Quick Start: Your First Payment

This guide walks you through creating your first Hosted Checkout payment link in just a few steps. It starts with the minimum required fields to generate a working link, so you can test the checkout flow end-to-end as quickly as possible.

The example shown here covers the one-off payment scenario, which supports payments via Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Pay by Bank. Once that’s working, you can build on it with advanced scenarios such as storing payment credentials for future use.

Step 1: Generate a link_id

To initiate Hosted Checkout, send a POST request to the /payment-links endpoint with the minimum required fields:

Before you generate a payment link, you’ll need to authenticate with the Acquired.com API. If you haven't set up authentication yet, see our Authentication guide

Example Request:

POST: https://test-api.acquired.com/v1/payment-links

Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer {token}
{
  "transaction": {
    "order_id": "e93aaf85-af8c-a6ae-89ba-0867905f9123",
    "amount": 5.99,
    "currency": "GBP"
  }
}

A successful response returns a link_id:

{
  "status": "success",
  "link_id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6"
}

Step 2: Construct the Payment Link

The API response will include a link_id, which represents the Hosted Checkout session you’ve just created. To send your customer to the checkout, append this link_id to the base URL of the environment you want to target:

• QA: https://test-pay.acquired.com/v1/
• Production: https://pay.acquired.com/v1/

For example, if the API returned the following:

{
  "status": "success",
  "link_id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6"
}

The QA checkout URL would be:

https://test-pay.acquired.com/v1/3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6

Step 3: Share the link

Once generated, share the checkout link with your customer via:

• Email
• SMS
• Website button or link
• Any other communication channel you prefer

Your customer will then be redirected to the Acquired.com Hosted Checkout page, where they can complete payment using their chosen method including Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Pay by Bank.