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Operational Guide

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Written by Operator
Updated over 2 weeks ago

This document explains how payments actually work in Mexico, what to prioritize in checkout design, and how to operate settlements, refunds, and risk without surprises.


1. The Reality of Payments in Mexico (Context First)

Mexico is not card-only and not instant-refund-friendly.

A strong Mexican checkout is built around:

  • Bank transfers (SPEI) as a primary rail

  • Cash-based methods for unbanked or privacy-driven users

  • Cards with intelligent 3DS orchestration

If cards are your conversion engine, SPEI is your volume engine.


2. The Bread & Butter of a Mexico Checkout

What Really Converts in Mexico

1️⃣ SPEI (Bank Transfers)
This is the most important rail for:

  • High-value deposits

  • VIPs

  • Gambling / Forex users

  • Repeat players

2️⃣ Cards (Credit & Debit)

  • Strong for first-time users (FTDs)

  • Needs smart 3DS, not blanket enforcement

3️⃣ OXXO / Cash

  • Critical for:

    • Unbanked users

    • Users without cards

    • Privacy-first players

  • Slower, but very sticky

4️⃣ Mercado Pago

  • Familiar brand

  • Trust-driven conversions

  • Separate ecosystem


Ideal Checkout Priority (Recommended)

  1. SPEI (Frictionless first)

  2. Cards

  3. OXXO Pay

  4. Cash Vouchers

  5. Mercado Pago

This order maximizes:

  • Conversion

  • Ticket size

  • Operational simplicity


3. Card Payments – Detailed Flow

Card Deposit Flow (End to End)

1. User enters amount & card details
2. Pre-checks

  • BIN analysis

  • Velocity checks

  • Device & behavioral signals

  • Guardian pre-risk evaluation

3. 3DS Decisioning

  • Low-risk → frictionless

  • Medium-risk → 3DS challenge

  • High-risk → decline or step-up

4. Issuer Authorization

  • Approved → success

  • Declined → declined status

  • Timeout / error → failed

5. User Credited

  • Immediate on success


Operational Characteristics

  • Min: $10 MXN

  • Max: Bank-dependent

    • Recommended cap (Gambling / Forex): $200,000 MXN

  • Confirmation: Real-time


Refund Flow (Cards)

1. Merchant triggers refund (full or partial)
2. Refund sent to issuer
3. Issuer credits user (1–45 business days)

⚠️ Important:

  • Refund timing is out of your control

  • Chargebacks still apply


Card Risk & Compliance

  • PCI-DSS compliant

  • 3DS 2.0 (rules + whitelists)

  • Velocity & behavior-based monitoring

  • Guardian AI pre-check

  • PayOps monitoring & manual intervention


4. SPEI – Standard vs Frictionless (Critical Section)

What SPEI Is

SPEI is Mexico’s real-time interbank transfer system.
Funds move bank-to-bank, not card-to-bank.

Once credited, money is final.


4.1 Standard SPEI Flow (Legacy)

1. User creates checkout

  • Amount generated

  • Reference assigned

2. User transfers via bank app

  • Must match:

    • Amount

    • Reference

    • Timing

3. SPEI confirmation received

  • If perfect → auto-credit

  • If mismatch → manual review

❌ This creates:

  • Tickets

  • Delays

  • Ops workload


4.2 Frictionless SPEI Flow (Modern / Recommended)

What Changes

No voucher. No checkout dependency.

Each user receives a unique CLABE.


Frictionless SPEI Flow

1. User sees their personal CLABE
2. User transfers from any bank

  • Any amount

  • Any timing

3. System receives SPEI payment
4. Smart matching engine evaluates

  • Sender account

  • Amount patterns

  • Historical behavior

  • Device & user linkage

5. Auto-credit decision

  • High confidence → credited instantly

  • Edge case → flagged for Ops

6. User balance updated


Why This Is a Game-Changer

✅ Massive reduction in support tickets
✅ Higher conversion (especially VIPs)
✅ No “sent wrong amount” issues
✅ Near-zero reconciliation pain

This is the bread & butter rail for serious Mexico volume.


SPEI Operational Characteristics

  • Min: $1 MXN

  • Max: No hard cap

    • Recommended cap (Gambling / Forex): $200,000 MXN

  • Speed: Seconds to minutes

  • Finality: Irreversible once credited


SPEI Refund Reality (Important)

❌ No automatic refunds
❌ No reversals

Refunds require:

  1. Manual Ops approval

  2. Outbound bank transfer

  3. Settlement balance availability

👉 Operators must align refund policies accordingly.


5. OXXO Pay – Flow & Behavior

OXXO Pay Flow

1. User selects OXXO Pay
2. Voucher generated

  • Reference code

  • Expiration time

3. User pays in cash at OXXO store
4. Retailer confirms payment
5. User credited

⏱ Confirmation delay:

  • Minutes to hours

  • Sometimes same-day, sometimes next-day


OXXO Characteristics

  • Min: $10 MXN

  • Max: $10,000 MXN

  • Refunds: ❌ Not supported

Refunds handled as:

  • Manual reimbursements

  • Internal balance credits


Risk Profile

  • Very low fraud

  • No chargebacks

  • Delayed confirmation must be managed in UX


6. Cash Vouchers (Retail Cash)

Cash Voucher Flow

1. Voucher generated
2. User pays at participating retailer
3. Retailer confirms
4. User credited


Characteristics

  • Limits: ~$5,000 – $20,000 MXN (chain-dependent)

  • Refunds: ❌ Not supported

  • Risk: Extremely low


7. Mercado Pago – Separate Ecosystem

Flow

1. User redirected to Mercado Pago
2. Payment authorized inside MP
3. Confirmation returned
4. User credited


Key Difference

⚠️ Funds do NOT settle through Tonder

  • Merchant receives funds directly

  • Tonder:

    • Processes

    • Reports

    • Reconciles

Refunds are fully handled by Mercado Pago.


8. Settlement Flows (All Methods)

Default Settlement Model

  • Bi-weekly

    • Tuesday

    • Friday


Settlement Flow

1. Transactions processed
2. Only successful & cleared included
3. Deductions applied

  • Fees

  • IVA

  • Rolling reserves (if applicable)

4. Net payout executed


Optional Models

  • T+1 (Speed) – Faster liquidity

  • T+2 (Flow) – Better cash & risk balance


9. What Operators Must Be Operationally Ready For

Ops Team

  • SPEI manual refunds

  • Delayed OXXO confirmations

  • Edge-case SPEI reviews (rare with frictionless)

Finance Team

  • Reserve tracking

  • Settlement reconciliation

  • Mercado Pago off-platform settlements

Risk Team

  • 3DS tuning (not blanket enforcement)

  • SPEI velocity thresholds

  • Bonus abuse & behavior monitoring


10. Final Operator Takeaway

If you remember only three things:

1️⃣ SPEI and cards are the backbone of Mexico payments
2️⃣ Frictionless SPEI is the biggest operational unlock
3️⃣ Refund logic must adapt per method — not all money is reversible

When done right, Mexico becomes:

  • High volume

  • Low chargeback

  • Operationally scalable

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