Accept Multibanco payments with Checky Pro

Portugal’s reference-based payment: the customer leaves your checkout with an entity and a reference, and pays it at any ATM or in their banking app.

See all 24 methods

New here? Checky Pro is the payments & checkout platform for modern e-commerce — Multibanco is one of the 21 payment methods you can switch on today.

What is Multibanco?

Multibanco is Portugal’s shared interbank network, and the payment method that carries its name works differently from everything else in this list: it does not take the money at checkout. Instead the customer is handed a payment reference — an entity number, a reference number and the amount — and goes off to pay it, at any Portuguese ATM or from inside their own online banking.

That sounds like friction, and it is, but it is friction Portuguese shoppers are entirely comfortable with. The same reference format is used for utility bills, taxes and tolls, so the pattern is deeply familiar; a lot of people would rather pay a reference than hand a card number to a shop they do not know. It also serves customers who simply have no card they want to use online.

The consequence you have to plan for is timing. A Multibanco order is not paid when it is placed — the reference stays valid for about seven days, and a share of orders will never be paid at all. Treat it as a pending order rather than a sale: your dashboard flips it to paid the moment the reference clears, and that is the point to ship.

What Multibanco can do

Coverage, costs and capabilities. Every method page answers the same questions in the same order, so you can compare two methods line by line.

Coverage

Payment type: Bank reference — post-pay
Channel: Online
Consumer countries: Portugal
Available for: Companies in the EU, UK & US

Your company is registered in

Pricing & settlement

Processing fee: On request
Authorization fee: None
Currency conversion: NoneThe customer pays in the currency of the method, and so are you paid out.
Settlement currency: EURPayout in GBP or USD is possible too, at the 1% multi-currency fee.
Settlement: 3–7 business daysCounted from the moment the reference is paid, not from the order.

Features

Refunds: Supported.
Partial refunds: Supported.
Recurring payments: Not supported.Every payment needs its own reference, so there is nothing to charge again.
3-D Secure: Not supported.The customer authenticates with their own bank or at an ATM.
Express wallet buttons: Not supported.Wallet buttons run on cards.
Multi-acquirer routing: Not supported.Multibanco runs on a single acquiring route.
Chargebacks: Supported.From € 25,00 per dispute. Rare, because the customer pays from their own bank.
Chargeback alerts: Not supported.Pre-dispute alerts come from card issuers — they do not exist on Multibanco.

Prices follow the region above and come from the same rate card as the pricing page. They may still vary with merchant profile, processing volume and acquiring setup.

Why Multibanco, and why through Checky Pro

The top row is the method itself; the bottom row is what our platform adds on top of it.

A format Portugal already knows

The same entity-and-reference pattern is used for bills, taxes and tolls. Portuguese customers do not need it explained.

No card, no card details

Shoppers who will not hand a card number to an unfamiliar store will pay a reference from their own bank instead.

Euro in, euro out

Portuguese customers pay in euros and you settle in euros. No conversion and no FX line.

Pending is visible, not guesswork

Unpaid references sit in your dashboard as pending orders with the clock showing, so you know what is still outstanding and what expired.

One balance across markets

Portuguese payments land in the same balance and payout schedule as everything else.

Offer it next to MB WAY

MB WAY is the instant, phone-based Portuguese method; Multibanco is the reference. Together they cover Portugal properly.

How a Multibanco payment works

From click to balance — what your customer sees, and what happens behind it.

1
Picks Multibanco at checkout
One click in your checkout — no card number, no account to create.
2
Gets a payment reference
An entity number, a reference and the amount. Nothing has been charged yet — the order is pending.
3
Pays at an ATM or in their bank
The customer enters the reference at any Portuguese ATM or in their online banking. They have about seven days.
4
Order confirmed
The moment the reference clears, your dashboard flips the order to paid — that is the point to ship.
5
Settled to your balance
Added to your Checky Pro balance and paid out in 3–7 business days, counted from when the reference was paid.

Multibanco, answered

Still something open? The team answers on WhatsApp, usually the same day.

When is a Multibanco order actually paid?

When the customer settles the reference, which can be minutes or days after they order. The reference stays valid for around seven days. Until then treat it as a pending order — your dashboard shows it as such and flips it to paid automatically.

Should I ship before the reference is paid?

No. Nothing has been charged when the order is placed. Ship when the dashboard marks it paid.

What happens if the customer never pays?

The reference expires and the order stays unpaid. You are not charged for it, and it never becomes a transaction.

What does a Multibanco payment cost?

For companies in the EU and the UK, Multibanco is priced on request: ask us for a quote. In the US it has a published rate — switch the region above the pricing table on this page to see it. There is no authorization fee; outside the EU the euros are converted into your payout currency.

Can I offer Multibanco as a sole proprietorship?

Yes. Your company form no longer decides which payment methods you can offer: a sole proprietorship gets the same methods as an incorporated company. What counts is where your business is registered — the “Available for” row above shows the regions that can offer Multibanco, and the payment methods page has the full coverage.