Take credit card payments online

There is no extra charge when accepting Google Pay with Tide Payment Links. You will be charged the standard transaction fee, which will be deducted from the payment before it enters your Tide account.

When your customers use Google Pay, Google Pay protects their payment info with multiple layers of security and doesn’t send their actual credit or debit card number with the payment. Instead, an encrypted virtual account number is used to represent their information – so the real card details stay safe.

Payments made by Card (Visa, Mastercard debit and credit cards), Apple Pay & Google Pay are accepted. However, we plan to include more payment methods in the future.

If you attempt to process a transaction that  we have considered high-risk, the transaction will be declined and we will notify you immediately.

Keeping evidence of the validity of your transactions is essential to helping us verify their security and lift any limits we’ve imposed.

To do this, we may request additional information, such as:

•   A signed copy of the invoice
•   A signed copy of the contract with your customer
•   Proof of delivery of goods or services

We may also request other relevant documentation, including your customer’s contact details.

There are a number of different scenarios in which we might consider a transaction to be high-risk, including if:

• you are new to Tide and we do not have a lot of processing history on your Tide Account
• there are sudden changes in the volume or size of transactions you’re processing

In certain situations, we may limit your ability to process transactions through Tide payment acceptance products. We impose these transaction limits to protect your Tide account, your customers and other Tide members from transactions that present an increased security risk.

There is a maximum transaction value of £5,000 per payment link. There is also a weekly limit of £20,000, as well as a monthly limit of £30,000. The minimum amount is just £5.

Tide Payment Links is a secure and convenient payment method that enables collecting customer card payments remotely without the need to set up any infrastructure. Tide Payment Links could be shared via various communication channels such as SMS, email, social media, and within invoices.

As part of Tide’s ongoing efforts to prevent fraud and protect our existing members, there may be occasions when restrictions are placed on who can use Payment Links.  Access to this feature may be restricted due to factors such as:

• The age of your business must be within 90 days from opening an account

• Nature of your business

• The size of your business

• How long you have held a Tide account

• The number and frequency of transactions you undertake with your Tide account

We’re on a mission to help business owners with secure payment acceptance methods. It’s a balancing act though, certain company types are more complex to onboard. We hope to broaden this scope as we grow, but currently, we’re unable to sign up the following types of companies but not limited to:

• Fetish products
• Content: Books, magazines, audio, videos, websites, streaming services and other content formats deemed offensive or of a sexual nature
• Escort services and other services in the adult industry
• Financial service or money service business.
• E-wallet or e-money that can be monetized, re-sold or converted to physical and digital goods and services or otherwise exit the virtual world
• Credit repair and credit protection business
• Buy now pay later / Instalment payment methods
• Bearer share entities and binary options
• Independent or unlicensed financial advisors
• Insurance sales and services (life)
• Money transfer & remittance businesses
• Payroll, invoice & business services
• Provider or seller prepaid access/stored value
• Marketing related services
• Airlines and Cruise Lines
• Cloud storage, VPN, file sharing, (high-risk) cyber lockers
• Animals and wildlife products classified as endangered or protected
• Bail bonds and bankruptcy lawyers
• Bidding fee and penny auctions
• Certain social media business (e.g. click farms)
• Casual dating services
• Direct Marketing – Inbound teleservices, outbound telemarketing and travel-related arrangement services, Insurance services, catalog merchants, door-to-door sales, Multi-level marketing
• Governmental services, such as embassies or consulates
• Hazardous materials (B2B and B2C)
• Intravenous therapy or Medical benefit packages
• Key-entry telecom merchant
• Live-streaming Services with in-app currency and donations
• Mail order spouse or international match-making services
• Pawn shops
• Political, religious or Social Campaigning
• Drugs, and tools specifically intended for the production of drugs, drug paraphernalia, illegal drugs, substances designed to mimic illegal drugs and / or other psychoactive products
• Gambling services
• Products or services specifically offered or intended to be used to create, produce or grow drugs or drug ingredients
• Pharmaceuticals, prescription medicine and medical devices (including animal pharmaceuticals)
• Tobacco, smoking supplies, e-cigarettes, e-liquids, vaping liquid, vaping accessories
• Trade of fireworks, flammable or radioactive materials
• Trade of weapons, ammunition, military arms, explosive devices and firearm parts
• Cryptocurrency exchange
• High-risk securities
• Security brokers /investments of any kind including the purchase of Third-party Payment Processing such as aggregators, digital wallets, Payment Fac, Payment service companies.
• Decryption and descrambler products and services, devices designed to block, jam or interfere with cellular and personal communications 

1. Open your Tide app on the web and go to Tools and Services.
2. Click on Payment links.
3. A side sheet will open explaining Terms and Conditions and status of your account: Available.
4. After you go through them, click on Accept Tide Payment Link terms.
5. The status will change to Pending.
6. After a few minutes, the status will change to Active meaning your account has been onboarded.
7. Reload the page, and you will reach the payment link dashboard where you can find a list of Payment Link transactions, if any.

