destination value and the payoutMethod fields change with where the money is going.
Mobile money
M-PESA and Airtel Money wallets. Usually arrives in seconds.
Bank account
Kenyan bank accounts. Takes longer than mobile money.
Paybill
Pay bills and businesses on M-PESA paybill numbers.
Till
Pay merchants on M-PESA Buy Goods till numbers.
The payout lifecycle
1
Check the recipient
Use Account resolver to confirm the wallet or account exists and the name matches before you send.
2
Send the payout
Call Create payout with a unique
externalReference. Tanda debits your wallet and returns a transactionId.3
Wait for the outcome
You’ll receive
payout_created, then payout_updated with successful or failed. See Webhooks.4
Reconcile
Match the webhook to your record by
externalReference. Successful mobile money payouts include the M-PESA or Airtel receipt in thirdPartyReference.Before you send
- Fund your wallet. A payout larger than your balance fails with
422 INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS. Check the balance with Get user. - Use a unique reference. If a request times out, retry with the same
externalReference. A409 DUPLICATE_EXTERNAL_REFERENCEmeans Tanda already has that payout: look it up with Get transaction instead of sending again. - Save regular recipients. For people you pay often, create a beneficiary once and pay by
externalAccountId.

