Christmas Cashback: How It Works and What’s Happening
Via the cashback: the state reimburses those who pay with apps, cards and ATMs. On December 8 the prize starts (at least 10 operations). How it works and how Hype, Nexi and and Satispay move
From today you can activate the cards on the Io app to participate in the Cashback plan announced by the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. In fact, the extra Christmas Cashback starts from 8 December.
With at least 10 purchases made between 8 and 31 December, with credit, debit, ATM and Satispay cards, the Christmas Cashback extra allows you to have 10% reimbursement per person, up to a maximum of 150 euros which they will be credited in the first months of 2021. This is the first measure of the Italy cashless plan .
But there are the first setbacks. On the morning of 7 December, the system stops when you indicate the electronic payment systems with which you intend to participate in the program. PagoPa, which manages the infrastructure, has already apologized for the inefficiencies and guarantees to be working to solve all the problems.
Here's everything you need to know about the Cashback plan, Christmas Cashback extras and Supercashback (no, they're not the same thing).
HOW THE CASHBACK PLAN WORKS
First of all, the Cashback plan in the reimbursement of 10% of the cost for those who use cards and apps in supermarkets, shops but also with craftsmen and professionals (plumber, electrician, mechanic, hairdresser, beautician, architect, lawyer, dentist …).
You can get up to € 300 per year, or up to € 150 per semester with at least 50 payments.
There is no minimum amount of expenditure but the maximum reimbursement for a single transaction is 15 euros.
The program is divided into four periods, each independent from the others. The first experimental period is precisely the "Christmas Extra Cashback", which starts on 8 December 2020 and ends on 31 December 2020. The three subsequent periods last six months: 1st Semester from 1/1/2021 to 30/6 / 2021; 2nd Semester from 1/7/2021 to 31/12/2021 and 3rd Semester from 1/1/2022 to 30/6/2022.
THE REQUIREMENTS
To access the plan, you must be over 18 years old and reside in Italy. A refund can be obtained for purchases made privately (i.e. not for professional use) on the national territory with cards and payment apps in shops, bars, restaurants, supermarkets and large-scale distribution or for artisans and professionals.
THE NEED TO DOWNLOAD THE APP IO
To participate in the Cashback plan, the necessary condition is the possession of a Spid or electronic identity card (Cie). The Spid can be requested free of charge from one of the providers on the spid.gov.it website, while it is possible to request the release of the CIE at the Municipality of residence. Then you need to download the Io app, register with the Spid or the electronic card and after starting the Cashback, enable the cards you use for payments.
As already written by Start , “the biggest obstacle, especially in a demographically very old nation, seems to be the need to download the App IO and acquire Spid or Cie ( explained in detail here ). "It seems very complicated, but you will see that it is very simple", the Prime Minister cut short ".
ATTENTION: ONLINE PURCHASES ARE NOT VALID
Therefore, payments via cards or apps to get Cashback, but be careful: online purchases do not compete. As stated on the Cashless Italia website, the following do not even contribute to the Cashback plan: purchases necessary for carrying out entrepreneurial, professional or artisanal activities; operations performed at ATMs (eg telephone top-ups); SDD transfers for direct debits on current accounts and transactions relating to recurring payments, with debit on card or on current account.
THE MINIMUM OF TRANSITION NECESSARY
And it should not be forgotten that the accumulated cashback will be obtained only if the minimum number of valid transactions has been reached at the end of the period. That is the minimum of 10 transitions in the experimental period, called “Christmas Extra Cashback” and the minimum of 50 transitions for each of the following three semesters.
MAKE SURE THE SHOPTERS PARTICIPATE IN THE INITIATIVE
Furthermore, as La Stampa points out, “when starting the Cashback program, some merchants may not immediately have a card and payment app acceptance device that allows them to participate in the initiative. For this reason, before making a payment at a point of sale, it is better to check with the merchant if he is "enabled" for the initiative ".
HOW REFUNDS ARE GIVEN
Refunds from the Cashback Program will be made with a transfer to the Iban indicated during registration or at a later time. To receive the Christmas Extra Cashback it is necessary to communicate the Iban by the end of December 2020.
