Accepting payments

There are two ways to collect money with Tanda.

Checkout (recommended)

One API call returns a link to a Tanda-hosted payment page. The customer picks M-PESA, Airtel Money or bank transfer. You build no payment UI.

You collect the customer’s details in your own app and call the method’s endpoint yourself.

Method	Endpoint	What the customer does	Guide
M-PESA / Airtel Money	Mobile money charge	Approves a prompt on their phone with their PIN	Mobile money
Bank transfer	Bank transfer	Transfers the exact amount to a temporary account	Bank transfer

Online checkout, invoices, payment links: use checkout.
You already have the customer’s phone number (wallet top-ups, POS): use a mobile money charge. It’s one call, and the prompt lands on the customer’s phone.
Large B2B payments: use a bank transfer.

Start the charge

Send a unique externalReference with every request. Store the transactionId Tanda returns next to your order.

Show the customer what to do

Redirect to the checkout link, tell them to check their phone, or show the virtual account details.

Wait for the outcome

Listen for transaction_updated webhooks. Use Get transaction as a fallback.

Fulfil on success only

Release value when the status is successful. A pending status or a redirect back to your site is not a payment.

Some charges pause with a stepRequired value in the webhook or transaction. The transaction stays pending until the step is done.

`stepRequired`	What to do
`otp`	Ask the customer for the code they received, then call Validate OTP.
`redirect`	Send the customer to `redirectUrl` to approve the payment, then wait for the final webhook.

Checkout handles the phone prompt and bank details on the hosted page for you.