Server-to-Server

Collect the payer's IBAN and mandate acceptance in your own checkout, then send the payment request directly to the API. There is no hosted page and no browser redirection.

Payment workflow

For the full sequence diagram and status table, see Payment workflow on the SEPA Direct Debit overview.

You can provide the mandate reference in one of three ways:

• pass your own reference in the sepa_mandate parameter,
• create one upfront with the Mandate Reference API and pass the returned token as sepa_mandate, or
• omit sepa_mandate and let the API generate one automatically.

Implementation flow

1. Present the SEPA mandate at checkout and capture the payer's agreement.
2. Make a Payment API request including the bank account data (iban, account_holder) and the relevant payment_type (dd or dd_b2b). The synchronous response returns the transaction in the started status.
3. The collection is queued for the next SEPA export cycle. Once it is submitted to the bank, the transaction moves to pending and a postback is sent.
4. After the bank reconciles the collection, the transaction reaches its final status (completed, or chargeback / declined / error on a return), and a postback is sent for the change.

A postback is sent on each status change, so use it, not the synchronous response, as the source of truth for the final result.

For a general walkthrough of credentials, authentication, and postbacks, see Get Started — Server-to-Server Processing.

Create a payment

The request structure is the same for both schemes. Only the payment_type value changes:

• dd for B2C
• dd_b2b for B2B

POST/rest/payment

Production URL

https://api.betterpayment.de/rest/payment

Test URL

https://testapi.betterpayment.de/rest/payment

payment_typeStringrequired

dd for B2C or dd_b2b for B2B

order_idStringrequired

Any alphanumeric string to identify the Merchant's order

amountFloatrequired

Amount of the transaction including all taxes and shipping fees

currencyStringrequired

3 letter currency code. SEPA collections are processed in EUR

account_holderStringrequired

Bank account holder's name

ibanStringrequired

IBAN of the payer's bank account (max. 31 characters)

bicString

BIC of the payer's bank account (max. 11 characters). Optional for SEPA IBANs

sepa_mandateString

Mandate reference number (max. 35 characters). If omitted, a mandate reference is generated automatically

postback_urlStringrequired

The URL where updates about transaction status are posted

This example includes only the parameters required to create a SEPA Direct Debit payment. See the Create Payment API reference for the full list of supported parameters, including the Direct Debit Parameters block.

Example Request (B2C)HTTP

POST /rest/payment
Authorization: Basic <base64(api_key:api_password)>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"payment_type": "dd",
"order_id": "SEPA-12345",
"amount": "15.90",
"currency": "EUR",
"account_holder": "Max Mustermann",
"iban": "DE89370400440532013000",
"first_name": "Max",
"last_name": "Mustermann",
"address": "Teststr. 5",
"city": "Berlin",
"postal_code": "15557",
"country": "DE",
"postback_url": "https://your-postback.url.com"
}

For a B2B payment, use the same payload with payment_type: "dd_b2b". Example:

{
  "payment_type": "dd_b2b",
  "order_id": "SEPA-B2B-12345",
  "amount": "150.00",
  "currency": "EUR",
  "account_holder": "Muster GmbH",
  "iban": "DE89370400440532013000",
  "first_name": "Max",
  "last_name": "Mustermann",
  "address": "Teststr. 5",
  "city": "Berlin",
  "postal_code": "15557",
  "country": "DE",
  "postback_url": "https://your-postback.url.com"
}

Payment API Response

The synchronous response format is the same for both schemes:

transaction_idString

ID of the created transaction

payment_typeString

Payment type of the transaction

status_codeInteger

Status code of the transaction. Stays 1 (started) until the collection is submitted to the bank

statusString

Status of the transaction

order_idString

Order ID of the transaction

messageString

Optional additional information about the transaction result

additional_transaction_dataString

Additional transaction data provided by you. This will be shown in the dashboard as well as when you query for transaction data. It will also be sent back to your postback_url as part of the postback data.

