Introducing Paystack Virtual Terminal

Paystack Terminal helps modern teams in Africa build custom, delightful in-person payments experiences that keep customers coming back.

Following the launch of Physical Terminal almost a year ago, we’re excited to announce Virtual Terminal, which helps businesses accept blazing fast in-person payments at scale, and with ZERO hardware costs.

More Nigerians are choosing to pay via bank transfer…

One of the most interesting trends we’re tracking at Paystack is the growth of bank transfer as a preferred payment channel for consumers. In 2021, about 12% of payments on Paystack in Nigeria were made with a bank transfer. Two years later, that number has grown to 34%.

This is why we’re investing heavily in product updates to provide better tools for bank transfer payments. For example, last week, Paystack announced a major infrastructure upgrade and speed improvement to our bank transfer product.

Where most comparable transfer solutions require over 60 seconds or more to be confirmed, 99% of bank transfers collected via the proprietary Paystack-Titan bank transfer channel are confirmed within 8 seconds.

...but the experience of in-store bank transfer payments could be a lot better

When it comes to in-person payments, bank transfers remain popular, but the experience around receiving in-store bank transfers is usually very poor for customers, frontline staff, and business owners.

Many Nigerians who have paid for a product or service via bank transfer have experienced the situation where they send the transfer, but then need to wait a long time for the sales agent to contact their manager to verify that the payment was successful.

It’s frustrating for the customer, inconvenient for the frontline staff, and distracting for the manager who fields several requests a day to confirm whether the transfer was successful. It’s a poor experience all around.

Fast in-person bank transfer payments, at scale

With Virtual Terminal, every sales agent or frontline staff can be assigned a unique virtual bank account number. When a customer transfers money to that bank account, the sales agent gets an instant confirmation via WhatsApp, and the customer can be on their way.

Business admins can create as many virtual bank account numbers as they need and assign them to different sales agents or store locations. This eliminates the operational burden of managing multiple POS devices, enabling businesses a swift and cost-effective way to ramp up their sales force.

Deploy your point-of-sale solution in seconds

Virtual Terminal is incredibly easy to scale, whether you have just 1 frontline person in 1 store, or 1,000 sales agents across several cities. You simply create as many virtual bank account numbers as you need and assign them to your sales agents, all from your Paystack Dashboard.

When customers then pay via Virtual Terminal, you receive the payments in your preferred bank account, together with the rest of your Paystack payout. Virtual Terminal dramatically simplifies your business operations.

You’re in control

When you assign virtual bank accounts to your sales agents, they receive a notification via WhatsApp for successful payments. The “successful payment” alert is the only thing that the agent sees: the notification does not contain any additional information such as the total amount of money your business has received. Only you, the administrator of the business, can access that information via the Paystack Dashboard.

Additionally, you can disable a Virtual Terminal bank account number at any time, change the WhatsApp number tied to it, and also set it up so that multiple WhatsApp numbers receive an alert when a bank transfer is made.

Give your customers multiple in-person payment options

Beyond bank transfers, your customers can scan a QR code and access multiple payment channels, including card payments (American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Verve), USSD, and Apple Pay.

Each Virtual Terminal account also comes with a beautiful, autogenerated poster which you can print from the Paystack Dashboard and prominently display, to inform the customers about the wide range of payment methods available to them. Some businesses choose to display this poster as a table tent, while some others create a smart-looking lanyard that staff can easily carry around.

However your customer prefers to pay, you’ll be able to accept that payment, seamlessly.

Here’s how to download your Virtual Terminal posters →

Delight international clients with seamless in-person payments

Businesses with lots of international clients, such as hotels and restaurants, are familiar with foreign-issued cards failing on locally-issued POS devices in Nigeria.

With Virtual Terminal, your international customers can reliably scan to pay with their foreign-issued cards or Apple Pay; you’ll no longer have to turn down good business.

