What happens if a customer never validates their tax-free purchase?

With Stamp, you can offer your tax-free customers an instant discount equivalent to the VAT amount, right at the point of purchase. It's a real commercial advantage at checkout: the customer sees a lower price on the spot, and that helps you close the sale.
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It doesn't cost you anything, though. That discount is exactly the VAT you were never entitled to keep in the first place, and Stamp makes sure the equivalent amount reaches you regardless of what the customer does afterwards. Your net revenue on the sale stays exactly the same.
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1. Customer gets the discount, you get the sale
You apply the VAT-equivalent discount at checkout and get paid for the sale as normal. In parallel, Stamp pre-authorizes that same VAT amount on the customer's card, a hold, not a charge, so your revenue is protected from the start.
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2. Customer has a validation window
Before leaving the EU, the traveler needs to get customs validation (DIVA in Spain, OTELLO in Italy) confirming the goods are exported.

The customer validates on time
Customs confirms the export and the refund follows Stamp's standard flow. Nothing changes on your side: you were already paid for the sale.

The customer never validates
If the deadline passes with no customs validation, Stamp captures the VAT pre-authorization that was placed on the traveler's card at the time of sale, and transfers that amount to you, the merchant.

In plain terms: non-validation doesn't cost you anything. The customer never received the VAT discount they weren't entitled to keep, and Stamp routes that money to you instead of quietly keeping it or leaving it uncollected.

There's one more scenario worth spelling out: what if Stamp tries to capture the VAT pre-authorization and it fails? A card can be expired, the hold can lapse, or funds can be insufficient.

You always get paid even STAMP can´t capture the VAT. Stamp always transfers the corresponding VAT amount to the merchant regardless of whether it was able to recover it from the customer. If Stamp can't capture the funds from the traveler, Stamp absorbs that loss, not you.

You are always paid

Whether the customer validates, doesn't validate, or the capture attempt fails, the VAT amount reaches you. Your payment never depends on the traveler's behavior or Stamp's collection success.

Stamp holds the exposure
Stamp is the party that can end up uncompensated if a capture fails, not the merchant. That's the core of the guarantee: the collection risk sits with Stamp, not with your business.

This process works identically whether the sale falls under Spain's DIVA system or Italy's OTELLO system. The customs validation step looks different in each country, but the underlying protection for you as a merchant (pre-authorization at sale, capture-and-transfer on non-validation, and Stamp absorbing any collection risk) is the same in both.

Do I need to do anything when a customer doesn't validate?
No. Stamp handles the capture and transfer automatically, so there's no action required from you.

Could I ever end up not receiving the VAT?
No. Stamp guarantees the VAT transfer to you regardless of whether it successfully collects from the customer.

Does this change how much I get paid for the sale itself?
No. Your payment for the underlying sale is separate from the VAT mechanism described here. This article covers only the VAT amount tied to the tax-free discount.