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Overview

Checkout payments are transactions initiated via the Novac API. They allow your customers to complete payments through our secure prebuilt checkout or your own custom interface. When you create a checkout payment, typically you should expect a paymentRedirectUrl in the response object that is returned. You you can open this redirect url on a new tab for your customers to complete the payment via a prebuilt Novac checkout. In this guide you will learn how to create a checkout payment with a unique transaction reference. We offer two ways to create a checkout payment.
  • Create a checkout payment with payment link reference
  • Create a checkout payment with a unique transaction reference
When creating a checkout payment with payment link reference, the payment completed are usually tied to the payment link that was created on the dashboard and you can view the transactions completed by viewing the single transaction associated with the payment link on the dashboard.
Please see how to create a checkout payment with payment link reference. The guide should help you get set up quickly.
In this tutorial, we will explain step-by-step how you can create a checkout payment with a unique transaction reference.

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Prerequisite

Before you begin, ensure that you’ve completed the following steps:
Your clients can choose to pay via :
  1. Card Payment
  2. Bank transfer
  3. USSD payment

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Create a checkout payment with a transaction reference

To create a checkout transaction:
  1. Generate a unique transaction reference (minimum of 16 characters).
    This reference must be unique per transaction.
  2. Make a POST request to the /api/v1/initiate endpoint.
The currency field accepts USD, NGN, or EUR. You can set your redirectUrl in the API request or from your dashboard under the API Keys section.
If you don’t pass a redirectUrl in your request, Novac will use the default one you configured on your dashboard.
If no redirect URL is found, you’ll be required to provide one explicitly.
Request
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.novacpayment.com/api/v1/initiate \
  --header 'Authorization: <public-key>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "transactionReference": "<string>",
  "amount": 123,
  "currency": "<string>",
  "metaData": "<string>",
  "redirectUrl": "<string>",
  "checkoutCustomerData": {
    "email": "<string>",
    "firstName": "<string>",
    "lastName": "<string>",
    "phoneNumber": "<string>"
  },
  "checkoutCustomizationData": {
    "logoUrl": "<string>",
    "paymentDescription": "<string>",
    "checkoutModalTitle": "<string>"
  }
}'
Once the checkout transaction is created successfully, Novac will return a response similar to the example below. You can redirect your customer to the paymentRedirectUrl to complete the payment using our prebuilt checkout, or use the transactionReference to handle a custom checkout experience.
Response
{
    "status": true,
    "message": "Transaction Initialized successfully",
    "data": {
        "transactionReference": "1oWbJQQHLyQqqf1SwxjSpudeA01XX",
        "amount": 1000,
        "statusCode": "01",
        "statusMessage": "Transaction initiated successfully",
        "publicKey": "nc_testpk_a0kuivx6lst100haeqo2eyoXXXXXXXeyyslr",
        "paymentRedirectUrl": "https://www.app.novacpayment.com/pay/payments?reference=1oWbJQQHLyQqqf1SwxjSpudeA01XX",
        "collectionPaymentOptions": "CARD,PWBT,USSD,NQR"
    }
}

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How to complete payment

We recommend allowing your customers to complete their payments using Novac’s prebuilt checkout for the fastest and most reliable experience. If you prefer to offer a custom checkout experience that matches your brand, you can build your own UI to display available payment options (e.g., Card, USSD, Bank Transfer, NQR). Learn more in the following guides: