Create a New Merchant Account
POST /accountmanagement/v1/merchants/merchant_id/accounts
Once the merchant is created, you can begin adding merchant accounts to that merchant. To create a credit card or Direct Debit merchant processing account, you must initiate a POST request to the accounts endpoint. The merchant account will be associated with the merchant ID included in the endpoint.
You must create a different merchant account (each with its unique productCode) for each payment method/currency combination you want to offer – e.g., credit card USD, Direct Debit EFT, etc.
Once the merchant account is created, you can then continue with the process, including adding the owner, owner address, and settlement bank account for each account.
You should wait 5 seconds before using the id returned in the merchant account creation response in any subsequent API call that needs it (e.g., update the merchant account).
curl -X POST https://api.test.paysafe.com/accountmanagement/v1/merchants/a5f1889d-f1be-4bbf-941d-fd9b8d09d5b1/accounts \
-u devcentre322:B-qa2-0-53625f86-302c021476f52bdc9deab7aea876bb28762e62f92fc6712d0214736abf501e9675e55940e83ef77f5c304edc7968 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d ' {
"name": "Popeye's Gym",
"currency": "CAD",
"region": "CA",
"legalEntity": "Popeye's Inc",
"productCode": "GOLD"
}'
Prior to trying the example above, you should:
- Replace the account number (89987201) in the URL with the Test account number you received.
- Replace the API key (after the -u) with the API key you have received
{
"id": "89987201",
"status": "DEFERRED",
"name": "Popeye's Gym",
"currency": "CAD",
"region": "CA",
"legalEntity": "Popeye's Inc",
"productCode": "GOLD",
"creationDate": "2015-01-20T12:12:56Z",
"links": [{
"rel": "self",
"href": "https://api.test.paysafe.com/accountmanagement/v1/merchants/a5f1889d-f1be-4bbf-941d-fd9b8d09d5b1/accounts/89987201"
}]
}
See our API Reference section for a list of all the JSON attributes and types available for the accounts endpoint.
Mandatory Merchant Account Elements for Account Activation
When you create a merchant account, only the following elements are mandatory: name, currency, region, legalEntity, and productCode. This is to make the account creation requirements as minimal as possible. However, before you can activate the merchant account, the following elements are required, and you must update the merchant account to include them:
- category
- phone
- yearlyVolumeRange
- averageTransactionAmount
- merchantDescriptor
Note that the merchantDescriptor is itself an object that contains two elements – dynamicDescriptor and phone – both of which are mandatory.
In addition, depending on the jurisdiction in which you are boarding merchants, one of the following objects is also mandatory before you can activate the merchant account:
- Canada – caAccountDetails, for which type and federalTaxNumber are mandatory elements
- United States – usAccountDetails, for which type and federalTaxNumber are mandatory elements
- Europe – euAccountDetails, for which type is mandatory, and registrationNumber is mandatory unless the value for type is set to one of TRUST, SOLEPROP, GOV, or PARTNERSHIP (in which case registrationNumber is optional)
Multicurrency Merchant Accounts
If you have been configured by Paysafe to create merchant accounts that process in one currency and settle in another, then the processingCurrency parameter is mandatory, in addition to the currency parameter. In this case:
- The processingCurrency parameter specifies the currency in which the merchant account processes transactions.
- The currency parameter specifies the currency in which the merchant account settles transactions.
If you have not been configured by Paysafe to create merchant accounts that process and settle in different currencies, then the currency parameter alone is included, which determines the single currency used for both processing and settling transactions.
curl -X POST https://api.test.paysafe.com/accountmanagement/v1/merchants/a5f1889d-f1be-4bbf-941d-fd9b8d09d5b1/accounts \
-u devcentre322:B-qa2-0-53625f86-302c021476f52bdc9deab7aea876bb28762e62f92fc6712d0214736abf501e9675e55940e83ef77f5c304edc7968 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d ' {
"name": "Popeye's Mega Gym",
"processingCurrency": "USD",
"currency": "CAD",
"region": "CA",
"legalEntity": "Popeye's Corp",
"productCode": "GOLD"
}'
If you have not been configured by Paysafe to create multicurrency accounts, you cannot use the processingCurrency parameter.