Payments

Accepting payments from customers is a crucial part of running an online business. However, it can be a complex process with many moving parts, from handling refunds and chargebacks to processing payouts and reconciling transactions.

This guide is designed to help you navigate the world of payments and provide practical guidance on how to integrate payment processing into your website or application.

Structure of this guide

This guide is organized into several sections, each covering a different aspect of the payment process:

• Customer-initiated payments: Customer-initiated transactions are payments initiated by the customer, either online, in-person, or through other means, where the customer is present and actively participating.
• Merchant-initiated payments: Merchant-initiated transactions are initiated by the merchant, rather than the customer, and are typically used for subscription-based businesses, installment payments, split payments, and penalty payments, providing benefits such as increased customer retention, reduced operational costs, and improved cash flow.
• Saving payment information: Explore how to securely store customer payment information for future transactions.
• Place a hold on a payment: Understand how to temporarily hold a payment and why it might be necessary.
• Handling refunds: Understand the process of handling refunds and how to manage chargebacks.
• Payouts: The payouts article explains how merchants can transfer funds to customers using payout transactions for scenarios such as refunds, commission payments, and disbursements.
• After the payment: Discover the next steps after a payment has been processed, including settling payments and reconciliation.

Each section contains articles that dive deeper into specific topics, providing practical examples and code snippets to help you integrate payments into your application or website.