Visa Free Trial Regulations

Visa

This document explains Visa's free trial regulations and what they mean for Segpay, our merchants, and customers. We'll cover what free trials and discounted subscriptions are, why reminder emails are important, and how our system helps you stay compliant.

What are Visa's Free Trial Regulations?

VISA has specific rules about these subscription types:

  • Free Trials: Subscriptions offering an initial period at no cost before regular billing begins.

  • Discounted Introductory or Promotional Subscriptions: Subscriptions where the initial price is lower than the regular recurring price.

Reminder Emails: The Key to Compliance

If you offer any trials or introductory discounts, you MUST send a reminder email to the customer at least 7 days before their first recurring charge. This email must include:

  • A link to the subscription's terms and conditions

  • Confirmation the customer has agreed to recurring billing unless they cancel

  • The original purchase date

  • Description of the purchase

  • The amount of the upcoming charge

  • Billing frequency or date

  • An easy-to-use link for canceling the subscription

Trials under 7 days don't require reminders. These requirements apply to Visa cards by default, but you can contact Segpay support to extend them to other payment methods.

How Segpay Helps Merchants

The Segpay Merchant Portal simplifies compliance with Visa's Free Trial Regulations:

  • Automatic "Promotional Offer" Tagging: The Merchant Portal automatically flags price points as "Promotional Offers" if they meet the following criteria:

    • Free trials

    • Subscriptions with delayed billing

    • Subscriptions where the initial and recurring prices differ

  • Flexibility: You can manually enable or disable the "Promotional Offer" tag as needed in the Merchant Portal.

  • Automated Reminder Emails: When a subscription is marked "Promotional Offer", the Merchant Portal flags it for automatic email reminders. These reminders are sent 7 days before the first recurring charge, for trials 8 days or longer.

  • Changes Affect NEW Subscriptions Only: Price point edits, including tagging as "Promotional Offer", only apply to subscriptions purchased after the changes are made.

  • How Reminders are Triggered The reminder email system considers both the "Promotional Offer" tag AND the use of a Visa card for the initial purchase.

"Promotional Offer" is automatically selected for your price points that meet Visa's criteria for a free trial.

Editing Price Points

If you edit a price point in a way that now meets Visa's free trial or promotional offer criteria, the system will:

  1. Automatically mark the price point as "Promotional Offer."

  2. Display a message: "Your changes will mark this price point as a promotional offer and will affect [x number of] packages. This will NOT affect existing active members."

What Your Customers Will See

The Segpay Merchant Portal automatically sends customers two important emails that fulfill Visa's free trial requirements.

Signup Confirmation Email

Consumers receive a confirmation email when signing up for a subscription.

Reminder Email

The reminder email does not contain a transaction number as there is no transaction associated. It reminds customers of the upcoming charge after their trial period ends.