What Is Mail Order Payment? MOTO Payment and Payment Link Guide
Mail order (MOTO) payments for call centres and B2B sales — how they work, when to use payment links instead, and how to stay PCI DSS compliant without exposing card data.
Mail order payment enables businesses to collect card payments without a physical POS or an online payment form — card details are received by phone or email and entered manually into the payment system. Known as MOTO (Mail Order / Telephone Order), this model is common in call centres, B2B sales and reservation businesses.
What Is MOTO Payment?
In MOTO transactions the cardholder is not physically present at the point of payment. Card details are communicated remotely and entered by an authorised operator. Typical scenarios:
- Call centre order taking and payment
- B2B invoice collection by phone or email
- Hotel and travel reservation deposits
- Healthcare service fee collection
- Contract-based corporate billing
Mail Order vs Payment Link
In traditional mail order, the operator keys card details directly into the system. With a payment link, the business sends the customer a secure URL; the customer enters their own card details on a PCI-certified page — the operator never sees the card data. From a security and PCI DSS perspective, the payment link model is strongly preferred.
PCI DSS Compliance for Mail Order
Storing card data received via phone or email — even digitally — constitutes a PCI DSS violation and carries significant penalties. The safest approaches:
- Payment link: Operator never sees card data — customer enters it on a secure page.
- Tokenisation: Customer enters card once in a secure environment; all subsequent charges use the token.
- PCI DSS Level 1 infrastructure: All card data protected at the highest certification level.
Treps for MOTO and Payment Links
1. Payment Link: Your sales or call centre team generates a customer-specific payment link from the Treps dashboard in seconds. It's sent by SMS or email. The customer clicks, enters card details on Treps's PCI Level 1 secure page. Card data never reaches the operator.
2. Stored Card for Recurring Collection: The customer completes the first payment securely and tokenises their card. Subsequent periodic charges happen automatically — no need to collect card details again.
Payment Link Use Cases
- Send invoice, collect via payment link
- Recover abandoned call-centre sales with a follow-up link
- Reservation and deposit collection
- Bulk SMS campaigns for serial payment notification
Conclusion
Mail order and MOTO payments become secure and efficient with the right infrastructure. Treps's payment link and secure card storage solutions digitise your call centre and B2B collection processes in full PCI DSS compliance.
Contact us to learn more about MOTO and payment link solutions.