To determine a customer’s reference country for an online purchase, Alma uses a simple priority order:
- Billing address (primary)
- Delivery address (if billing is not available)
- IP address (if addresses are missing)
- Merchant country (last resort)
This country is then used to display the right products and the right terms/contract to the customer.
If the customer’s billing address country is not part of the countries you have declared, the transaction country will default to your principal country.
If you have any questions about how your customer’s reference country is determined, please contact our team at support@getalma.eu.
Is the customer’s bank / card country used?
No. The card issuer country is not used to determine the transaction’s reference country.
However, it is still used for card acceptance eligibility (today, Alma only accepts cards issued in 10 countries).
What does it mean to “target” a country?
Targeting a country means you are actively trying to sell in that country (for example through a dedicated website, marketing campaigns, shipping/returns, specific commercial terms, etc.).
In that case, you must declare it in your Alma configuration so that your transactions are processed according to the applicable local conditions (products, contract, local rules). We also consider a country to be targeted de facto when a significant share of your sales over the last 12 months is generated in that country.
If you have any questions about declarations or targeting rules, please contact our team at support@getalma.eu.
Which countries can I declare today?
You can only declare the countries where Alma currently operates: Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Germany (DE), Spain (ES), France (FR), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Luxembourg (LU), Netherlands (NL), Portugal (PT).
What if my customers are from a country outside these 10 countries?
Today, this has limited impact, as Alma currently only accepts cards issued in these 10 countries.
In the future, we may test accepting new countries, even if they are not “targeted”, within certain limits (for example up to a certain share of your volume).
What changes for my customers if a country is “targeted”?
If a customer’s country is targeted, Alma will automatically apply that country’s local conditions, including:
- the contract / Terms & Conditions for that country,
- the applicable usury rate,
- and product limitations (e.g., in Belgium: P3X maximum).
The goal is to display an offer that is compliant and adapted to the customer, without adding complexity to your integration.
How does Alma manage compliance and alerts?
Alma has a monitoring system that detects when a significant share of your activity comes from a non-declared country.
In that case, our Compliance team reviews the situation and, if necessary, updates your configuration (for example by adding the relevant country and informing you of any changes).
If you have any questions about configuration or alerts, please contact our team at support@getalma.eu.