Getting Started
FlexPay only accepts upload transaction files that are formatted correctly. Before you upload a transaction file, it is important that you understand how to format and customize transaction information. Preparing upload transaction files will decrease transaction validation and processing errors, which saves you time.
Setup
- FlexPay will set up two subfolders for you in our SFTP: Inputs and Outputs. You will upload your input files to be processed to the Inputs folder and download the processed output files from the Outputs folder (1500 UTC and 2200 UTC).
- Your account manager will provide you with credentials for the SFTP server.
- You need to provide FlexPay with the IP address of the machine where you will be uploading the files from.
Naming Your Input Files
Your input file must adhere to the following format: <companycode>yyyyMMddHHmmss.txt
Where <companycode> is the character’s code you used to define your company code in FlexPay's Client Portal
Example:
Company Code: FP_01
File Name: FP_0120220115000000.txt
You can find the code by going to the Companies section under Account Settings.
Connection
System Requirements
- You will require an SFTP client software that must use SSH2.
File Upload Steps
To utilize the OnDemand process and obtain credit card authorization or any of the other operation types, you must have obtained an account username and password from FlexPay.
- Establish a session with FlexPay's SFTP server host using your SFTP client software.
- Log in using your credentials.
- Upload the flat file. When uploading a file, it must be put in your Inputs folder.
Connection Details
To connect to the FlexPay Gateway SFTP server, you will require the following:
| Field | Description |
| Host URL | ftp.flexpay.io |
| Protocol | SFTP |
| Port | 22 |
| Authentication Type | Normal |
Input File Format
The file format is comma-delimited, with a txt extension, and no headers file. Attached to this document, you will find a sample with a handful of transactions to illustrate how the Input file should be formated.
- Required: Fields that are mandatory for the recovery process to work. The file won't pass our initial validation if these fields are not provided:
- orderID
- transactionType
- currencyCode
- amount
- postalCode
- billingCity
- billingState
- PaymentMethodMerchantAccountReferenceId (this is the MID / Merchant ID)
- PaymentMethodFirstSixDigits
- PaymentMethodLastFourDigits
- Conditional: Fields that are conditional. You must provide one or the other. It's better if you can provide both.
- referenceTransactionId (required only for REFUND or VOID)
- customerID OR billingEmail
- firstName & lastName OR fullName
- creditCardNumber OR PaymentMethodGatewayPaymentMethodId (payment token stored at the gateway) OR PaymentMethodGatewayTransactionId
Fields listed as optional are"good to have" and can assist our machine learning models, but are not mandatory for the transaction to be processed.
Please make sure to always send ALL columns in the file. If you are not providing information for an optional field, you must leave the column intact to avoid changing the format of the file.
► Click to view all fields
| Field | Type | Requirement | Description |
| merchantTransactionId | String (50) | Optional | This field is your unique ID number associated with each transaction request. You create this value and submit it with the transaction. If you decide to provide this value, it will only be used in the first retry attempt. Subsequent attempts will have a value generated by FlexPay |
| orderId | String (50) | Required | Merchant-assigned order identification number. |
| description | String (255) | Optional | Describe the transaction to help reconciliation. |
| transactionType | String (15) | Required | Indicates the type of transaction and it must be exactly one of CHARGE, REFUND, VOID. If the value in the field does not match any of the values stated, the transaction will be rejected. |
| referenceTransactionId | String (50) | Conditional | ID of a transaction previously approved by the gateway. Required when sending REFUND or VOID transactionsType |
| customerId | String (50) | Conditional | Merchant-defined, unique identifier to represent the customer associated with the transaction. Required if the email is not provided. Otherwise, a new customer id is created and returned. |
| currencyCode | String (3) | Required | Three-digit currency code (e.g. USD, CAD). ISO 4217 Currency Codes |
| amount | Integer | Required | Amount in cents (e.g. 1957 is equivalent to 19.57) |
| creditCardNumber | String (22) | Conditional | Required if no PaymentMethodGatewayPaymentMethodId is passed. This field is the card number you are charging for this transaction. |
| expiryMonth | String (2) | Required | Card expiry month expressed as MM (e.g. 06 for June) |
| expiryYear | String (4) | Required | Card expiry month expressed as YY (e.g. 20 for 2020) |
| cvv | String (4) | Do not include | This is the 3- or 4-digit security code that appears on the back of the card of a credit card following the card number. This code does not appear on imprints. |
| firstName | String (50) | Conditional | Required if fullName not included. Contains the first name of the customer associated with the billing address for the transaction. |
| lastName | String (50) | Conditional | Required if fullName not included. Contains the last name of the customer associated with the billing address for the transaction. |
| fullName | String (100) | Conditional | Required if firstName & lastName not included. The full name of the cardholder. If provided, will be parsed to determine firstName and lastName. |
| billingAddress1 | String (255) | Optional | Contains the address line 1 of the customer associated with the billing address for the transaction. Suggested for Address Verification System (AVS). |
| billingAddress2 | String (255) | Optional | Contains the address line2 of the customer associated with the billing address for the transaction. |
| postalCode | String (100) | Optional | Contains the postal code (ZIP code if in the US) of the customer associated with the billing address for the transaction. Suggested for Address Verification System (AVS). Can be 5 or 9 digits in length. |
| billingCity | String (100) | Optional | The field contains the city of the customer associated with the billing address for the transaction. |
