Secure Remote Commerce (Click to Pay)

What Secure Remote Commerce is

Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) is a framework for online card checkout developed through EMVCo. Click to Pay is the name used for the checkout experience and its icon. Participating card networks use the SRC framework to offer a consistent way for customers to select a card across online checkouts.

A customer can create a profile with an email address and save multiple credit, debit or prepaid cards, along with billing and shipping addresses. At checkout, the customer identifies their profile and completes a verification step, such as a one-time code. On a recognized browser with “Remember me” enabled, a repeat customer can skip that step.

SRC handles card selection and credential retrieval. Your acquirer still handles authorization, clearing and settlement, as it does for other card-not-present transactions.

Click to Pay changes how customers select a card, not the underlying card-processing costs.

How Click to Pay works

Your checkout connects to an SRC service that retrieves the selected payment details. The customer reviews the order and confirms payment. The details returned can include a network token, expiration date and cryptogram, where supported. If the transaction is configured for 3-D Secure, authentication takes place as part of the checkout flow.

The customer can choose among eligible saved cards, including cards from participating networks. This is a card checkout method, not a bank-payment rail. Availability depends on the networks activated for your merchant profile and the payment setup your provider supports.

The checkout experience differs by integration. For example, some hosted checkout implementations collect a billing address but do not support selecting a shipping address. Confirm the address fields work for your order flow before turning SRC on.

What it means for your costs

The research does not specify a standard SRC fee, a network price, or a statement line for Click to Pay. Your card transaction still incurs the normal interchange, network fees and processor markup. Do not assume a Click to Pay button lowers your processing rate or creates a separate charge; compare your actual statement and contract for any SRC-related service or integration fee.

Network tokens can improve authorization approval rates, and a smoother checkout can reduce abandonment. Neither result is guaranteed, and no fixed savings figure is available. Track completed orders and approval rates before and after launch, alongside your card costs, to see whether it helps your business.

SRC is designed for customers choosing a card for a checkout. Some implementations do not support storing payment details for later merchant-initiated recurring or installment payments. Confirm that your specific integration supports your billing model before presenting Click to Pay for those orders.

Where it fits in your checkout

Click to Pay is relevant when you take payments on a website or in an app. It gives returning customers a way to select stored card details instead of typing them into every checkout. It does not change how your processor prices other transactions, and it does not appear as a universal, separately identifiable fee on your merchant statement.

For a small business, the practical test is whether customers use it and complete more purchases without adding a fee that outweighs the benefit. Review the checkout experience on mobile and desktop, then compare order completion and payment approvals against your existing card checkout.

What you can actually change

1. 01
   Confirm availability. Ask your payment provider whether SRC is enabled for your merchant profile and which card networks it supports. Confirm that your website or app can display the option for the transactions you accept.
2. 02
   Check your billing model. Before launch, confirm your integration supports any recurring or installment payments you plan to offer. Some SRC implementations do not support using the selected details for later merchant-initiated payments.
3. 03
   Measure the results. Compare checkout completion and authorization approval rates before and after launch. Review your agreement and statement for any SRC-related service or integration charge, since the framework itself has no published standard fee in the research.

Frequently asked questions