Payment Requests

What is a Payment Request?

A Payment Request is a way to ask your customer to make a payment, typically by sending them a link. Payment Requests serve as an umbrella sitting on top of one or multiple payments.

Payments Requests can be edited after they are created, for example, you can add more payments to it (see Managing Payment Requests).

Payment Requests can be used for different purposes:

Payment Request Types

Payment Request for a Single Payment

Single Payment Requests contain a single payment for a specific amount. It is optional to give this payment a due date.

The difference between such a single payment and a standalone payment is that this single payment belongs to a Payment Request, while a standalone payment does not. This means you get all the benefits of a Payment Request even for a single payment.

Links for this kind of Payment Request:

There are two types of Payment Request links for single payments:

Stateful links

Unpaid:

Paid:

image

A stateful Payment Request link for single payment shows the amount to pay. Since the link is stateful, visiting the link again after the payment is made shows the information that the amount is already paid. This means you can use these types of links for unique links, for example links that you only want to use for a specific payer.

Good to know:

Stateful Payment Request links are ideal for highly customized links you want to send to a specific customer. For example, you can insert them into an invoice or an email template and they pre-fill the Checkout Experience form with all the payer info and the payment amount.

You can create stateful Payment Request links via Pay-By-Link or via an API request.

To create the links, you have two options:

1) Build the link with image Pay-By-Link using query parameters (see Payment Request Links).

  • When you are using query parameters, you can only create links for a Payment Request with a single payment.

  • When building stateful Payment Request links via query parameters, you must include a unique value, like a booking reference. This ensures that the system generates a unique Payment Request ID. If you use identical query parameters and values, they will always be resolved to the same Payment Request ID.

    This ID has been automatically generated when the Payment Request or subscription was created.

    This ID is publicly visible at the end of the Payment Request link, for example:

    https://app.flywire.com/rest/payment-request/pay/public/959c09e5-a27b-49e9-8f92-e9e13374cfdd

    Format:

    959c09e5-a27b-49e9-8f92-e9e13374cfdd

    32 hexadecimal characters grouped into 8-4-4-4-12

2) Build the link with the imageFlywire API (see Payment Requests).

  • With the API, you can create Payment Requests (with single payments or multiple installments, with or without a due date) and subscriptions.

  • You don't need a unique identifier value since the API will generate a unique ID independently of the parameter values.

  • Payment Request links created with the API are always stateful.

Stateless links:

A stateless Payment Request link shows a form to enter payer details and then make a payment - even if a payment already has been made through this link. This means you can use these types of links to reuse them, for example using them on your website to always make a payment with a pre-set amount.

Good to know:

Stateless links need to be enabled for your portal before you can use them. Please reach out to your Flywire contactfor this.
Stateless links always create a Payment Request for a single payment.
Unlike stateful Payment Request links, stateless links don't require an amount to be provided, which means you can use them for completely "blank" links that don't pre-fill any fields.
Depending on your portal settings, it might be mandatory for the payer to store their used payment method for future payments. If this is the case for your portal, creating a Payment Request will create a new contact with the payer's details in Dashboard and the payment method will be saved for this contact.

How to create the link:

Possible via:

image Pay-By-Link (stateful and stateless links)
imageFlywire API (only stateful links)

To create the links, you have two options:

1) Build the link with image Pay-By-Link using query parameters (see Payment Request Links).

  • When you are using query parameters, you can only create links for a Payment Request with a single payment.

  • When building stateful Payment Request links via query parameters, you must include a unique value, like a booking reference. This ensures that the system generates a unique Payment Request ID. If you use identical query parameters and values, they will always be resolved to the same Payment Request ID.

    This ID has been automatically generated when the Payment Request or subscription was created.

    This ID is publicly visible at the end of the Payment Request link, for example:

    https://app.flywire.com/rest/payment-request/pay/public/959c09e5-a27b-49e9-8f92-e9e13374cfdd

    Format:

    959c09e5-a27b-49e9-8f92-e9e13374cfdd

    32 hexadecimal characters grouped into 8-4-4-4-12

2) Build the link with the imageFlywire API (see Payment Requests).

  • With the API, you can create Payment Requests (with single payments or multiple installments, with or without a due date) and subscriptions.

  • You don't need a unique identifier value since the API will generate a unique ID independently of the parameter values.

  • Payment Request links created with the API are always stateful.

 

How to embed this Payment Request type via imageCheckout :

Embedding single Payment Requests is not possible.

A Payment Request for a single payment generates a link to the Checkout Experience, but if you're using the Checkout integration, the Checkout Experience is already embedded in your website, so a link isn’t needed for single payments.

If you want to create a single payment embedded within your website, you can use Checkout for Standalone Payments instead.

Payment Request for Multiple Installments

A Payment Request with multiple installments allows you to collect future payments with variable amounts. You can decide if you want to have due dates for all installments to collect them on specific dates or if the installments have no specific due date.