| billingState | String (100) | Optional | The field contains the state of the customer associated with the billing address for the transaction. Any valid two characters’ state code or full state name. |
| billingCountry | String (3) | Optional | The field contains the country of the customer associated with the billing address for the transaction. Three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1. |
| billingEmail | String (100) | Conditional | Cardholder's email address. |
| billingPhoneNumber | String (100) | Optional | Cardholder's phone number. |
| customerIp | String (15) | Optional | IP address of the customer initiating the transaction. The required format is 255.255.255.255. |
| shippingAddress1 | String (255) | Optional | Contains the address line 1 of the customer associated with the shipping address for the transaction. |
| shippingAddress2 | String (255) | Optional | Contains the address line 2 of the customer associated with the shipping address for the transaction. |
| shippingPostalCode | String (100) | Optional | Contains the postal code (ZIP code if in the US) of the customer associated with the shipping address for the transaction. |
| shippingCity | String (100) | Optional | The field contains the city of the customer associated with the shipping address for the transaction. |
| shippingState | String (100) | Optional | The field contains the state of the customer associated with the shipping address for the transaction. Any valid two characters’ state code or full state name. |
| shippingCountry | String (3) | Optional | The field contains the country of the customer associated with the shipping address for the transaction. Three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1 |
| assignedGatewayToken | String (50) | Optional | This field is the gateway associated with a merchant account against which the request will be made on a next attempt. |
| productSku | String (150) | Optional | The field contains the unique product identifier (SKU). |
| productCategory | String (150) | Optional | Contains the primary category code associated with the product. |
| billingPlan | String (50) | Optional | Contains the code associated with the billing plan. |
| retryCount | Integer | Optional | The field contains the number of retry of the billing cycle. The initial attempt is 0 and all others retries will increase the count by 1. |
| billingCycle | Integer | Optional | When the transaction is for a recurring payment, the field contains billing cycle number. Start at 1 |
| dateFirstAttempt | DateTime | Optional | The field contains the date of the first transaction attempt for this billing cycle. The date is required when the retry count is greater than 1. UTC and date format(Iso 8601) YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sTZD (eg 1997-07-16T19:20:30.45+01:00) |
| referenceData | String (512) | Optional | This field is for internal use only. FlexPay will generate this value and use it to link a series of retry attempts. |
| customVariable1 | String (50) | Optional | Optional user defined string value. |
| customVariable2 | String (50) | Optional | Optional user defined string value. |
| customVariable3 | String (50) | Optional | Optional user defined string value. |
| customVariable4 | String (50) | Optional | Optional user defined string value. |
| customVariable5 | String (50) | Optional | Optional user defined string value. |
| PaymentMethodToken | String (22) | Optional | This field is used needed when using tokens generated in FlexPay's vault. It will also be used for the RedactPaymentMethod transaction type when using credit cards. Please consult with your Client Success Manager for details. |
| PaymentMethodMerchantAccountReferenceId | String (512) | Conditional | Gateway identifier configured in a FlexPay Payment Gateway. Typically the Merchant Account Reference Id is the same value as a Merchant Account ID in order to facilitate reconciliation. |
| PaymentMethodGatewayPaymentMethodId | String (256) | Conditional | This is the payment token stored at the payment gateway. This is required if the full credit card number is not provided. |
| PaymentMethodGatewayTransactionId | String (50) | Conditional | Certain gateways use a transaction id to represent a payment method (for example: NMI). |
| PaymentMethodFirstSixDigits | String (6) | Optional | The first six digits of the customers credit card. This is used to determine strategies within our machine learning system. |
| PaymentMethodLastFourDigits | String (4) | Optional | The last four digits of the customers credit card. This is used to determine strategies within our machine learning system. |
| DelayedDate | DateTime | Optional | When this value is set, we will process the transaction at the given time |
| gatewaySpecificFields | JSON | Optional | JSON object containing the gateway specific fields. See our documentation for your particular gateway. If not providing any info, please add empty brackets in double quotes "{}" |
Downloading Your Output File
If your file fails the validation stage, it will not be processed and our support team will contact you.
If your file is processed successfully, FlexPay will create a corresponding output file and make it available every day at 1500 UTC and 2200 UTC for download from your designated Output folder.
Output File Format
The output file generated by FlexPay will contain the transactions results of all the transactions included in your input file. The file format is comma-delimited, with a txt extension, and no headers. The name will match that of your input file with an underscore (_) and a unique identifier. See an output file template attached to this article.
Response Codes
| Fields | Code Range | Description |
| Approved | 10000 | The request was successful. |
| Soft Decline | 20000 | The request declined, though subsequent attempts may be successful. |
| Hard Decline | 30000 | The request declined. Most hard declines require the Issuer or Cardholder to rectify the outstanding issue(s) before a subsequent attempt can be made. |
| Risk Responses | 40000 | The request triggered a risk response. The status of the response (responseCode and status) will depend on the action specified in your risk settings on your gateway. |
| API Validation | 50000 | The request triggered a risk response. The status of the response (responseCode and status) will depend on the action specified in your risk settings on your gateway. |
Follow this link to see the full list of FlexPay Response Codes.