How Do Voucher and Cash Payments Work Online?

Voucher and cash payment methods let customers pay for online purchases using physical cash, bridging the gap between South Africa's large cash economy and digital commerce. A customer either buys a prepaid voucher with cash and redeems it online, or places an order online and pays for it in cash at a till.

For merchants, these methods unlock customers who have no card, do not trust entering card details online, or simply prefer transacting in cash. The merchant still receives a normal electronic settlement from the voucher or payment provider — the cash handling happens entirely on the retail side.

How Do Prepaid Vouchers Work?

Prepaid vouchers such as 1Voucher, OTT and blu voucher follow a simple pattern:

1. The customer buys a voucher for cash at a participating retailer, spaza shop or ATM.
2. The voucher is a printed or digital PIN representing the amount paid.
3. At checkout, the customer selects the voucher option and enters the PIN.
4. The voucher provider validates the PIN and confirms the payment to the merchant.
5. The provider settles the funds to the merchant electronically.

Vouchers are effectively cash converted into a digital token. Key characteristics:

• No bank account or card is needed at any point.
• Payment is prepaid and final — the funds already exist, so there is no decline for insufficient funds and no chargeback mechanism like cards have.
• Partial redemption is supported by some voucher products, with the balance retained on the voucher.
• PINs are bearer instruments: whoever holds the PIN can spend it, so customers must guard them like cash.

How Do Cash-at-Till Payments Work?

Cash-at-till (also called cash payment on order or pay-in-store) reverses the sequence — the order comes first, the cash later:

1. The customer completes checkout online and selects the cash payment option.
2. The system issues a payment reference, usually as a barcode or numeric code.
3. The customer takes the reference to a till at a participating major retailer, such as Pick n Pay, Shoprite and other national chains.
4. The cashier scans the code and accepts the cash.
5. The merchant receives real-time confirmation and fulfils the order.

Why Offer Voucher and Cash Options?

• Financial inclusion. A meaningful portion of South African consumers transact primarily in cash; these methods make them addressable online.
• No payment declines. Funds are confirmed before the merchant fulfils.
• Low fraud risk. There are no card details to steal and no chargebacks to defend.
• Trust bridge. Cash-first customers can try online shopping without exposing banking details.

The trade-offs are conversion friction (an extra trip to a store for cash-at-till), unpaid-order expiry management, and refunds — since there is no card to reverse, refunds typically need an alternative payout channel.

What Should Merchants Consider?

• Set a sensible expiry window for unpaid cash-at-till orders and release stock automatically when it lapses.
• Agree a refund mechanism with your provider upfront, such as a payout to a bank account or a replacement voucher.
• Reconcile provider settlements against confirmed orders daily using payment references.
• Present the option clearly at checkout with simple instructions, since the flow is unfamiliar to some customers.

Tips

• Show the nearest participating retailers or a store list in the payment instructions.
• Send the payment reference by SMS or email so the customer has it at the till.
• Never fulfil before the provider confirms the cash has been received.
• Treat voucher PIN handling in your systems with the same care as card data — a leaked PIN is spendable cash.

Related Topics

• Other Payment Methods
• How Do You Choose Payment Methods?
• How Do You Accept Payments Online?
• What Is Mobile Money and How Does It Work?