Country Mismatches
Understand what happens when the Checkout country does not match the Player's payment method country.
Neon Checkouts are associated with a specific country for billing and tax purposes. In most cases, Players will use payment methods from their Checkout country when making payments. Sometimes, the Player's payment method country will not match their Checkout country (e.g., when traveling internationally or using a VPN). This document explains the behavior when the payment method country and Checkout country do not match.
Goals
Neon aims to balance three goals when handling country mismatches.
- Avoid price shopping. Since Neon allows you to set different prices for the same item in different countries, we want to limit Player price shopping. This is when a Player changes their country (e.g. by using a VPN) to look for the country with the lowest prices.
- Tax compliance. In order to properly handle VAT and sales tax globally, we need to ensure that we're collecting all relevant Player billing information. The required information can change depending on the location of the Player, the country tied to their payment method, and their billing address.
- Frictionless Player experience. We always aim to provide a frictionless payment experience to our customers by minimizing the data we need to collect and optimizing the payment form depending on various Player attributes.
Behavior
What is a payment method country? It's the country registered with the payment method. For example, if a Player has a credit card through a US bank, the payment method country will be US. If the issuing country of a payment method is not made available to us, we treat the country as matching and allow the payment.
What is a Checkout country? See the FAQ.
Checkouts with Pricing Sheets
Applicable for: Checkouts initiated from a Neon-hosted Shop, Direct/Hosted/Serverless Checkouts that set a priceTierCode on the items.
See Pricing for detailed documentation on Pricing Sheets.
When there is a Pricing Sheet available for all items in the Checkout, a Player is only able to complete a Checkout when the payment method country matches the Checkout country.
If the Player attempts to make a payment where the payment method country does not match the Checkout country, we'll show a modal to the Player explaining the issue, and allowing them to change their payment method or change the Checkout country.
If they choose to change their Checkout country, we'll use the latest pricing from the Pricing Sheet and refresh their Checkout.
| Checkout Country | Payment Method | Behavior | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | UK credit card | Players are prompted to change their payment method or Checkout country with one click. Prices are updated to UK prices. | The Player needs a US billing address to calculate the correct taxes. Avoids price shopping. |
| UK | US credit card | Players are prompted to change their payment method or Checkout country with one click. Prices are updated to US prices. | Avoids price shopping. |
| UK | DE credit card | Players are prompted to change their payment method or Checkout country with one click. Prices are updated to DE prices. | Avoids price shopping |
Checkouts with Static Prices
Applicable for: Direct/Hosted Checkouts that set item prices using the price field, and do not set a priceTierCode.
For Direct Checkouts created with static item prices (using the price field instead of priceTierCode), Neon allows the Player to make a payment with a payment method from any country by default. In other words, 'out-of-country payments' are allowed unless you choose to block them.
You can optionally block 'out-of-country payments' on a per-country basis. This is configured at the environment level, defaults to allowing out-of-country payments, and can be enabled for individual Checkout countries — for example, countries that have unique tax calculation, collection, and remittance requirements. To configure this, contact your Neon representative.
When blocking is enabled for a Checkout country, a Player whose payment method country does not match that Checkout country will not be able to complete the payment, and will be prompted to change their payment method or go back to the store and change their country.
| Checkout Country | Payment Method | Out-of-country payments | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | US credit card | Allowed (default) | Payment allowed (assuming fraud and bank approval). |
| US | UK credit card | Allowed (default) | Payment allowed (assuming fraud and bank approval). |
| US | UK credit card | Blocked (configured) | Player is prompted to change their payment method or go back to the store and change their country. |
Important note when 'out-of-country payments' are blocked! If you generate a checkout without providing
storeURL, the 'Go to [Country] shop' button will not be available (this button normally opens thestoreURLor a deeplink with a country URL parameter). Instead, in case of a country mismatch, users will only see'Change payment method'and 'Back to Game', which redirects tocancelURLif provided, or falls back tosuccessURL.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I customize this behavior for my use case?
Yes. For Direct Checkouts/Hosted Checkout with static prices, blocking of 'out-of-country payments' is configurable per country at the environment level, and defaults to allowing 'out-of-country payments'. To change this configuration, please reach out to your Neon representative. We're constantly working to integrate customer feedback into our product, and aim to implement customizations when possible.
How is the Checkout country determined?
Neon Shop: For Players starting Checkout through shop, we use IP to location services to determine the Player's general location. Customers can manually select a different country if the detected country is incorrect.
Direct Checkout: If you're creating Checkouts via one of our APIs, you pass a playerCountry. You have complete control to determine the Player's country. We recommend using the APIs available from your game platform to determine the country. We also provide APIs that can get the player's country from their IP address at no additional cost to you.
How do I set up a Pricing Sheet?
Your Neon representative can help you configure a Pricing Sheet.