All the other benefits that come with accepting payments with Paystack

Virtual Terminal comes with all the other benefits of the Paystack ecosystem of products:

• Split payments: If you run a company that has several lines of business, Virtual Terminal allows you to receive one payment and automatically split different amounts into separate business bank accounts.
• Easy end-of-day accounting: If you run multiple stores and also accept payments online, you can get instant visibility into all your transactions — online and offline — on your Paystack Dashboard. You also get useful, granular data on each sale made via each Terminal, so that you can instantly identify your best sales reps, and most profitable stores.
• Track all payments from your phone: You can easily monitor all your payments and reconcile your accounts from the Paystack Merchant App (iOS and Android). Download the app to get started!
• and so much more!

Get started with Virtual Terminal

Virtual Terminal is available to Paystack businesses in Nigeria. Learn how to set up your Virtual Terminal →

Live Q&A: How field sales teams and retail businesses use Paystack Terminal to drive growth

Businesses of all types and sizes use Paystack Terminal to drive growth.

From neighborhood supermarkets, to logistics companies with large delivery fleets, to tech startup field sales teams and more, if your business has a physical footprint, or manages a team of agents, there are several ways that Virtual Terminal can help you boost sales. Come find out how!

Join our Live Q&A session to learn how different kinds of businesses use Virtual Terminal, learn how to set up Virtual Terminal for your business, and get your questions answered in real time.

📅 Date: Wednesday, October 18
⏰ Time: 3 PM (WAT)

Register for free →

⚡️ Virtual Terminal payments are FAST — can you keep up? 👀

99% of bank transfers on Virtual Terminal are confirmed in 8 seconds or less; there’s fast, and then there’s Paystack fast!

Think you can keep up? Show us what you’ve got on Terminal Dash — a mobile game that has you racing against the clock. Show us your score with #TerminalDash!

Play Terminal Dash →

(Heads-up: Terminal Dash is best experienced on your mobile phone!)

Common questions

How much is Virtual Terminal?
Setting up a Virtual Terminal for your business is entirely free! All you do is log into your Paystack Dashboard, create as many Virtual Terminals as you need, and instantly deploy them to your sales agents.

Which payment channels are supported on Virtual Terminal?
Virtual Terminal supports all the payment channels available on the Paystack Checkout form in Nigeria, including local and international cards, bank transfers, USSD, and Apple Pay.

How many Virtual Terminals can I create?
You can create as many Virtual Terminal units as your business needs, for free.

In which countries can I use Virtual Terminal?
Currently, only businesses in Nigeria can use Virtual Terminal, but we’re bringing this product to other markets soon.

Can I get a Physical Terminal / POS as well?
Yes, you can! You can purchase a Physical Terminal / POS device right from your Paystack Dashboard. Log in to your Paystack Dashboard →

Will my Sales Agents see the total amount received by my business?
No. While sales agents will receive a WhatsApp notification to confirm that a payment was successful, they won't be able to access any other payment information.

Are there other ways to receive instant notifications other than WhatsApp (eg. via SMS)?
Currently, Virtual Terminal only sends payment notifications to WhatsApp.

Can I change the WhatsApp number assigned to a Virtual Terminal?
Yes, you can change the WhatsApp phone number tied to each Virtual Terminal at any time. You can also assign multiple WhatsApp numbers to receive alerts from the same Virtual Terminal.

Can I, the business owner, also receive the transaction notifications?
Yes, you can add your WhatsApp number to any Virtual Terminal to receive transaction confirmation notifications at the same time as sales agents. Your Paystack Dashboard also gives you a real-time look at all the transactions across all Terminals. You can also monitor all your payments from the Paystack Merchant App (iOS and Android). Download the app to get started.

Where will my money get settled when customers pay via bank transfer?
When customers pay via bank transfer into your assigned Virtual Account number, we settle your money into the same payout bank account we use for any other payment you collect with Paystack. You can update this preferred bank account at any time.

Do you have any questions?

Paystack Terminal helps modern teams in Africa build custom, delightful in-person payments experiences that keep customers coming back.

With Virtual Terminal, we’re excited to provide yet another way for businesses with a field sales component to get paid, without the operational headache of hardware logistics.

If you have any questions at all, come chat with us at the live Q&A or kindly send us a message. We're happy to help! 💙

🇳🇬 At Paystack, we've seen bank transfers become consumers’ preferred payment channel, growing from about 12% of all payments in 2021 to 34% today.

We've since invested heavily in product updates to provide better tools for bank transfer payments.