amountFloat

Amount of the transaction

included_feesString

Included fees for the transaction

error_codeInteger

Error code for the response

mandate_idString

Mandate reference used for the collection

ibanString

IBAN of the payer's bank account

recurring_mandateInteger

1 if the mandate is recurring, 0 otherwise

execution_dateString

Date on which the collection is scheduled for execution

Example ResponseJSON

{
"transaction_id": "6c2e7e30-b741-4c5e-bc50-91dffdf0e5fb",
"payment_type": "dd",
"status_code": 1,
"status": "started",
"order_id": "SEPA-12345",
"message": null,
"additional_transaction_data": null,
"amount": 15.9,
"included_fees": "0.00",
"error_code": 0,
"mandate_id": "a7678918bfbbfa449cf9ff78446b60a4",
"iban": "DE89370400440532013000",
"recurring_mandate": 0,
"execution_date": "2026-07-07"
}

note

Depending on your payment method configuration and acquirer, SEPA transactions are submitted to the financial institution either the same day or the next business day. Until submission happens on our side, the transaction stays in the started state. Use the postback as the source of truth for the final status.

Create a Mandate Reference

SEPA Direct Debit transactions depend on a mandate. You can either provide the mandate yourself via the sepa_mandate parameter in the Payment API, or create a mandate reference upfront using the Mandate Reference API.

Use the dedicated API reference page for:

• the endpoint definition for POST /rest/create_mandate_reference
• request and response examples
• the full parameter list
• how to use the returned transaction_id and mandate reference (token in the response, the value to show to the payer and to send later as sepa_mandate)

When creating the mandate reference, use payment_type: "dd" for B2C or payment_type: "dd_b2b" for B2B.

Recurring Payments

Mandates can be one-time or recurring. For recurring collections:

1. Create an initial payment or a mandate reference with recurring: 1.
2. Store the returned transaction_id.
3. Create each subsequent collection with recurring: 1 and original_transaction_id set to the stored transaction_id.

The recurring flow is the same for both schemes.

Refund API

Refunds are supported in full and in part. A SEPA refund is processed as a credit transfer back to the payer's account, so the refund is created in the started status and completed asynchronously.

POST/rest/refund

Production URL

https://api.betterpayment.de/rest/refund

Test URL

https://testapi.betterpayment.de/rest/refund

transaction_idStringrequired

ID of the transaction to be refunded

amountFloat

Refunded amount. When omitted, the full amount will be refunded

commentString

Any reference you would like to store on this refund. Displayed in the dashboard

See the Create a Refund API reference for the full list of supported parameters.

Example RequestHTTP

POST /rest/refund
Authorization: Basic <base64(api_key:api_password)>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"transaction_id": "6c2e7e30-b741-4c5e-bc50-91dffdf0e5fb",
"amount": "15.90",
"comment": "Goods returned"
}

For B2B, note that the lack of payer refund rights for authorised collections does not change the merchant-side refund API flow.

Payout API

Payouts send money to a bank account without a prior payment (an unreferenced credit transfer). Provide the recipient bank account data.

POST/rest/payout

Production URL

https://api.betterpayment.de/rest/payout

Test URL

https://testapi.betterpayment.de/rest/payout

payment_typeStringrequired

dd for B2C or dd_b2b for B2B

order_idStringrequired

Any alphanumeric string to identify the Merchant's order

amountFloatrequired

Amount to be paid out

currencyStringrequired

3 letter currency code

account_holderStringrequired

Recipient bank account holder's name

ibanStringrequired

Recipient IBAN

merchant_referenceString

Reference for the payout

postback_urlStringrequired

The URL where updates about transaction status are posted

See the Create a Payout API reference for the full list of supported parameters.

Example RequestHTTP

POST /rest/payout
Authorization: Basic <base64(api_key:api_password)>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"payment_type": "dd",
"order_id": "PAYOUT-12345",
"amount": "15.90",
"currency": "EUR",
"account_holder": "Max Mustermann",
"iban": "DE89370400440532013000",
"merchant_reference": "Refund for order XYZ",
"postback_url": "https://your-postback.url.com"
}

Postbacks

When the collection is submitted and its status changes, a postback is sent to your postback_url. In addition to the standard Payment API postback fields, SEPA Direct Debit postbacks include mandate_id, iban, bic, recurring_mandate, and execution_date. This applies to both B2C and B2B. For retry policy and signature verification, see Postbacks.

Test Data

Use the following test bank account in the sandbox environment for both B2C and B2B:

Field	Value
account_holder	Max Mustermann
iban	DE89370400440532013000
bic	COBADEFFXXX