The European Payments Initiative has built a purchase protection and dispute resolution framework into Wero's e-commerce payment solution, addressing a longstanding gap in European account-to-account payments. Traditional SEPA Instant Credit Transfers are irrevocable by design, meaning consumers who paid via bank transfer for online purchases had no standardized way to dispute a transaction or seek a refund through the payment rail itself. Wero changes this by layering structured consumer protection mechanisms on top of the SEPA Instant infrastructure operated through the ECB's TIPS settlement platform.
The dispute resolution process allows consumers to raise an issue directly through their banking app when a problem arises with an online purchase. Once a dispute is opened, both the buyer and the merchant can upload documents as evidence to support their respective positions. The participating banks then evaluate the submitted evidence and render a final decision. This bank-mediated approach means that resolution outcomes are determined by regulated financial institutions rather than by commercial intermediaries with separate profit incentives in the transaction.
For the e-commerce payments currently live in Germany and Belgium, Wero processes transactions via SEPA Instant Credit Transfer at an approximate cost of 0.7 percent per transaction, compared to the 1 to 3 percent typically charged by international card networks. Merchants receive funds within seconds, a significant improvement over card settlements that can take several business days. The addition of buyer protection removes one of the key barriers that had prevented account-to-account payments from competing effectively in the online checkout environment, where consumers have historically preferred card payments in part because of the chargeback protections they offer.
As Wero extends its e-commerce capabilities to France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands through 2026 and 2027, the buyer protection framework will be available in each new market from launch. EPI has also outlined plans for recurring payment management, buy-now-pay-later functionality, and merchant loyalty program integration as future value-added services on the Wero platform.