WHAT IS EXTRA CHRISTMAS CASHBACK
The first experimental period of the Cashback Plan begins tomorrow 8 December, or the "Christmas Extra Cashback" which will end on 31 December 2020.
Like the other periods of the Cashback program. the Extra Cashback of Christmas will allow the reimbursement of 10% up to 150 euros in less than a month. It will be enough to make a minimum of 10 purchases with cards and apps.
As the Cashless Italia website explains, “You can do everything on the 'IO' App, authenticating with an electronic identity card or Spid. Alternatively, check if you can register through your bank, post office or other entities that issue cards or apps ".
THERE IS ALSO THE SUPERCASHBACK
So, in summary we have a Cashback plan, of which the first experimental period is the Christmas Extra Cashback starting tomorrow but there is also the Supercashback.
In addition to the Cashback, starting from 1 January 2021 the first 100 thousand participants who, in the single semester of reference, have totaled the highest number of transactions with cards and payment apps registered for the purposes of the Program, will receive a Super Cashback of € 1500.
Again, there is no minimum expense amount.
WHAT NEXI, SATISPAY AND HYPE DO
As we said, necessary conditions to own Spid or Cie and download the Io App to access the Cashback program. But there are already some exceptions.
Nexi, through its Nexi Pay apps and YAP, the prepaid virtual card, allows you to join the initiative without the need to register with a digital identity on the app (as said in the press conference by the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte).
As Nexi wrote in a note “From tomorrow, in fact, it will be possible to subscribe to the program through the Nexi, Yap and Nexi Pay apps, without the need for further registration. Furthermore, with Yap, up to 200 euros of additional benefits are provided compared to those guaranteed by the Government, while with Nexi Pay, purchases made via Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay will be considered valid for Cashback purposes immediately " .
Even Satispay, the mobile payment system independent from traditional circuits, makes it possible for its users to activate Cashback through their own app, without the need to use Spid or App IO. The new feature, which can be activated in a few taps directly from the Services section of the app, will be released in conjunction with the start of the plan and will allow users of the Satispay community to participate in the Government initiative that opens on 8 December with the Extra Cashback for Christmas.
Finally, Hype too – Banca Sella's digital solution, Ansa underlines – is among the tools that, starting from the next few days, will allow access to refunds by connecting your card directly from the app without having to download any other application or request the Spid and the accumulated amount will be credited directly to the Hype iban, controlled by Fabrick of the Sella group and by Illimity.
THE FIRST INTOPPI
There are already "about 1 million" users "who have loaded at least one payment method and are ready to activate Cashback via the Io app". It is one of the data provided by PagoPa less than 24 hours after the start of the state reimbursement program on purchases with electronic payments starting tomorrow, 8 December.
In fact, the new service was released overnight, with some hitches in the registration phase of the cards. However, there are "324 thousand" new additions but "temporary slowdowns and inefficiencies" are possible, explained the company, apologizing in advance. Asking citizens for "understanding and patience" for "one of the most complex and challenging projects that has been carried out so far in Italy and in Europe".
THE CODACONS READY TO ASK FOR THE BLOCK OF THE ENTIRE FLOOR
But Codacons is already on a war footing, reporting that since this morning it has been monitoring the functioning of the App by collecting user reports.
"At the moment there are slowdowns and malfunctions of the Io App, with the impossibility of accessing the" Wallet "section and registering one's cards to be used for payments for cashback purposes – explains Codacons – By accessing this section the app first asks to wait for the page to load and then warns, after several minutes of waiting, that at the moment it is not possible to load the payment methods, inviting you to try again at another time ".
"We are shocked by these technical problems that arise on the eve of the departure of the Christmas extra cashback, that is when the service should work perfectly – says the president Carlo Rienzi – We will continue to monitor the situation and, if the inefficiencies and delays continue, we are ready to ask for the entire cashback plan to be blocked until full equal access to citizens is guaranteed ”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/cashback-di-natale-come-funziona-e-che-cosa-sta-succedendo/ on Mon, 07 Dec 2020 14:25:32 +0000.