Recurring Payments (MIT)

Recurring payments allow you to charge customers on a schedule without their active participation. This is a Merchant Initiated Transaction (MIT) flow.

How It Works

The recurring flow has two phases:

1. First payment — The customer authenticates and pays, granting permission for future charges
2. Subsequent payments — You charge the customer's stored card without their interaction

Phase 1: First Payment

Create an order with recurring_type: "first" and a schedule_type:

{
  "merchant_order_id": "first-recurring",
  "currency": "EUR",
  "amount": 1295,
  "return_url": "https://www.example.com",
  "transactions": [
    {
      "payment_method": "credit-card",
      "recurring_type": "first",
      "schedule_type": "scheduled"
    }
  ]
}

Schedule Types

After successful payment, store the vault_token and/or first_transaction_id from the response.

Phase 2: Subsequent Recurring Payment

Charge the customer using the stored token:

{
  "merchant_order_id": "recurring-order",
  "currency": "EUR",
  "amount": 995,
  "transactions": [
    {
      "payment_method": "credit-card",
      "recurring_type": "recurring",
      "vault_token": "{vault_token}"
    }
  ]
}

[!NOTE] Recurring payments do not return a payment_url in the response since no customer interaction is needed. The payment is processed immediately.

[!TIP] You can use either vault_token or first_transaction_id to reference the stored card.

Token Validity

Recurring tokens have a maximum validity of 1 year. After expiry, you must initiate a new first payment to obtain a fresh token.

[!WARNING] Make sure your system handles token expiry gracefully. Set up a process to re-authenticate customers before their tokens expire.

Recurring vs One-Click