Payment methods
The terminals, hosted forms, and tokens you charge against.
The API uses "Payment Methods" as the foundation for processing transactions. Each payment method has a unique paymentMethodId that represents a specific way to accept payments:
- Physical Terminals (
pmt_trm_) - For Card Present, in-person transactions - Virtual Terminals (
pmt_vrt_) - For Card Not Present, online card transactions - Virtual ACH Terminals (
pmt_ach_) - For online ACH bank transfers (US only) - Tokens (
pmt_tkn_) - A payment method a customer has already provided, stored securely for card-on-file, recurring, or future transactions
A token is not only a card. Any payment method a customer provides can be stored as a token: a card presented on a terminal, a card entered online, or an ACH bank account. A token created from an ACH account is charged with the same token endpoints as a card token, within the limits of ACH. Read the type field to tell payment methods apart rather than parsing the ID prefix.
Listing your payment methods
When you call the GET /payment-methods endpoint, the API returns a list of all payment methods available to your account. This includes physical terminals and virtual card or bank-transfer payment methods. It does not include tokens; use GET /payment-methods/account-holder/{accountHolderId} to list an account holder's tokens.
Each payment method includes details such as its ID, type (Physical, Virtual, VirtualAch, or Token), currency, and description when available. The response does not expose a default flag. This information helps you determine which payment method to use for different transaction scenarios.
A payment method carries its own currency. The transaction inherits it, which is why you do not pass a currency on the transaction request itself. To take both USD and CAD, you need a payment method for each.
Endpoints
| Operation | Endpoint |
|---|---|
| List all payment methods | GET /payment-methods |
| List an account holder's payment methods | GET /payment-methods/account-holder/{accountHolderId} |
| Create a token from a terminal | POST /payment-methods/physical |
| Create a token online | POST /payment-methods/virtual |
| Remove a token | DELETE /payment-methods/token/{id} |
Scope
An API key grants access only to the payment methods owned by its merchant. A paymentMethodId belonging to a different merchant returns the same not-found response as one that does not exist. See Authentication.