How do people in Chile pay online?
Cards carry most online payments. In PCMI’s analysis of 2024 payment data, credit cards took 60% of online sales volume and debit cards 20%, ahead of bank transfers at 9% and wallets at 7%. Webpay Plus, Transbank’s online checkout, accepts credit cards, Redcompra debit cards and prepaid cards, and the card issuer authenticates the cardholder before the payment is authorised. Debit is unusually widespread because of CuentaRUT, BancoEstado’s basic account with a debit card. It had 15.5 million account holders in February 2026, and BancoEstado said it processed 52% of the debit card purchases in the Chilean financial system over the previous twelve months. Credit cards add instalments: through Webpay a merchant can offer interest-free instalments it funds, up to 12, and issuers offer their own plans of up to 48 instalments.
Acquiring is no longer a single-provider market. Chile moved to a four-party card model, and a 2025 analysis by the competition authority FNE put Transbank at roughly 40% to 50% of card-not-present transactions, with Mercado Pago and other acquirers sharing the rest. For merchants this means more than one acquirer can process the same Chilean cards, often with different approval rates and fees.
Bank transfers and wallets fill the gaps. Chileans move money between bank accounts by electronic transfer every day, and simplified transfer services such as Khipu let a shopper pay a merchant from their own bank account without a card. Mercado Pago and MACH also offer digital accounts and wallets that customers use to pay online.
What rules shape online payments in Chile?
Online shoppers have ten days to change their minds. The Pro Consumidor law, Law 21.398, amended the consumer protection law so that the right to cancel (derecho a retracto) applies by default to purchases made online, by phone or by catalogue: the shopper can cancel within ten days of receiving the product, without giving a reason. For goods, the exceptions are set by a regulation published on 27 August 2024 and in force since 28 February 2025: perishable goods, made-to-order items, goods installed or used beyond inspection, and hygiene items with opened seals. Merchants must show any exclusion before the contract is signed or paid, in Spanish and as prominently as the price. Service providers may exclude the right only if they say so clearly in advance.
Foreign sellers charge Chilean VAT. Law 21.210, published in February 2020, applied 19% VAT to digital services such as streaming, software and online intermediation supplied by companies with no domicile or residence in Chile. Law 21.713 of October 2024 extended the tax to all services supplied remotely by non-residents and, from 25 October 2025, to remote sales of goods worth up to US$500 shipped to final consumers in Chile. Marketplace platforms are treated as the seller and must charge, withhold and pay the VAT. Non-resident sellers register under a simplified regime: they charge 19% on the price, pay by the 20th of the following month and can deduct VAT on refunds and cancellations. By 24 October 2025, 20 foreign platforms and merchants covering about 90% of these low-value purchases had registered.
Cardholders are protected against fraud. Law 21.234 limits a cardholder’s liability for unauthorised use of a card and puts the burden of proof on the issuer when a cardholder disputes a transaction, so issuers scrutinise disputed card-not-present payments closely. Data protection is changing as well: Law 21.719, published on 13 December 2024, overhauls the 1999 privacy law and creates a Personal Data Protection Agency. It is due to take effect on 1 December 2026, although a government bill filed in September 2026 would move that date to December 2027.
How does Omno route payments in Chile?
Omno serves Chile as an e-commerce market. You connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group:
- Cards through Webpay Plus and other acquirers can be routed by BIN to the provider your rule sets for that issuer, with instalments passed through where the provider supports them.
- Cascading moves a payment to the next acquirer in the rule when the first is unavailable or rejects it, without asking the shopper to start again.
- Bank and wallet payments are offered in the hosted checkout and Web SDK next to cards, so customers without a credit card can still complete the purchase.
- Pay-outs follow PSP eligibility rules, so marketplace payouts only use providers that support CLP transfers to the recipient’s account.
Webhooks report the final status of every transaction, which is the record your back office should trust for fulfilment.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for debit as well as credit. With CuentaRUT and Redcompra so widespread, a checkout tuned only for credit cards misses a large share of Chilean shoppers.
Plan for the ten-day cancellation right. Show your cancellation terms before checkout, and make sure refunds can go back to the original card or bank account quickly once a product is returned.
Plan for VAT if you sell from abroad. Digital services and low-value goods sold to Chilean consumers carry 19% VAT, so register under the simplified regime or sell through a platform that collects it, and price in CLP with tax included.
Plan for more than one acquirer. Approval rates, fees and settlement times differ between providers, and the routing-decision log in Omno shows which provider handled each payment so finance teams can reconcile CLP settlements by route.
Plan for card disputes. Because issuers carry the burden of proof under Law 21.234, clear authentication and delivery records help you answer disputes quickly.