IRIS payments for e-shops: how they work and should you add them

Most people in Greece know IRIS from sending money with a mobile number: you pay a friend your share of dinner and the money lands instantly. Fewer know the same system can be used to pay in online shops. For a merchant that usually means lower fees and instant settlement. For the customer it means paying without a card.

Here is how it works in practice and whether it suits your shop.

What IRIS is

IRIS is Greece's national instant payments system, operated through DIAS and connected to the Greek banks. Payments go directly from account to account, in real time, around the clock. There is no card network (Visa, Mastercard) in the middle, which is why fees can be lower.

For e-commerce, IRIS is available through banks and payment providers that have built it into their checkout products. You do not connect to the system directly; you go through your provider.

How the customer pays

The exact flow varies slightly by provider, but it usually looks like this:

1. At checkout the customer chooses "Pay with IRIS".
2. They land on the provider's page, where they either pick their bank, scan a QR code with their phone, or enter the mobile number linked to their IRIS account.
3. They open their banking app, see the amount and the payee, and approve.
4. They return to your shop with a confirmed order.

On desktop, the QR flow is particularly handy: the customer scans with their phone and approves there. On mobile, the hop to the banking app and back has to work without a hitch. That is where your testing effort should go.

What the merchant gains

• Lower transaction costs. IRIS fees are typically lower than card fees. The exact figure depends on your provider, so ask for specific pricing.
• Instant settlement. Money arrives immediately, not after a few working days as card settlement often does. For a small shop, cash flow matters.
• Less reliance on cash on delivery. Shoppers who will not type card details into an unfamiliar site, but do trust their own bank, now have a prepaid option. Every order that moves from COD to IRIS means no courier collection fee and no risk of an uncollected parcel.
• A familiar experience. The customer approves inside the banking app they use every day.

What to watch out for

Refunds

With cards, a refund is a button in your provider's dashboard. With IRIS, check in advance how it works: does your provider support refunds from the dashboard, or will you need a manual transfer? Do you need the customer's IBAN? This affects your returns process and how you word your terms.

No card-style chargebacks

Account-to-account payments do not have the card chargeback mechanism. That removes one specific type of risk for you, but it does not mean the customer has fewer rights: the withdrawal right and consumer protection law apply as usual.

Amount limits

Banks may set per-transaction or daily limits on IRIS payments. For large baskets, always keep alternatives available. Check the current limits with your provider, as they change.

Platform compatibility

Is there a ready-made WooCommerce plugin or Shopify app from your provider? Does it update order status correctly? What happens if the customer closes the banking app halfway through? Ask for a demo or a sandbox before you commit.

Who will actually use it

IRIS will not replace cards. It will pull a share of customers who would otherwise pay by COD, bank transfer or debit card. Its value is in the mix, not as a replacement.

How to present it at checkout

Many shoppers have never considered paying online with IRIS. Help them:

• An option label that says what it does: "IRIS: pay from your bank", not just "IRIS".
• One line of explanation: "Approve in your e-banking or scan a QR code. No card needed."
• The IRIS logo, for recognition.
• A mention on your payment methods page and in your FAQ.

If you want to nudge people away from cash on delivery, keep the COD fee and say so: "Pay with IRIS and skip the cash-on-delivery fee".

Steps to switch it on

1. Ask your current payment provider whether they offer IRIS and at what price.
2. If not, compare two or three providers that do, together with their card terms.
3. Check how refunds work.
4. Install and configure it on staging, not straight on the live site.
5. Make test payments on mobile (Android and iPhone) and on desktop via QR, with two or three different banks if you can.
6. Test the unhappy paths: cancelling at the bank, closing the app, timeouts.
7. Update your payments page and terms.
8. Measure after two or three months: share of orders paid with IRIS, which methods it took orders from, failure rate.

Is it worth it?

For most Greek e-shops, yes. Setup effort is small when your provider already supports it, fees are competitive, and it fills the gap between cards and cash on delivery. It is less urgent if you mainly sell abroad, where customers do not have Greek bank accounts.

For the full picture of the payment methods Greek shoppers expect, read our guide to payment methods in Greece.

The bottom line

IRIS is no longer "something new we will look at later". It is a mature option with real benefits in cost and cash flow. If you want help choosing a provider and integrating it properly into checkout, see our payments service or get in touch.