The Power of Integrating With APIs I Blog

APIs (Application Programming Interface) are used by almost any software company you can think of. In this article, we are going to highlight how you can use an API to your advantage when it comes to payments.

What can you expect from an API from a payment company?

When you integrate a Payments API into your software or platform, you gain control over the process. You can send a request to do a payment, and pull data into your reports. It creates a unified experience directly into a platform.

Having the right payment types for an online business is also essential. Instead of having multiple integrations to access the different card brands or digital wallets, all you need to do is integrate into one. Integrating with the right API provides all the latest payment methods, making them easy to access right in your software.

Processing credit cards come with plenty of rules and regulations to keep consumers safe, known as PCI standards. Depending on how you want to integrate, working with a PCI certified payment processor can help you limit your own PCI scope while still being compliant with regulations.

How can a Payments API add value?

At Worldline, our Payments API is the RESTful interface to our bank neutral payment gateway. A significant value add to integrating with the Payments API is the ability to offer parent level authentication.

Parent level authentication means a business creates one master account that is authenticated and allows all their customers to process under that one master account. Not needing customers to go through the authentication process means a quick and easy set up to start processing payments.

Our Payments API is broken down into payments, profiles, and reports operations.

Payments: The payments section gives you everything needed to accept a payment, return a payment, void a transaction, or take a pre-authorized payment and implement it within your platform.

Profiles: The profile, or vault, section of the API is where we keep our versatile Payment Profiles, which is how you can store consumer card data securely on our server to be used for repeat or recurring transactions. Think of it like a vault - all that information is safely stored, and can only be accessed by the right person. What’s unique to this part of the API is the Shared Payment Profiles. For businesses with multiple locations or franchises, consumer card data can be saved one time and accessed across accounts wherever a consumer decides to shop. Talk about convenience!

Reports: Here is the part of the API where you can display information about how payments are performing. With the reports, your customers can look up transaction details for a specific period within your interface. Maybe you want to highlight declines for a particular day, or want to show your customers their returns. You can make this information easily accessible in your platform through the API.

You also have visibility into credit card settlement and fee timelines, making it easier for your customers to reconcile their accounts and prepare for the future.

Bonus API: While not a piece of our Payment API, Worldline also offers an Onboarding API. This allows businesses to create their own custom onboarding interface, which allows their customers to sign up directly within their software.

Integrating with Worldline

Worldline’s standardized API structure allows for a straightforward integration using our RESTful APIs and SDKs. But the real bonus here is the integration team that works with your developers to ensure a smooth integration to our platform.

Our integration specialists can work with you to create a payment solution that fits your business needs. And while other payment providers can take a long time to integrate, the certification process with Worldline is simple. We can get clients certified and up and running in as little as three days.

If you are curious to learn what integrating into Worldline’s platform looks like, please play around in our sandbox environment!