About

Klarna is a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service, providing a range of payment options for users.

Region

European

Currencies

See the currencies page for details

Refunds

Yes

Disputes

Yes

Preauthorization

Pay in 30 days, installments, financing

Recurring payments

Pay in installments and financing

How it works

To use Klarna, your end users need to:

  • Download the Klarna app and create an account
  • Add a card or bank details

Payment options

Klarna offers four payment options, whose availability and specifics depend on the country:

Pay now

Users can pay immediately using a method they save and manage in their Klarna account: card, bank wire, or direct debit.

Pay in 30 days

Klarna pays the full amount upfront and then allows 30 days for the user to repay, interest-free.

Pay in installments

Klarna pays the full amount upfront while the user pays the first of 3 or 4 installments (depending on the region). They repay the other installments later at regular intervals, interest-free.

Financing

Klarna pays the full amount upfront and agrees monthly repayment installments with the user over 6, 12, 24, or 36 months.

Benefits

The platform receives the full transaction amount in full, regardless of the option chosen by the user. Klarna manages all communication with the user and recovery of funds.

For the user, they benefit from payment options that suit them, which can be especially attractive for high-ticket purchases. From within the Klarna app, users have visibility of their purchases and outstanding payments, and can manage cards (CB, Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, AMEX), bank accounts, and direct debits.

PaymentMethod parameter

You can find out which payment option was chosen by the user in the API’s PaymentMethod parameter, which is returned in the pay-in once the transaction is successful (Status is SUCCEEDED). The values are:

  • Pay Now (Card) - Pay now by card.
  • Pay Now (Direct Bank Transfer) - Pay now by bank wire.
  • Pay Now (Direct Debit) - Pay now by direct debit.
  • Pay in 30 days (by card) - Pay within 30 days by card.
  • Slice it (X installments) - Pay in installments, where X is the number of installments (3 or 4 depending on region).
  • Slice it (Financing - X installments) - Pay via financing plan, where X is the number of monthly installments (6, 12, 24, or 36).

See Klarna endpoints

The options available and the specificities depend on the user’s region.

Country availability

Klarna provides payment options depending on the country of residence of the end user (defined in their Klarna account).

CountryPay nowPay in 30 daysPay in installmentsFinancing
AustriaCard
Bank wire
Direct debit
BelgiumCard
Bank wire
DenmarkCard
FinlandCard
Bank wire
FranceCard
GermanyCard
Bank wire
Direct debit
GreeceCard
IrelandCard
ItalyCard
NetherlandsCard
Bank wire
Direct debit
PolandCard
PortugalCard
SpainCard
Bank wire
SwedenCard
Bank wire
Direct debit
SwitzerlandBank wire
United KingdomCard
Bank wire

Sofort

Sofort is a bank wire payment method in Germany that was acquired by Klarna in 2014.

The Sofort user experience invites the user to enter their account number, PIN, and transaction authentication number (TAN) to complete the transaction. This experience has been integrated into Klarna pay now via bank wire. For more information, see Klarna’s website.

Klarna is deprecating the Sofort brand to simplify and standardize its offering. This deprecation includes the technical solution: PSPs like Mangopay, and thus also the platforms they serve, are required to move to Klarna’s technical solutions.

Legacy integrations

For platforms who have already integrated Sofort via Mangopay, a new integration of Klarna is required. An experience similar to Sofort is available to users in the German market (and others) through Klarna pay now via bank wire.

For a limited period, platforms can continue using Mangopay’s legacy integration of Sofort in both Production and Sandbox.

Note - Sofort deprecation

Klarna is deprecating the Sofort brand and technical solution. Platforms using Sofort are invited to integrate Klarna.

For a limited period, platforms can continue using Mangopay’s legacy integration of Sofort in both Production and Sandbox.

New integrations

Platforms looking to offer Sofort are no longer able to do so. We invite you to consider the following similar options:

Activation

To activate Klarna for your platform, contact Mangopay via the Hub.

Klarna Merchant Portal

During activation, your Mangopay admin receives an email inviting them to activate their account in the Klarna Merchant Portal. This involves accepting Klarna’s T&Cs and setting up two-factor authentication (2FA).

Caution - Activate within 7 days

Your Mangopay admin receives an email containing an activation link that must be used within 7 days.

In case of any issue, contact the Mangopay Support team via the Hub.

The Klarna Merchant Portal is required for:

  • Integration materials, such as on-site messaging
  • Disputes, because it is where you must take action

You can invite other users to the Klarna Merchant Portal.

Integration

On-site messaging

Klarna expects platforms to display messaging around their website to promote their payment options. For more information, see Klarna’s integration best practices.

JavaScript Library

Klarna provides a JavaScript library, available from the Klarna Merchant Portal, which you need to install and customize on your website. Follow Klarna’s tutorial for step-by-step guidance.

Payment badge

Klarna’s logo badge for your checkout is available in Klarna’s merchant assets.