The meaning of the different status types is as follows:

• Available – You will see this status if you have not yet been onboarded to use Payment Links
• Pending – This means your onboarding process to use Payment Links is underway between Tide and our payment provider
• Active – You’ll see this status when you have been successfully onboarded and Payment Links is available to use
• Unavailable – If you see this status, it means that your member access has been deactivated, usually as a result of regulatory obligations that we have to comply with. Should this occur, then our Member Support team will work with you to resolve the issue.

Payments made by Card (Visa, Mastercard debit and credit cards) and Apple Pay (Visa & Mastercard debit and credit cards) are accepted. However, we plan to include more payment methods in the future.

At present, although payments can be made using cards issued outside of the UK, payments can only be made in GBP for Tide Payment Links. However, we plan to extend the feature to include other currencies in the future.

Yes, you can accept international payments from UK, EU & US using Payment Links but those may invite higher charges than payment taken via domestic cards. 

No, you can only accept payments from a single customer using a single Payment Link. You need to create a separate Payment Link for each customer.

On a mobile device, you will receive 2 types of notifications that will enable you to check the status of your Invoice Payment Links request:

1. A notification to let you know that your customer has successfully made their payment.
2. A second notification to advise when the payment has been initiated to your Tide Account.

Other than these notifications, you can also check your Tide account at any time via the app to confirm the receipt of payments into your Tide Account.

You can check your Tide account at any time and you will also receive notifications on your mobile device. 

The amount will be directly credited to your Tide Business Bank Account within 3 working days. No action is required from you. You can check your Tide account at any time and you will also receive notifications related to payment and settlements on your mobile device. 

• If you have sent an invoice payment link, then all transactions relating to this will appear in the account statement from Adyen N.V
• If you have made payments using an invoice payment link, then all transactions relating to these will appear in the account statement from Tide Platform Ltd *Tide Member’s Name*

Please note that many customers may initiate chargebacks if they see payments to companies that they do not recognise. Therefore, please ensure that you make your customers aware of what wording will be displayed on both the billing and statement descriptors for their transactions.

There are certain costs incurred by Tide at the time of processing a payment link transaction and a fee is charged relating to your account. Our fees incorporate costs to us such as interchange, scheme fees and payment processing fees. The fees are automatically deducted from your Payout amount. From time to time, we may offer time-limited promotional Fee discounts, so please make sure to read any notices we give you regarding such promotional terms. We may withdraw or change promotional offers at any time.

No, Tide Payment Link can’t be disabled after it is issued. However, you can always create a new Tide Payment Link. Additionally, any unpaid Tide Payment Link will expire after 28 days.

If a customer payment fails, they will be asked to try again. Typical reasons for a payment failing include errors with entering the card number, expiry date or CVC number, or potentially even a connection issue. These issues can usually be resolved when the customer tries to enter the payment for the second time. Another reason for a payment being declined or failing is that the Payment Links function may be temporarily unavailable. In the rare event of this occurring, the customer would see a notification advising that this method of payment is currently unavailable. They would then need to make their payment by bank transfer instead.

A chargeback happens when your customer disputes a card payment made using Tide Payment Links. It can be for either the full or partial amount of a transaction. If a chargeback request is raised by the customer, the money will be subtracted from your merchant account.

It is possible to challenge a chargeback. To do this, you will need to provide all necessary supporting information to Tide Member Support within the agreed timelines. Please refer to the Tide Payment Links T&Cs for further details.

When Tide receives a chargeback request relating to your account, we will contact you by email or in app support and deduct the chargeback amount from your pending payout or directly from the Tide business account. If you would like to defend the chargeback, please reply to your in app message or email within 15 calendar days.

To defend a chargeback claim on your account, there are guidelines to upload documents.

• Proof of Transaction: for example, Proof Of Delivery, Invoice
• Documents must be in English.
• Acceptable formats and file sizes are JPG, TIFF (max. 10MB) or PDF (max. 2MB).
• For best results, the original document should either be A4 (21 x 29.7cm) or US Letter (8.5 x 11″).

