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Recurring Payments

Recurring payments let merchants bill shoppers on an ongoing basis — for subscriptions, memberships, or usage-based services.
Nopan supports recurring payments through mandates that establish consent for future charges.

Key Models​

Recurring transactions fall into two categories:

  • CIT (Customer-Initiated Transaction): The shopper actively approves the first payment, often via Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).
  • MIT (Merchant-Initiated Transaction): Subsequent payments are triggered by the merchant using stored credential, without shopper interaction.

Recurring Flow Overview​

CIT vs MIT at a glance​

Dimension
CIT (Customer-Initiated)
MIT (Merchant-Initiated)
Trigger
Shopper action during checkout (e.g., selects method, approves in app).
Merchant system schedules/initiates charge without shopper interaction.
Shopper presence
Required.
Not required (consent captured previously).
SCA
Usually required for the first payment per scheme rules.
Typically exempt if mandate is valid; scheme-specific.
Typical use cases
First subscription payment, one-time purchases.
Renewals, scheduled billing, metered/usage charges.
Initiation endpoint
/payments/initiate → /payments/finalize
/payments/charge → /payments/capture
Token / mandate
Created as part of the first approved transaction.
Required and validated before capture.
Retry behavior
Retry only after fixing root cause (e.g., new SCA/consent).
Safe to retry transient errors with backoff.
Idempotency
Use Idempotency-Key on each request.
Use Idempotency-Key on each request.
Capture options
Auto-capture on finalize or delayed capture later (scheme-dependent).
Auto-capture on charge or delayed capture later (scheme-dependent).

Integration Considerations​

  • The first transaction always requires shopper presence and approval.
  • Merchants receive a mandate reference or payment token that allows future MITs.
  • Nopan enforces scheme-specific requirements for mandate validity, expiry, and re-authentication.
  • Webhooks notify merchants of successful charges or failures.

Best Practices​

  • Clearly communicate to shoppers when recurring billing will occur.
  • Store mandate references securely; they act as authorization for MITs.
  • Handle failures gracefully (retry logic, notify the shopper).
  • Comply with local regulations such as PSD2 SCA exemptions for recurring billing.