How does SINPE Móvil work for online payments?
SINPE Móvil moves money between bank accounts using a mobile number. The shopper links their phone number to a colón account at their bank, and then sends money to another linked number from their banking app or online banking. BAC Credomatic, for example, asks customers to register the service in its app and confirm with its security app before they can send money.
For online sales, a payment provider receives the transfer and matches it to the order. ONVO describes the flow. The merchant creates a payment for the exact amount with the shopper’s ID type, ID number and phone number. The checkout then shows ONVO’s SINPE Móvil number and the amount, and the shopper sends the transfer from their bank. SINPE asks ONVO to accept each incoming transfer first, and ONVO accepts it only if the ID and the amount match a waiting payment exactly. Partial and higher amounts are refused, and an unmatched transfer is rejected before it leaves the shopper’s account. The merchant confirms the order only after the success webhook. ONVO works only in CRC.
Some providers connect to SINPE directly. Tilopay describes itself as a direct SINPE participant, with an API to send and receive SINPE Móvil transfers and to check a SINPE Móvil wallet by phone number.
Where and how do shoppers use SINPE Móvil?
It is widespread. Costa Rica’s Ministry of Finance counted 4,801,297 active phone subscriptions to SINPE Móvil at the end of May 2026, about 1.29 per adult, and ₡12,527,728,879,067 transferred through it in 2025, based on Central Bank statistics.
It is a standard way to pay online. In the first national e-commerce survey, carried out in 2022 by the University of Costa Rica’s development observatory for the Ministry of Economy, 73% of online shoppers had paid with SINPE Móvil, close behind cards at 78%. Bank transfers were used by 37.7%, cash by 27.1% and platforms such as PayPal by 20.3%.
Shoppers use it from bank apps and by text message. The Central Bank’s rules now treat these channels differently, which affects how much a shopper can send in one day.
What rules and costs should merchants know?
Daily limits apply. Under a reform to the Central Bank’s payment system rules, transfers sent by text message or WhatsApp are capped at ₡100,000 a day from 1 June 2026. Transfers from banking apps and online banking are not affected; at Caja de Ande, for example, users set their own daily limit of up to ₡500,000. Fees vary by bank: BAC Credomatic makes transfers up to ₡100,000 a day free and charges a commission above that.
Payments are invoiced like any other. From 1 September 2025, version 4.4 of Costa Rica’s electronic invoice must show the payment method, with code 06 for SINPE Móvil. The Central Bank said in August 2025 that this is not a new tax and that SINPE Móvil keeps working as before.
More tax reporting is coming. In June 2026 the Ministry of Finance put out a draft decree that would require taxpayers to register the phone numbers they use to receive SINPE Móvil payments for their business. Officials said it creates no new tax or fee. Existing taxpayers would have up to 12 months to comply once the decree is published.
Refunds are new transfers. None of the sources describes a way to reverse a completed SINPE Móvil payment, so a refund is a transfer from the merchant or its provider back to the shopper, and there is no card chargeback process.
How would Omno handle SINPE Móvil?
- One checkout: SINPE Móvil would appear in the Omno hosted checkout next to cards, wallets, local methods and crypto, showing the number and exact amount to send. Merchants with their own payment screens would use Direct Links on their own buttons.
- Routing rules: The merchant would set rules that send CRC payments to a connected Costa Rican provider that supports SINPE Móvil. Omno connects through those providers; it is not an acquirer and does not hold funds.
- Cascading: In the hosted checkout, if the chosen provider is unavailable or rejects the request before the transfer details are shown, the payment would move to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Status and payouts: The order would stay pending until the provider matches the transfer, and the final result would reach the merchant by webhook. Payouts would be sent as SINPE Móvil transfers where the connected provider supports them.
What should merchants plan for?
Collect the shopper’s ID and phone number. Matching depends on the exact ID format and amount, so validate both at checkout.
Explain the exact amount. A transfer for a different amount is refused, so show the figure clearly and tell shoppers not to round it.
Mind the daily limits. Shoppers paying by text message are capped at ₡100,000 a day, so larger orders should be paid from the banking app.
Record the payment method on invoices with the SINPE Móvil code, and watch the tax registration decree.