Payment methods
Cards & 3-D Secure 2
Cards are still how most South Africans pay online, and 3-D Secure 2 is the authentication standard that protects those payments. LekkaPay accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club with 3DS2 frictionless authentication - security that doesn't cost you conversions. What that buys you is the number merchants actually compete on: approval rate.
LAST UPDATED ·
- of South African online transactions are paid by card - the largest share of any payment method
- ~50%
- South African online payments industry reporting, 2025
How it works
How does Cards & 3-D Secure 2 work with LekkaPay?
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Customer enters or selects their card at checkout
New customers type their details once; returning customers pay with a saved, tokenised card in a tap.
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3DS2 assesses risk in the background
Device, transaction and behavioural signals go to the issuing bank in milliseconds - the customer sees nothing.
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Most payments authenticate frictionlessly
A challenge - banking-app approval or a one-time PIN - appears only when the issuer's risk engine asks for it.
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Authorisation and instant confirmation
LekkaPay returns the result in seconds, so you can complete the order immediately.
Why approval rates matter more than card acceptance
Every payment provider in South Africa accepts cards; acceptance is table stakes. The number that separates providers is the approval rate - the share of genuine payments that actually gets authorised. Industry reporting puts cards at roughly half of South African online transactions, so every percentage point of unnecessary declines or abandoned authentication is a percentage point of your revenue. LekkaPay's card acceptance - Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club - is engineered around that number: clean, complete transaction data passed to issuers, 3-D Secure 2 configured for the frictionless flow, and tokenised credentials that make repeat payments more likely to succeed.
What is frictionless 3-D Secure 2?
3-D Secure 2 is the card-authentication standard published by EMVCo, the body owned by the major card schemes. Where the old version bounced every customer to a clunky redirect page, 3DS2 is risk-based: device, transaction and behavioural signals are shared with the customer's bank in the background, and low-risk payments are authenticated with no customer interaction at all - the frictionless flow. A challenge, such as approving in a banking app or entering a one-time PIN, appears only when the issuing bank's risk engine asks for it. Successfully authenticated payments also shift fraud liability from you to the issuer - protection you keep even when no challenge was ever shown to the customer.
How does tokenisation improve repeat purchases?
When a customer chooses to save their card, LekkaPay stores it as a token in a PCI-isolated vault - the real card number never touches your servers. Returning customers pay in a tap or two instead of retyping sixteen digits on a phone keyboard, and stored-credential payments carry cleaner data that issuers approve more readily. The same tokens power subscription and repeat billing, so a card saved at first purchase becomes recurring revenue without another form ever being filled in. See how the vault works on our tokenisation page.
Where cards fit in your payment mix
Cards are the anchor method: the one most customers reach for first, and the only one that carries stored-credential convenience and recurring billing. The strongest checkouts pair cards with an account-to-account option such as instant EFT for bank-trusting customers, digital wallets for one-tap mobile payments, and vouchers for cash-first shoppers. LekkaPay switches all of them on within a single integration, so building a method mix around your card volume is configuration, not a development project.
FAQ
Cards & 3-D Secure 2 questions, answered.
Which card brands does LekkaPay accept?
Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club - credit and debit, South African-issued and international. All four brands run through the same integration and the same 3DS2 authentication flow.
What is 3-D Secure 2?
3-D Secure 2 (3DS2) is the card-authentication standard published by EMVCo, the standards body owned by the major card schemes. It verifies that the person paying is the genuine cardholder by sharing risk signals with the issuing bank - and, unlike its predecessor, it can do so invisibly, with no redirect and no one-time PIN for low-risk payments.
Will 3DS2 hurt my conversion rate?
Done properly, no. LekkaPay runs 3DS2 in the frictionless flow: risk signals are assessed in the background and most legitimate payments are authenticated with zero customer interaction. A challenge appears only when the issuing bank's risk engine requires one - and authenticated payments shift fraud liability from you to the issuer.
How fast do card payments settle?
Authorisation and confirmation are immediate, so you can release goods or services straight away. Settlement of funds to your account follows on a schedule that depends on your acquiring configuration and cut-off times - your LekkaPay agreement sets this out.
Are international cards accepted?
Yes. Cards issued outside South Africa are accepted, subject to your acquiring and risk configuration. If cross-border sales matter to your business, we tune your risk rules so genuine international customers are approved rather than blocked.
Method mix
Pairs well with Cards & 3-D Secure 2
Add Cards & 3-D Secure 2 to your checkout.
Every way Africa pays, on one integration - add methods without new development.