API calls and Payment Flows

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In-Store API

Give your shoppers the option to pay with Zip in-store with our point-of-sale API.

When completing a payment using the Zip in-store API, there is common customer experience, requiring the customer to generate a barcode (or 6-digit pin) on their mobile device and present this to staff. While this experience remains the same across the various integration types, there are a number underlying options available that can be leveraged to benefit your specific business requirements.

The Zip API supports either the 'Immediate Capture' or 'Authorise and Capture' flow when completing transactions. Your choice here will determine:

  • The API calls that need to be made to Zip to complete a transaction
  • When you will receive the funds from Zip
  • When your customers will need to begin repayment on their purchase

Immediate Capture

There are a number of benefits to using the immediate capture flow, which is the most common integration type with Zip. Using this flow:

  • The funds for the transaction will be disbursed to you the following business day
  • Your customer will be able to begin repayments on their purchase from that date

The distinguishing detail to trigger immediate capture is to include the flag 'capture: true' in your /purchaserequests API request.


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Authorise and Capture

There are certain business types or payment flows that can benefit from the delayed payment capture offered by the auth and capture flow. Using this flow:

  • An additional API call to the /capture endpoint is required to finalise a transaction
  • The first API call to authorise the transaction amount and the second to capture the funds (it is possible to manually capture via the Zip Dashboard instead)
  • Customer funds are guaranteed once authorised and locked from being spent elsewhere
  • The funds for the transaction will NOT be disbursed until the second API call (the 'Capture' request) is made to Zip. Once this is made, you will receive the funds the following business day
  • Your customer is not required to begin repayments on their purchase until the second API call (the 'Capture' request) is made to Zip

The distinguishing detail to trigger delayed capture is to include the flag 'capture: false' in your /purchaserequests API request.


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Why use Auth and Capture?

  • Fast moving or limited stock: If stock of an item can quickly become unavailable while a customer completes payment or needs to be sourced from a supplier
  • Service or experience purchases: If a customer has purchased a service or experience that is not scheduled for an extended period of time (greater than 14 days)


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Begin transacting

Having chosen your payment flow, we can now begin making the API calls outlined above, starting with creating a purchase request.