Vipps for Business: How It Works, How to Accept It and What to Expect

Vipps for business means confirming your identity with BankID, signing a merchant agreement, paying a per-transaction fee and going live in six steps, verified October 2026.

Key takeaways

• Vipps is a Norwegian mobile wallet run by Vipps MobilePay, and every payment runs through the Vipps or MobilePay app.
• The operator reports a market share of 93% in Norway among people aged 15 and over.
• The payer approves in the app, the merchant captures the reserved payment, and funds are sent to the bank account on day 3 of the documented flow.
• Listed prices run from 1.75% per transaction in person to 2.99% plus NOK 1 online; fees are deducted before the transfer by default.
• Refunds are possible for up to 365 days after capture and come out of the merchant’s settlement account; the merchant chargeback procedure is not published.
• To start, a business verifies its identity with BankID and signs one merchant agreement per country.

What is Vipps?

Vipps is a Norwegian mobile wallet where customers approve payments in the Vipps app, and Vipps for business is how a company receives those payments online or in person. Every payment runs through the Vipps or MobilePay app (Vipps MobilePay’s payment documentation), and Dintero’s Vipps checkout docs cover the same app for online and in-person payments.

The operator, Vipps MobilePay, is one Nordic mobile wallet formed from Vipps, founded in Norway, and MobilePay, which originated in Denmark (about page). Vipps launched for everyone in Norway in 2015.

Across borders, Norwegian and Swedish users pay Danish and Finnish merchants with the Vipps app, and Danish and Finnish users pay Norwegian merchants with the MobilePay app (guide to offering Vipps MobilePay in the Nordics). The customer picks the app; the business holds one agreement and receives the money in its bank account.

Vipps at a glance

Why Vipps matters for businesses selling in Norway

Vipps MobilePay reports a market share of 93% in Norway among people aged 15 and over, a figure checked in October 2026. Across its Nordic markets it counts more than 400 thousand shops and online stores and more than 1 billion annual transactions, with close to 13 million users as of October 2026 (Vipps MobilePay’s news item on the Nordic rename). These operator figures mix scope: the market share covers Norway, the other counts the Nordics.

Payment friction has a cost: in 2016, Elkjøp Nordic CEO Jaan Ivar Semlitsch told Tek.no: “We see that around 30 percent of online customers drop off in the payment process in our web shop.” For businesses, around 70% of Norwegian mobile customers prefer Vipps because they avoid typing a card number (Smartbyrå).

How Vipps works

A Vipps payment follows one path: the customer chooses Vipps at checkout, a payment request reaches the Vipps app, the customer approves it, the payment is reserved, the merchant captures it, and Vipps MobilePay batches captured payments and sends the funds to the merchant’s bank account.

The customer flow, step by step

• The customer chooses to pay via Vipps at checkout.
• A payment request reaches the Vipps app; push notifications must be active on the customer’s device for the request to arrive.
• The customer approves the payment in the app; Vipps MobilePay uses the banks’ delegated strong customer authentication, so BankID is normally not needed.
• The payment moves from Initiate to Reserve.
• The merchant captures the reserved payment or cancels it.

More than 60% of online shopping in Norway happens on mobile, the device this flow runs on (Smartbyrå).

What happens on the merchant side

A Vipps order stays pending until the payment is reserved; from Reserve the merchant captures or cancels it. Approval and settlement are separate events: after capture, Vipps MobilePay batches the merchant’s transactions and transfers the funds to its bank account (settlement documentation).

In the documented flow the payment is sent on day 3, the receiving bank may book it on the next banking day, and the money is normally available before noon. The merchant can change the settlement frequency in the business portal without approval, as long as the account has no risk factors. A payment provider sets its own timing: Dintero, for example, settles funds on the configured settlement schedule.

A payment the customer never approves never reaches Reserve, so orders that stay pending need their own handling. Reconciling each payment by its order reference puts every capture, cancellation and refund on the right order.

Ways to accept Vipps: plugins, APIs, payment links and in-person payments

A business takes Vipps through a ready-made plugin, the APIs, a payment link or in person, once Vipps MobilePay approves its product order. Smartbyrå’s comparison of online-store payment solutions notes that Vipps requires a longer approval process, which typically takes three to ten working days.

Ready-made plugins for platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento handle the integration with no coding required (Vipps MobilePay’s getting-started guide for developers). Vipps MobilePay’s Checkout plugin for WooCommerce handles payment processing, shipping and gathering user information (Vipps MobilePay’s WooCommerce page), and once the product order is approved the merchant adds its API keys in WooCommerce.

Custom API integration

A custom API integration uses the ePayment and Recurring APIs, through which users in all Nordic markets can pay merchants, and the Login API for sign-in. Vipps MobilePay card payments cover Visa and Mastercard, including co-branded cards.

Stripe, one provider that offers Vipps, processes a Vipps payment as a card transaction, as though the customer had entered the card details on the merchant’s website (Stripe’s Vipps terms). Unlimit carries Vipps among 1,000+ local methods, alongside cards, in 200+ locations via one REST API; a store using Unlimit can query each payment by its callback ID (Payments integration types).

To accept payments in person, a business uses Vipps number or mobile point-of-sale, the two in-person products on the pricing page. In 2025 Vipps MobilePay launched tap to pay with support for international cards (Vipps MobilePay news, 12 May 2026).

Benefits of accepting Vipps

Accepting Vipps brings three benefits, each with a limit.

• Reach: in 2025 the largest share of instant payments in Norway started in Vipps, though mostly person to person (Norges Bank), and PostNord’s spring 2025 e-commerce report records an increase since 2024 in consumers using mobile solutions such as Vipps when shopping online.
• No coding on common platforms: most cost nothing past the transaction fee (Smartbyrå). A platform without a ready-made plugin needs a custom integration.
• Fast access to funds: the money is normally in the account before noon. It is sent on day 3 of the documented flow, and fees are deducted first under the default net settlement.

