers rather than send money out, so it can’t be used as a channel for refunds, payouts, or other outbound transfers.

How refunds work with OXXO Pay

OXXO payments are made in cash at an OXXO store. They aren’t tied to a card or bank account and therefore don’t have a built-in mechanism to reverse payments through the same rail.

If a customer requests a refund, the merchant’s support team must have a separate process for handling it. Depending on the provider and the merchant’s policies, this could involve issuing a manual bank transfer or offering store credit, with the refund handled outside the OXXO payment flow.

Does OXXO Pay carry chargeback risk?

Card-style chargebacks don’t apply to OXXO Pay because customers pay in cash, and the payment is final once the merchant receives confirmation. There is no dispute process available to the customer after payment is completed. However, this doesn’t mean that OXXO Pay is entirely risk-free.

The primary risks include unpaid vouchers and unrecognised payments, where cash has been received at an OXXO store but can’t be immediately matched to an existing order. In such cases, merchants may have to perform additional reconciliation using the transaction’s reference number.

Is OXXO Pay an instant payment method?

With OXXO Pay, the order is created before a payment is made. However, payment confirmation happens only after a customer physically visits an OXXO store and pays for the voucher. This makes OXXO Pay fundamentally different from a card payment, which is typically authorised within seconds but can remain subject to disputes afterwards, and from a bank transfer, which requires the customer to have access to a bank account.

Once OXXO Pay is integrated, this delayed, cash-based payment flow needs to be reflected throughout the merchant’s order and fulfilment processes, including how orders are marked as pending, when fulfilment begins and how payment confirmation is handled.

Unlimit supports OXXO Pay, along with a wide array of other alternative payment methods in Mexico, including SPEI, CoDi, and Kueski Pay.