Payment descriptors

The payment descriptors for each locale are available below:

CountryLocaleDescription
Austriade-ATBezahle mit Klarna
Austriaen-ATPay with Klarna
Finlandfi-FIMaksa Klarnalla
Finlanden-FIPay with Klarna
Finlandsv-FIBetala med Klarna
Francefr-FRPaiements flexibles avec Klarna
Franceen-FRFlexible payments with Klarna
Germanyde-DEBezahle mit Klarna
Germanyen-DEPay with Klarna
Greeceel-GRΕυέλικτες πληρωμές με Klarna
Greeceen-GRFlexible payments with Klarna
Irelanden-IEFlexible payments with Klarna
Italyit-ITPagamenti flessibili con Klarna
Italyen-ITFlexible payments with Klarna
Portugalpt-PTPagamentos flexíveis com Klarna
Portugalen-PTFlexible payments with Klarna
Spaines-ESPagos flexibles con Klarna
Spanen-ESFlexible payments with Klarna
United Kingdomen-GBPay with Klarna.

Sign in with Klarna

Klarna provides a single-sign-on (SSO) functionality that allows your users to log in to your platform using their Klarna account. For more information, visit Klarna’s documentation. This feature means users only need to sign in once at login, rather than at Checkout.

Klarna’s Mobile SDK for apps

When using Klarna in a mobile app, limitations relating to web views on both iOS and Android may result in a degraded experience for users. This commonly occurs during a redirection to a banking app or page as part of the payment or authentication process, but may also affect other cases, regardless of the region or payment option.

Klarna’s Mobile SDK is therefore required to overcome these limitations and handle the link between the web and native environments. You can use the SDK for a fully native app as well as one relying on web views, using a hybrid integration (see Klarna’s docs for more information).

Klarna provides example apps of both integration types in GitHub. Start integrating with their step-by-step guides:

The mobile SDK also contains everything needed for the rest of the payment experience, including on-site messaging and sign-in with Klarna.

Best practice - Integrate Klarna’s Mobile SDK for in-app experiences

If you are offering Klarna in your mobile app, it is highly recommended to integrate Klarna’s Mobile SDK to provide the best experience to your users.

Additional data

Klarna requires platforms to provide extra merchant data about the transaction (where possible) to increase acceptance rates. Failure to provide information may result in a higher rate of failed transactions with the following functional error:

  • 202001 - AdditionalData format error

The value of the AdditionalData parameter must be formatted as a string of serialized objects. Refer to the Klarna Attachment schema page for more information.

You should send the following objects in all cases:

  • marketplace_seller_info
  • marketplace_winner_info
  • customer_account_info
  • payment_history_full, which is used for underwriting purposes to optimize acceptance rates. If not available, payment_history_simple should be sent instead.

If you offer goods delivery to pick-up points for self-collection, you should also send:

  • other_delivery_address

Other objects, such as the reservation details, may be necessary depending on your industry.

Disputes

Caution - Where to take action

Use the Klarna Merchant Portal to deal with all issues arising from payments. For Klarna payments, the only Dispute objects created in the Mangopay API are for cases already ruled against the platform, meaning their ResultCode is LOST.

When a user raises an issue with Klarna, they are invited to resolve it directly with the platform during an initial period called the Dispute Resolution Time lasting 21 days in most cases (see Klarna’s documentation). You can respond to these open disputes in the Klarna Merchant Portal.

If a resolution is not found, the issue is escalated and Klarna’s team steps in to help resolve the situation.

Once escalated, the platform must give a first response within the deadlines listed below to avoid the dispute being automatically ruled against them.

When a Klarna dispute is ruled against the platform, a Dispute object (with the ResultCode value LOST) is created in the Mangopay API, the platform’s repudiation wallet is debited, and the funds are returned to Klarna (to return to the user).

Klarna dispute fees

See Klarna’s Dispute fees article for information on:

  • When you may be held liable for a dispute fee
  • When the Excessive fee applies rather than the Standard fee

Type 1 dispute fees apply to platforms using Mangopay.

Deadlines for first response

Platforms must respond to escalated disputes in the Klarna Merchant Portal before the deadlines below to avoid an automatic lost dispute and chargeback.

ReasonDescriptionResponse time deadline
ReturnsThe user returns part or all of an order and disputes the refund.14 days
Goods not receivedThe user claims they didn’t receive all or part of the order.14 days
Incorrect invoiceThe user claims to have received an invoice that is incorrect, for example missing discounts or listing incorrect items.14 days
Faulty goodsThe user claims they received an item that is broken or with parts missing14 days
Already paidThe user claims they have have already paid the invoice, for example by stating that it was paid to the platform directly14 days
Unauthorized purchaseThey user reports that they never made the purchase7 days
High-risk orders

The order was identified as high risk by Klarna’s internal alerting systems, which aim to protect platforms from potentially fraudulent activities.

The platform is expected, within the response time, to cancel the order (if it’s not yet dispatched) or refund it (if it is).

This dispute type is never raised by a user, only by Klarna.

96 hours