Limitations to plan for before you accept Vipps

Three things shape how a business runs Vipps: how money goes back to customers and how disputes run, which countries, currencies and business types the agreement allows, and which amounts need extra checks.

Refunds, complaints and disputes

Merchants can refund all or part of a captured Vipps payment for up to 365 days after capture (refund documentation). A refund usually reaches the customer’s account within 2 to 3 bank days and can take up to 10 days, depending on the bank.

For customers in Norway and Sweden it goes to the same card as the original transaction; if that card is no longer valid, the merchant arranges another refund method. Refunded funds are deducted from the merchant’s settlement account.

The merchant refunds in the Vipps business portal by selecting the transaction under Transactions and choosing refund (help article on refunds), or through the API, which the operator recommends for integrated solutions.

Vipps says it handles a complaint sent through its complaint form within two weeks; a person who believes a payment was made without authorisation must report it to Vipps as soon as possible.

Disputes and chargebacks

Disputes depend on the payment provider. Dintero, another provider that offers Vipps, applies card network chargeback rules to Vipps transactions. Customers dispute through their card issuer under the same process and liability rules as card payments. For Visa the liability is generally on the card issuer; for Mastercard it is always on the merchant.

Vipps MobilePay does not publish its own merchant chargeback procedure, so the provider’s refund route and chargeback rules are set in its contract, and most providers keep the transaction fee on a refund (Smartbyrå).

Country, currency and business-type rules

Vipps for business is set up country by country: a merchant needs a separate Vipps MobilePay merchant agreement for each country it wants to operate in. For wallet payments the currency must match the region where the merchant’s sales unit is registered, and for a sales unit registered in Norway that currency is NOK.

On a PSP route, extra rules can apply: Stripe, for example, requires merchants in a restricted business category to have prior approval from Vipps or Stripe’s written documentation of any applicable licence. Vipps MobilePay can configure the sales unit of a merchant not legally allowed to accept credit cards to accept only debit cards.

Using Vipps directly in an online store requires a Norwegian organisation number (Smartbyrå); Vipps MobilePay does not publish the onboarding documents. The entity and the business category are settled with the operator or the provider before the checkout is built. Unlimit lets a business outside Norway accept Vipps from customers in Norway through one API integration, without building country-by-country infrastructure (Europe and UK coverage page).

Amount limits and payment confirmation

Vipps MobilePay requires a 3-D Secure verification if the user has paid more than NOK 15,000 during the last five days. A payer with push notifications off does not see the request, so the order stays pending.

Maximum payment amounts per transaction, per day or per year are not published by Vipps MobilePay. The sales unit’s limit for high-value orders is confirmed with the provider, and a second method at checkout gives the customer another way to pay.

What Vipps costs a business

Vipps for business fees are charged per transaction, with a price for each product on Vipps MobilePay’s standard business tier (Vipps MobilePay pricing page); enterprise or growth tiers may be available on request, directly or through partners or plugins.

Standard prices

On that tier, the listed Vipps prices are 1.75% per transaction for Vipps number and mobile point-of-sale, both in person; 2.49% plus NOK 1 for payment links; 2.99% plus NOK 1 for online payment integration and recurring subscription payments; and 1.99% plus NOK 1 for donations.

For cash register integration, the operator refers merchants to their partner for a full price overview. Mobile point-of-sale carries only the transaction cost, with no startup cost or monthly fee (help article on mobile point-of-sale pricing).

Vipps fees are deducted before the transfer by default, because the operator settles net: the merchant receives the payment amount minus fees. Gross settlement, with fees invoiced separately, is rare and offered only in exceptional cases.

One order shows how much Vipps for business costs in practice. A NOK 1,000 online order carries 2.99% (NOK 29.90) plus NOK 1, so NOK 30.90, and the merchant receives NOK 969.10 under net settlement. The same order paid in person at 1.75% carries NOK 17.50.

A business that takes Vipps through a payment provider also pays that provider’s fees, set in its contract. A high-volume store can often negotiate its Vipps rates down (Smartbyrå); a quote with each fee on its own line and the VAT treatment stated makes routes comparable.

Vipps vs card payments

Norwegian shoppers still prioritise methods such as credit card (PostNord, spring 2025), and cards cover buyers outside the Vipps MobilePay network, so a business selling in Norway offers both.

How to accept Vipps: a business checklist

Six steps cover how to get Vipps for business and accept payments with it, from the first decision to the first live order.

• Decide how to take Vipps: directly from Vipps MobilePay, through a payment provider or through a platform plugin, and note that a direct agreement needs a Norwegian organisation number.
• Choose the country you operate in, verify your identity with BankID, find your business and sign the agreement (help article on getting started).
• Wait for Vipps MobilePay’s email that the product order is approved, then activate the plugin with your API keys or build the API integration.
• Add Vipps to checkout, connect payment status to the order system and keep orders pending until the payment is reserved.
• Confirm the settlement account and frequency, the refund route and the fee lines with the provider.
• Test paid, cancelled, refunded and abandoned payments end to end, then go live.

How Unlimit supports Vipps in Norway

A business that also sells in Denmark can take MobilePay there via Unlimit (Europe and UK coverage page).

Vipps is live for Norway on Unlimit’s Europe and UK coverage page. Its EU entity, Unlimit EU Ltd, is an electronic money institution authorised by the Central Bank of Cyprus. The documents each method needs are confirmed with the business during onboarding. Vipps fees through Unlimit are quoted per business.

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