Accept Bancontact with server-side-only integration

Build your own payment form to add Bancontact payment your checkout page.

Overview

Bancontact doesn’t require any input from the customer on the merchant website. The customer must be redirected to Bancontact to provide the required information to process the transaction. After that, the customer is redirected back to the merchants website displaying the result of the payment.

You can see an example of Bancontact on our demo page.

Before you begin

• Check the basic integration requirements.
• Familiarize yourself with the general Server-side-only integration guide.

Step 1: Create a payment type resource

server side

When creating the payment type bancontact, you need to send a request to the Unzer API. The response will contain an id, this is later referred to as typeId. You will need this typeId to perform the transaction.

POST https://api.unzer.com/v1/types/bancontact/

Body: {}

$unzer = new Unzer('s-priv-xxxxxxxxxx');
$bancontact = $unzer->createPaymentType(new Bancontact());

Unzer unzer = new Unzer(new HttpClientBasedRestCommunication(), "s-priv-xxxxxxxxxx");
Bancontact bancontact = new Bancontact();
bancontact = unzer.createPaymentType(bancontact);

The response looks similar to the following example:

{
    "id": "s-bct-yntsk7ejz52s",
    "method": "bancontact",
    "recurring": false,
    "geoLocation": {
        "clientIp": "127.0.0.1",
        "countryIsoA2": "DE"
    }
}

For more details on Bancontact payment type creation, see the API reference guide.

Step 2: Make a payment

server side

Make a charge transaction

Now, make a charge transaction with the Bancontact typeId that you created and the returnUrl leading back to your shop after the payment is finished on the external page. With the charge transaction, an amount is requested but is not yet transferred. Initially, the transaction will be pending, and a payment resource is created.

POST https://api.unzer.com/v1/payments/charges
   
Body:
{
  "amount" : "20",
  "currency": "EUR",
  "returnUrl": "https://www.my-shop-url.de/returnhandler",
  "resources" : {
    "typeId" : "s-bct-jldsmlmiprwe"
  }
}

$unzer = new Unzer('s-priv-xxxxxxxxxx');
$bancontact = $unzer->fetchPaymentType('s-bct-0ajzmaxcuvhc');
$charge = $bancontact->charge(20.0, 'EUR', 'https://www.my-shop-url.de/returnhandler');

Unzer unzer = new Unzer("s-priv-xxxxxxxxxx");
Charge charge = unzer.charge(BigDecimal.ONE, Currency.getInstance("EUR"), "s-bct-0ajzmaxcuvhc", new URL("https://www.my-shop-url.de/returnhandler"));

The response looks similar to the following example:

{
    "id": "s-chg-1",
    "isSuccess": false,
    "isPending": true,
    "isError": false,
    "redirectUrl": "https://payment.unzer.com/v1/redirect/bancontact/s-sGYdGywWpxzW",
    "message": {
        "code": "COR.000.100.112",
        "merchant": "Request successfully processed in 'Merchant in Connector Test Mode'",
        "customer": "Your payments have been successfully processed in sandbox mode."
    },
    "amount": "20.0000",
    "currency": "EUR",
    "returnUrl": "https://www.my-shop-url.de/returnhandler",
    "date": "2021-05-10 00:51:03",
    "resources": {
        "paymentId": "s-pay-131937",
        "traceId": "70ddf3152a798c554d9751a6d77812ae",
        "typeId": "s-bct-jldsmlmiprwe"
    },
    "paymentReference": "",
    "processing": {
        "uniqueId": "31HA07BC8157BD2BC04D483EFA914465",
        "shortId": "4845.3426.1987",
        "traceId": "70ddf3152a798c554d9751a6d77812ae"
    }
}

For a full description of the charge transaction, refer to the relevant server-side integration documentation page: Charge a payment (direct API calls), Charge a payment (PHP SDK), Charge a payment (Java SDK).

Forward the customer to the external payment page

After you charge the Bancontact resource, implement the following flow:

1. Forward the customer to the redirectUrl returned in response to your charge request.
2. The customer is forwarded to the Bancontact payment page.
3. After a successful payment or abort on the Bancontact page, the customer is redirected to the returnURL specified in the initial charge call.

Step 3: Check status of the payment

server side

Once the customer is redirected to the returnUrl, you can fetch the payment details from the API, by using the resources.paymentId from the charge response above to handle the payment according to its status. If the status of the payment is completed, the payment process has been finished successfully and can be considered as paid. Check all possible payment states here.

GET https://api.unzer.com/v1/payments/{payment_ID}

{
    "id": "s-pay-xxxxxx",
    "state": {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "completed"
    },
    "amount": {
        "total": "20.0000",
        "charged": "20.0000",
        "canceled": "0.0000",
        "remaining": "0.0000"
    },
    "currency": "EUR",
    "orderId": "",
    "invoiceId": "",
    "resources": {
        "customerId": "",
        "paymentId": "s-pay-131937",
        "basketId": "",
        "metadataId": "",
        "payPageId": "",
        "traceId": "70ddf3152a798c554d9751a6d77812ae",
        "typeId": "s-bct-xxxxxxxxx"
    },
    "transactions": [
        {
            "date": "2021-05-10 00:51:03",
            "type": "charge",
            "status": "success",
            "url": "https://api.unzer.com/v1/payments/s-pay-xxxxxxx/charges/s-chg-1",
            "amount": "20.0000"
        }
    ]
}

Step 4: Display the payment result

client side

Use the information from the Check status of the payment step to display the payment result to your customer.
This can be the success or error page of your shop. If something went wrong, you can use the client message from the API response and show it to the customer.

Manage payment

server side

For more details on managing Bancontact payments, see Manage Bancontact payments.

Notifications

We recommend subscribing to the payment event to receive notifications about any changes to the payment resource. As soon as the event is triggered you should fetch the payment and update the order status in your shop according to its status.

  {
    "event":"payment.pending",
    "publicKey":"s-pub-xxxxxxxxxx",
    "retrieveUrl":"https://api.unzer.com/v1/payments/s-pay-774",
    "paymentId":"s-pay-774"
  }

For more details on implementing webhooks to receive notifications, see Notifications page.

Error handling

All requests to the API can result in an error that should be handled. Refer to the Error handling guide to learn more about Unzer API (and other) errors and handling them.

Test & go live

You should always test your integration before going live. First perform test transactions using test data. Next, check against Integration checklist and Go-live checklist to make sure the integration is complete and you’re ready to go live.

See also

• Manage API resources:
  • Manage API resources (direct API calls)
  • Manage API resources (PHP SDK)
  • Manage API resources (Java SDK)
• Unzer API basics