Acceptance of cashless payment instruments in the Republic of Serbia

Payment using cashless payment instruments, such as payment cards or instant payments, is a process familiar to all users of these payment instruments in Serbia. When making a payment, all the customer needs to do is to tap, insert, or swipe the card through a POS terminal, or display or scan an IPS QR code, and the transaction will be executed. On the other hand, the service of accepting these and similar payment instruments is not widely known to the public, at least not to the same extent as the statistical data related to cashless payments. Understanding the processes that occur in the background and the participants involved is of great importance for setting more efficient hypotheses and making better decisions regarding enabling the acceptance of cashless payment instruments. The explanation of the basic elements related to the acceptance of payment instruments in this paper aims to provide additional information based on which the wider and professional public can better understand the process of accepting cashless instruments, their possibilities, and characteristics. The information provided can help merchants and other market players in making adequate and optimal business decisions when it comes to the method of accepting and using cashless payments. The paper describes the infrastructure that a merchant can use when accepting cashless payments, the payment instruments most commonly used by consumers in Serbia, specific business models, the roles of payment service providers in the overall acceptance process, as well as the transaction flow initiated by different payment instruments. This way, all interested market participants, especially merchants, can take a broader view of the cashless payment acceptance system and independently draw comprehensive conclusions about the costs, type of instrument, and acceptance model they are considering.