Getting paid with ATH Móvil: what to put on your website and what to ask your bank
Customers keep asking if you take ATH Móvil. Here's how to set up ATH Móvil Business, what to write on your website so they know how to pay, and how to confirm a payment before you hand over the order.
A food truck in Arecibo, Friday at lunchtime. The line is long, and the third customer in a row asks the same thing: "Do you take ATH Móvil?" (ATH Móvil is Puerto Rico's phone payment app, tied to your bank's ATH debit card.) The owner says yes, gives their personal number, the customer shows a screenshot, and the owner hands over the food without checking, because the line won't wait.
That works until the day a payment doesn't show up. Here's how to set up ATH Móvil for your business properly, what to put on your website so people know how to pay before they get to you, and how to confirm each payment without slowing down the line.
What you need, in short
ATH Móvil has a separate version for businesses, ATH Móvil Business. You sign up with your business information and an ATH debit card from a participating bank or financial institution, and you choose your pATH: your business's name inside ATH Móvil, which always starts with "/". Customers pay you from their regular ATH Móvil, under "Pay a business." On your website, you write that pATH as text next to your prices, and you check every payment in your own app before you hand over the order.
Step 1: ask your bank, then sign up for ATH Móvil Business
Before you download anything, call your bank or cooperative and ask two things: whether it participates in ATH Móvil Business, and whether the debit card on your business account works for it. ATH Móvil Business only takes an ATH debit card from a participating institution, and without a card your business doesn't show up in the list customers pay from.
When you sign up in the ATH Business app, have this ready:
- An email address you check, because they send a code to it.
- Your business information: type of business, name, structure, merchant registration number (your Registro de Comerciantes number) and mailing address.
- The pATH you want, between 3 and 25 letters or numbers. Use the name people already know you by, like /CafeLaEsquina.
- Your ATH debit card.
According to ATH Móvil Business, the account is verified in 5 business days or less. Do it on a slow week, not the day before a fair.
One detail that changes things ATH Móvil Business doesn't take payments to a phone number, only to your pATH. That's good news: your business payments stop mixing with the money your cousin sends you.
Step 2: tell people how to pay you, on your website
A lot of the questions you get by message ("do you take ATH Móvil?", "where do I send it?") can be answered before anyone writes. Put a short "How to pay" line next to your menu, services or prices:
"We take ATH Móvil: in the app, go to Pay a business and look for /CafeLaEsquina. Cash too."
Three things make it work:
- Write the pATH as text. Whoever is reading your website is usually on the same phone they pay with, so they can't scan a QR code shown on their own screen. They can type /CafeLaEsquina.
- Put the QR code where people are in person. ATH Móvil Business gives you your business's QR code. It goes on the counter, the food truck window or by the register, where the customer points their phone at it.
- Say it in both languages. If tourists or people from the States buy from you, add a line in English. ATH Móvil is local, so many of them won't have it; tell them what else you take.
If you take orders by WhatsApp, save the same text as a quick reply in WhatsApp Business, so you send it with a couple of taps instead of typing it every time. WhatsApp explains how in its help page on quick replies. If you still don't have a WhatsApp button on your website, here's how to add one step by step.
Step 3: confirm the payment in your app, not in the screenshot
This is the habit that saves you money. A screenshot can be from another day, from another business or simply edited. Your app shows only what actually came in.
ATH Móvil Business shows payments as they arrive on the app's main screen, and you can turn on an email for each payment in Settings. Each payment also has a short transaction number, 4 digits, that starts over every day.
The routine for a busy counter:
- The customer pays and tells you their name or what they ordered.
- You glance at your app: a new payment, for the right amount, just now.
- Only then do you hand over the order.
If you take orders by WhatsApp to pick up later, ask them to pay and send you their name, and confirm in your app before you start cooking. If someone at the register helps you, give them their own way to see payments or agree that you always say "it came in" before the bag goes out.
When a payment comes in wrong
ATH Móvil Business lets you refund any payment, for the full amount or less, from the activity section: you pick the payment, tap refund and choose the amount. There's only one refund per payment, so check the amount before you send it.
Watch out for one pattern. Someone pays more than they owe and asks you to send the difference back by a different payment, or to someone else. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guide on scams against small businesses describes the same trick with checks: they overpay, ask for the extra back, and the original payment turns out to be fake. If you need to give money back, do it with the refund on that same payment in your app, never with a new payment.
And a payment button on the website?
It exists. ATH Móvil Business has a payment button for websites and apps, so a customer can pay when they order online. It's not something you paste in: to connect it you need an active account, your registered card and some access keys that ATH Móvil Business gives you, and someone has to put it on your website and test it.
Before you ask for it, think about whether you need it. If most of your orders come by WhatsApp or at the counter, the "How to pay" line and the QR code at the register cover you. The button makes sense when you get a lot of orders to pick up and you want them paid before you start.
Also check the charges. ATH Móvil is free for the customer, and the business pays a fee for each payment it receives. Look up the current fee and the daily limits in the ATH Business app or with your bank, especially if you sell catering or big orders.
If you'd rather have someone set it up
All of this you can do yourself this week: the call to the bank, signing up and the "How to pay" line. If you'd rather have someone put together your website with the menu, prices, how to pay and the WhatsApp button, or see whether a payment button is worth it for you (that's a Custom plan, quoted on the call), look at the plans and prices or book a free 30-minute call, in English or Spanish.
Questions
Can I get business payments in my personal ATH Móvil?
People do it, but ATH Móvil Business exists for that. It gives you a pATH for your business, a payment history, reports and refunds, and it keeps business money apart from personal money.
What do I need to sign up?
An ATH debit card from a participating bank or financial institution, an email address, your business information (including your merchant registration number) and the pATH you want. Ask your bank first whether it participates.
Can I put ATH Móvil on my website?
Yes, in two ways. The first is writing your pATH as text next to your prices. The other is the ATH Móvil Business payment button, which needs a technical setup with your account's keys.
Does it cost anything to receive payments?
The app is free, and paying is free for the customer. The business pays a fee for each payment received; check the current fee with ATH Móvil Business or your bank before you start.