Klarna

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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

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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

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Payment options

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

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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.

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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 (3 installments) – Pay in 3 installments.
• 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.

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Country availability

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

Country	Pay now	Pay in 30 days	Pay in installments	Financing
Austria	Card Bank wire Direct debit	✅	✅	✅
Belgium	Card Bank wire	✅	❌	❌
Denmark	Card	✅	✅	❌
Finland	Card Bank wire	✅	❌	✅
France	Card	✅	✅	❌
Germany	Card Bank wire Direct debit	✅	✅	✅
Greece	Card	❌	✅	❌
Ireland	Card	❌	✅	❌
Italy	Card	✅	✅	❌
Netherlands	Card Bank wire Direct debit	✅	✅	❌
Poland	Card	✅	❌	❌
Portugal	Card	❌	✅	❌
Spain	Card Bank wire	✅	✅	❌
Sweden	Card Bank wire Direct debit	✅	❌	✅
Switzerland	Bank wire	✅	❌	✅
United Kingdom	Card Bank wire	✅	✅	✅

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Sofort

Sofort was a bank wire payment method in Germany that was acquired by Klarna in 2014. Klarna deprecated the Sofort technical solution and the payment method was no longer available with Mangopay as of June 1, 2024. For platforms looking to offer Sofort, we invite you to consider the following similar options:

• Klarna (whose pay-now flow is very similar to Sofort)
• Bank wire
• SEPA Direct Debit

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Activation

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

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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). 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.

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Integration

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On-site messaging

Klarna expects platforms to display messaging around their website to promote their payment options. For more information, see Klarna’s pre-purchase experience guide.

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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.

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Payment badge

Klarna’s logo badge for your checkout is available in Klarna’s purchase experience guide.

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Payment descriptors

The payment descriptors for each locale are available below:

Country	Locale	Description
Austria	de-AT	Bezahle mit Klarna
Austria	en-AT	Pay with Klarna
Finland	fi-FI	Maksa Klarnalla
Finland	en-FI	Pay with Klarna
Finland	sv-FI	Betala med Klarna
France	fr-FR	Paiements flexibles avec Klarna
France	en-FR	Flexible payments with Klarna
Germany	de-DE	Bezahle mit Klarna
Germany	en-DE	Pay with Klarna
Greece	el-GR	Ευέλικτες πληρωμές με Klarna
Greece	en-GR	Flexible payments with Klarna
Ireland	en-IE	Flexible payments with Klarna
Italy	it-IT	Pagamenti flessibili con Klarna
Italy	en-IT	Flexible payments with Klarna
Portugal	pt-PT	Pagamentos flexíveis com Klarna
Portugal	en-PT	Flexible payments with Klarna
Spain	es-ES	Pagos flexibles con Klarna
Span	en-ES	Flexible payments with Klarna
United Kingdom	en-GB	Pay with Klarna.

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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.

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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:

• iOS
• Android
• React Native

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

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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 Extra merchant data 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.

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Disputes

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).

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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.

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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.

Reason	Description	Response time deadline
Returns	The user returns part or all of an order and disputes the refund.	14 days
Goods not received	The user claims they didn’t receive all or part of the order.	14 days
Incorrect invoice	The user claims to have received an invoice that is incorrect, for example missing discounts or listing incorrect items.	14 days
Faulty goods	The user claims they received an item that is broken or with parts missing	14 days
Already paid	The user claims they have have already paid the invoice, for example by stating that it was paid to the platform directly	14 days
Unauthorized purchase	They user reports that they never made the purchase	7 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

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Related resources