Tide needs certain documents to review and support your claim relating to your account.

Services not provided/Merchandise not received

The payer claims that merchandise or services that you provided were not received or not received on time.

To defend against this dispute you must provide:

Merchandise:

• Description of the goods.
• Signed proof of delivery, and AVS match.
• Communication where the cardholder confirms possession of the goods.
• Explanation why shipment was delayed.

Digital Goods:

• Confirmation email.
• Description of the digital goods and the date and time they were purchased and downloaded.
• Record of previous non-disputed payments.

Services:

• Confirmation email.
• Proof that the cardholder received the service at the agreed date and time.
• Communication with the cardholder after the payment.

Cancelled merchandise/services

The payer’s bank received a notice from the payer stating that they returned merchandise or cancelled services, but the credit has not appeared on the payer’s statement.

To defend against this dispute you must provide:

Merchandise / Digital Goods:

• Copy of invoice / confirmation email.
• Proof that the cardholder received your cancellation or return policy and did not cancel according to the disclosed policy.
• Proof that the cardholder initially received the merchandise, and did not return the merchandise.
• Proof that cardholder has not contacted you to solve the issue.

Services:

• Copy of invoice / confirmation email.
• Demonstrate that the cardholder received your cancellation or return policy and did not cancel according to the disclosed policy.
• Proof that cardholder has not contacted you to cancel the service.

Goods not as described/defective

The payer claims the goods were not as described or disputes the quality of the merchandise or services.

To defend against this dispute you must provide:

Merchandise:

• Proof that the cardholder has not contacted you to solve the issue or returned the merchandise.
• Evidence to prove that the merchandise was as described or was not damaged or defective.
• If the merchandise was replaced/repaired, provide a signed proof of delivery.
• Email communication with the cardholder.

Digital Goods:

• Proof that the cardholder has not contacted you to solve the issue.
• Evidence to prove that the merchandise was as described or was not damaged or defective.

Services:

• Proof that the cardholder has not contacted you to solve the issue.
• Evidence to prove that the service was as described.

Counterfeit merchandise

The merchandise was identified as counterfeit by the customer or a third party, for example, a customs agency.

To defend against this dispute you must provide:

Merchandise / Digital Goods / Services:

• Copy of invoice.
• Neutral third-party opinion.
• Certificate of authenticity.

Misrepresentation of the purchased good and/or service

The payer claims that the terms of sales (Terms and Conditions) were misrepresented.

To defend against this dispute you must provide:

Merchandise / Digital Goods / Services:

• Proof that your Terms and Conditions were clearly communicated before the transaction was processed.
• Proof that the cardholder acknowledged your Terms and Conditions (for example, a screenshot of the checkout page of your website showing that the cardholder accepted the Terms and Conditions by selecting a checkbox before proceeding to the payment).

The best way to avoid chargebacks is to ensure you know your customers well and exchange clear communications with them.

Other top tips include:

• Make sure the description of the goods and services you provide are clear and there is no room for them to be misinterpreted.
• When a sale is made, make sure all your communication is clear and replies to your customers are sent promptly.

There is a £10 fee to have a chargeback request investigated and processed, irrespective of outcome. This is because a separate investigation will be carried out for each request.  The fee will be debited from your Tide merchant account when a chargeback request is received.

If you have received a chargeback, then our Member Support team will contact you by email to advise you of this and to explain how you can dispute it, as well as what documentation you will need to provide. 

It takes on average 3-5 working days for your customer to receive a refund. You will not be charged for a refund, but when you refund a payment to a customer, the fees paid on the original transaction will not be refunded to you. 

A partial refund is not possible under any circumstances.

Yes, paying with Apple Pay is safer than using cash or a debit, credit or prepaid card. This is because every time your customers use Apple Pay to pay for something, the system uses a device-specific number and unique transaction code. The card number is never stored on the payee’s device or on Apple’s servers, and never shared with you as the merchant. You will only receive information you need to authorise to fulfil the order — such as your customer’s name, amount, payment mode, etc.

Apple Pay also keeps all purchases private. When your customer pays via Apple Pay, Apple doesn’t keep transaction information that can link the purchase back to your customer.

Apple Pay payment method is only available on Apple devices and Safari browsers. Please also note that through Apple Pay you can only accept VISA and Mastercard debit and credit card payments.