eStore online payment system

You can register for an online account which will allow you to view personalised account information, payment history and messages. To do this:

• Go to the eStore online payment system.
• Select My account followed by Register
• Enter your registration details, including a password and a secret question and answer
• Enter your address and contact details
• Answer the Registration Check questions (these are to test that you are not a robot, to prevent spam submissions)
• Registration will then be confirmed and you will be sent an email containing a link which you need to click on to activate your account

Once your account is activated return to the eStore website and log in, you can then select the service you need and make a payment.

If you do not want to register, you can still pay for individual transactions as follows:

• Go to the eStore online payment system.
• Select the service you want to make a payment against
• Key in your reference number and amount to be paid
• Select the Add to Basket button
• Complete your personal details and card details. If you need a receipt, make sure you enter your email address
• Complete the transaction

Your payment history is only available if you have registered for an online account and you have signed in to the eStore website. For a payment to be recorded in your history you must signed in to the eStore before you make the payment. Without signing in each time your history will not be recorded.

Our online payment system (eStore) is hosted by our payment partner Civica UK Limited. When you click on a link to make a payment you will be redirected to the eStore on our Civica hosted online payment system.

eStore is normally available 24 hours per day 365 days per year but there will be certain times when the system is unavailable due to planned maintenance. If the system is unavailable for any planned maintenance we will add a notice to the Council website to inform customers about this unavailability and also advise when normal service will resume.

Unfortunately during these periods of maintenance we are unable to take any payments online until the maintenance period has concluded.

If you are having problems with your account or do not wish to register, you can still pay for individual transactions as follows:

• Go to the eStore online payment system.
• Select the service
• Key in your reference number and amount to be paid
• Select the Add to Basket button
• Complete your personal details and card details. If you need a receipt, make sure you enter your email address
• Complete the transaction

On our eStore website your username is always the email address that you used to register for your account.

Your email address (username) is unique to your account and cannot be changed. If you no longer have access to the email address or you want to use a different email address for the eStore website you will need to register a new account using your new email address.

If you cannot remember your password you can reset it using the Forgot password service.

Go to the eStore online payment system and select the Forgotten password button on the eStore homepage. Complete the Forgotten password form, making sure you include the answer to the secret question you created during the registration process.

A Forgotten Password Request email will then be sent to you. Follow the link in the email to reset your password and to log in to the eStore website.

When choosing a new password please note that it must have a minimum of 7 characters and can't be one of your previous four passwords.

The password requirements are:

• minimum length of 7 characters
• alpha and numeric characters
• upper and lower case.

A secret question and answer are needed as part of the registration process for security purposes.

Because of strict financial rules, if you have forgotten your password and secret answer you won't be able to get access to your account. You will need to re-register using a different email address. Or you can pay for individual transactions without registering.

Please make sure you are not accidently pressing the backspace key on your keyboard.

Also, for financial security reasons, if your WiFi/internet connection drops, your transaction will end and you will be taken back to the online store (eStore) home page. Please try again when you're sure you have a secure internet connection.

Devices sometimes store all web addresses visited. This is called a cache. You should also try clearing out your browser cache, as it may still be storing the last page visited. This is usually done by pressing the CTRL + F5 keys at the same time on a PC or laptop or by selecting settings and deleting the browser history (including cache) on mobile devices. This will clear out your previously visited pages and may then allow you to go to the webpage you want.

Once you have registered for eStore you will receive an email containing an 'Activation' link which you need to click on to activate your account. The activation link is only available for a limited time so if find that clicking on the link results with an error message being displayed, saying “Activation Expired”, you will need to start the registration process again from the beginning.

Unfortunately this payment has failed your bank's security verification through our online system. We have an extra level of security for Visa and Mastercard payments, which protects you from unauthorised use of your debit or credit card.

After you enter your card details in our online store, you will be asked to provide your personal security code, (often 3 or 4 characters from a memorable word or password set-up with the bank), this would have been sent through to your bank to be authenticated and the payment authorised.

If you have not registered with Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode your payment may not be accepted. This failure can also occur if the password has been entered incorrectly.

We encourage customers who pay online and have encountered this problem to contact their bank for further details and to set-up a password.

The online payments portal encrypts data to ensure that the information you send over the internet is as secure as possible*.

Your browser should display a padlock icon to confirm that the page is secure. If you don't see a padlock icon, or if you see a message saying that the site may be insecure do not proceed with your payment. Check that you have used the correct web address and that you are using the most up-to-date version of your web browser.

*We recommend that, where possible, you only use trusted wi-fi (home) or data connection as these guarantee an extra level of security when sending information over the web.

To make a payment for a Council Invoice you will need your credit/debit card number and your Invoice & Account Numbers which can be found at the top right hand side of your invoice.

On the payment screen the 'Reference' you need to enter is your 7 digit Invoice Number followed by your 6 digit Account Number with no spaces in between (for example '4123456212345'). The 'Amount (£)' should be entered in pounds and pence (for example enter £10 as '10.00') - as illustrated below.

If your Council Invoice account number or invoice number starts with a letter rather than a number (for example 'BB AA 123456' or 'REI 12345'), then unfortunately you will not be able to pay these online. Please call the Invoicing & Collection Team on 01952 383986, Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.15pm, who will be able to take your payment for these type of invoices.

You can use the following cards when using our payments system; Visa, MasterCard, Visa Electron, Visa Delta, Solo, Switch and JCB.