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Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is a system used by government welfare programs to distribute benefits to eligible individuals. Instead of paper food stamps or vouchers, EBT allows recipients to access their benefits electronically using a plastic card similar to a credit or debit card.
In a retail space, EBT cards can be used by customers to purchase eligible food items at authorized retailers. When a customer pays with an EBT card, the transaction is processed electronically, deducting the cost of the purchased items from the customer's benefit balance. Retailers must have a point-of-sale (POS) system capable of processing EBT transactions and must comply with regulations regarding eligible items and payment processing.
EBT has two distinct components- EBT Food and EBT Cash.
<aside> 💡 Note: EBT is only supported on our P5 Terminal. There are currently no plans to support this with other terminals.
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Some features, like EBT, are available on the PayFac but may not be available to all Brands. This may be due to additional integration work that might be required and/or other factors such as customer demand, dev priorities, or more. In this case, see the table below for which brands have access to this feature as of this moment.
| Brand | Available |
|---|---|
| Atlantic Systems (ASI) | ✅ |
| IT Retail (ITR) | ✅ |
| Markt POS | ✅ |
<aside> 💡 Note: EBT requires development work on the POS. Please have a supervisor speak with your local Product team if you feel this feature may be of interest to your industry or Brand.
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| Brand | Available |
|---|---|
| Adyen | ✅ |
| Stripe | ❌ |
EBT usually has its own pricing structure separate from their normal processing fees. For example, a merchant may sign up with rates of 2.80% + $0.10 and an EBT fee of $0.10. This means if a consumer pays with a Visa, Mastercard, Amex, or Discover card the merchant would pay the 2.80% + $0.10 rate but if the consumer pays with a EBT card, the merchant would only pay $0.10.
The fee can be edited in the normal Transaction Rates section of the Profile page.
The Default Rate is $0.10 but we can price match provided we receive statements.
Unlike our other fees, EBT transaction fees are calculated and charged in one lump sum at the end of the month. This means that individual EBT transactions will appear to have no fees listed in the Payouts Report and will instead show a separate summarized EBT fee in the Payouts Report once a month.