Sofort

What Sofort Was

Sofort was an online bank-transfer method rather than a card method. Instead of handing card details to a merchant, the payer was redirected to their own online banking login and authorised a transfer there. Stripe's documentation records that Sofort was available in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain before it was withdrawn.

Consolidation Into Klarna

Klarna acquired Sofort in 2014 and integrated it into Klarna's own pay-in-full option, previously called Pay Now, which lets a buyer pay immediately from a linked card or bank account. For a period a merchant could offer Sofort and Klarna side by side as two separate choices at checkout. Klarna announced the consolidation in its own words in July 2024, saying the Sofortüberweisung function would from then on be available as part of the Klarna Pay Now product range, and that it had already launched the bank-to-bank service in other Klarna markets including the United Kingdom.

Discontinuation on 31 March 2025

Sofort was discontinued as a standalone payment method on 31 March 2025. From that date businesses could no longer accept Sofort payments, and the deadline was not one acquirer's decision: Stripe states that it could grant no extensions because the deadline was external and not set by Stripe. Stripe also warns merchants who take no action that a buyer choosing Sofort will receive an error rather than a payment page.

Where Sofort Stands Now

The Sofort brand's own domain, sofort.com, no longer serves a Sofort product page at all. It now returns Klarna's consumer site, which markets Klarna's own payment options and makes no offer of a Sofort bank transfer. Readers who see Sofort listed as a standalone option at a casino cashier should expect the option either to be absent or to fail.

The Name Still Appears in Germany

One qualification matters, because it is what a German reader will see. Klarna states that consumers in Germany will continue to see the name Sofortüberweisung in their payment process. That name now labels a step inside Klarna's own checkout, reached through a Klarna account, and not the standalone Sofort method that was withdrawn. Encountering the word at a checkout is therefore not evidence that the old rail is still running.

Fees and Timings

No consumer fee and no settlement time are given here. Sofort's own site no longer publishes either, and a figure for a method that has been withdrawn would not be checkable.