Links for this kind of Payment Request:

image

For multiple installments, the link shows an overview about all installments in this request and lets the payer pay for them individually. These Payment Request links are always stateful, which means the overview gets updated whenever a payment is made.

How to create the link:

Possible via:

imageFlywire API, see Creating a Payment Request.

Embedding this Payment Request:

image

Scheduled payments allow you to collect future payments with variable amounts on specific dates. All payments that belong together are bundled into one Payment Request.

You can embed this type of Payment Request on your website via the Checkout integration. This lets your payer save their card or bank account to pay for scheduled payments or subscriptions.

How to embed this type of Payment Request via imageCheckout :

Possible via Checkout for Scheduled Payments

Installments created via Checkout must have a due date, which is why they are called scheduled payments. If you want to create installments without a due date, you have to use the imageFlywire API.

Payment Request for Scheduled Charges

A Payment Request with scheduled charges allows you to collect one or more payments with variable amounts on mandatory due dates.

For this type of Payment Request, the Checkout Experience does not show the amount to pay in the payer currency since at this point only the payment method is saved for upcoming payments.

The payer can check the amount the recipient will receive in the billing currency in the overview that is shown after they accessed the link.

The billing currency is the currency in which the recipient of the payment is billing their payer. The billing currency depends on the portal's configuration and is defined when the portal is set up by Flywire.

This type of Payment Request needs to be enabled for your portal before you can use it. Please reach out to your Flywire contact for this.

Good to know:

If a payment's due date is in the past or today, Flywire charges the payment immediately. If the payment's due date is in the future, Flywire charges the payment on the due date.

This type of Payment Request requires the payer to save a payment method. This payment method will be used for all payments that belong to this Payment Request. Until the due date of a payment is reached, the payer has the option to change the saved payment method or pause the auto payments.

For upcoming payments, Flywire will send the usual payment pre-notification email if the due date is more than 7 days in the future.

Links for scheduled charges:

 

How to create the link:

Possible via:

imageFlywire API, see Creating a Payment Request.

How to embed this type of Payment Request via imageCheckout :

Not possible.

Payment Request for Subscriptions

Subscription payments allow you to collect future payments with a fixed amount on regular intervals.For subscriptions, you cannot create or edit installments yourself - they are automatically generated by Flywire based on the rules that have been defined for the subscription.

In Dashboard, you can find subscriptions under "Payment Requests".

Subscription payments are a type of recurring payment.

Recurring payments (also called repeat payments) are payments that charge the same card or bank account multiple times. The payer agrees to the type of recurring payment and allows their card or bank account information being stored for future payments. This means the future payments can be charged without the payer being present.

How are recurring payments collected?

Recurring payments can either be collected in two ways:

  • setting up a repeat-authority on a card

  • setting up a direct debit for a bank account

Which countries and currencies are supported?

For up-to-date currency and country coverage details please reach out to your Flywire contact.

Example:

"Store your card to pay 200 on the first of each month for one year."

Who handles future payment creation and emails to your payer?

Flywire will create the payments and send communications on your behalf at the appropriate times.

Links for subscriptions:

image

For subscriptions, the payer can save the payment method for all payments of this subscription. They also get an overview about past and upcoming payments of this subscription. These links are always stateful, meaning the overview gets updated whenever a payment is made.

How to create the link:

Possible via:

imageFlywire API, see Creating a Subscription.

Embedding subscriptions:

image

You can embed this type of Payment Request on your website via the Checkout integration. This lets your payer save their card or bank account to pay for scheduled payments or subscriptions.

How to embed this type of Payment Request via imageCheckout :

Possible via Checkout for Subscriptions

Managing Payment Requests

As long as the payment request is open (meaning at least one of the payments in it remains unpaid), you can make changes to it, for example add further installments or delete the whole request. You can also track the payment’s progress and status, and see its history, for example if and when the payer has opened the link.

Payment Requests can be managed either via imageClient Dashboard or the imageFlywire API:

 

Task Via imageClient Dashboard Via imageFlywire API
Get info about the Payment Request image image
Add/edit/delete installments image image

Delete Payment Request

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Cancel Payment Request

Deleting a Payment Request or subscription permanently removes it from the system, which means:

  • You can't view it in Dashboard anymore.

  • You can't retrieve it via the API anymore.

  • All future installments will cancelled.

  • Your customer won't be able to make payments anymore.

Deleting a Payment Request or subscription cannot be undone.

 

Cancelling a Payment Request or a subscription means:

  • It is permanently put in the CANCELLED status.

  • All future installments will cancelled and payments will not be charged.

  • Your customer will be notified about the cancellation via email and won't be able to make payments anymore.

Cancelling a Payment Request or subscription cannot be undone.

Unlike deleting, cancelling does not remove the Payment Request or subscription from the system, meaning you will still be able to view it in Dashboard and retrieve it via the API.

 image image

Map existing payment to the Payment Request

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Send email reminders for upcoming payments image image
View a Payment Request's history image

 

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