Order fulfillment

Learn what an order fulfillment is and how it works.

A fulfillment in a payment flow is the actual shipment of the ordered physical goods or providing and enabling a service or content for a digital purchase. A prerequisite for a fulfillment is an order that your customer placed and the order was accepted. There are three types of fulfillment.

Immediate Fulfillment

In the one-step approach, the fulfillment is done at the stage of the payment itself.

Some of the examples of immediate fulfillment are:

• services or content which are available immediately after placing the order
• goods which are delivered immediately after placing the order

In the Unzer API, immediate fulfillment is realized through a charge call. Immediate fulfillment is supported by all payment methods.

Delayed Fulfillment

The delayed fulfillment is always a two-step approach.

Some of the examples of delayed fulfillment are:

• services or content which are delivered at a later stage
• goods which are delivered at a later stage.

In the Unzer API delayed fulfillment is realized through an authorize call followed by a charge call.

The following payment methods support delayed fulfillments by following the Two-Step approach:

• Credit Card, Debit Card
• PayPal
• Unzer Invoice
• Unzer Installment

For Unzer Invoice and Unzer Installment, the two-step approach is applicable but there is an additional shipment API call to actually charge the amount.

Partial Fulfillment

The partial fulfillment is always a two-step approach and a sub-case of the delayed fulfillment where the second step can be split in several partial charge calls until the complete order is fulfilled.

The following payment methods support partial fulfillments by following the two-step approach:

• Credit Card, Debit Card
• PayPal
• Unzer Invoice
• Unzer Installment