FAQ

• How should I authenticate requests?
• How can I test payments?
• Are there examples for requests?

How should I authenticate requests?

The authentication method varies based on the API and who is making the call.

Important Note for Merchant and Payment Gateway API requests

Merchant and payment gateway API requests are authenticated using HTTP Basic Authentication. When you submit a request, you must always base64-encode the public or secret key plus a trailing colon, using tools such as base64 (https://linux.die.net/man/1/base64) (OS X/Linux) or certutil (Windows).

For example, if your public key is: m_cSiyNUh9RBWHfdbFRFGrkB, you’ll base64-encode m_cSiyNUh9RBWHfdbFRFGrkB:. The result is bV9jU2l5TlVoOVJCV0hmZGJGUkZHcmtCOg==, which you’ll use in your request header.

How can I test payments?

You can use test card numbers and test bank accounts to make test payments.

Are there examples for requests?

Every operation you can perform using the API has a corresponding example request and response in the API Reference. The examples are in cURL and have the following structure:

curl -X <method> -H <content_type> <authentication> <endpoint_url> -d `{<request_body>}`

Here’s a description of each part of this request:

Here’s an example request using each of these components:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json" --user AbCdEfG= https://api.chargeio.com/v1/charges -d '
  {
      "amount": "100",
      "account_id": "1A2B3C",
      "method": {
          "type": "card",
          "number": "4242424242424242",
          "exp_month": 10,
          "exp_year": 2025,
          "cvv": "123",
          "name": "Some Customer"
      }
  }'