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Forward APIs and What a Merchant Should Know

Blog post from Basis Theory

Post Details
Company
Date Published
Author
Basis Theory
Word Count
1,279
Company Posts That Month
8
Language
English
Hacker News Points
-
Post removed?
No
Summary

Forward APIs allow merchants to use payment data securely stored by a primary payment service provider to send transactions or related information to approved third parties, such as additional processors, fraud tools, analytics services, loyalty platforms, or token vaults, without exposing raw card data to the merchant. Typically, merchants collect payment details through the PSP’s interface and receive tokens that can later instruct the PSP to forward the underlying data; providers cited include Stripe, Braintree, and Dots. While this can support multi-processor strategies, subscription-renewal recovery, fraud detection, and loyalty programs, it may also create dependence on one PSP’s infrastructure and partner network, reduce merchants’ negotiating visibility, add storage and forwarding fees, and complicate transaction-status handling because a successful API request does not necessarily mean the downstream payment succeeded. The source argues that independent, PSP-agnostic payment vaults can offer greater routing flexibility, failover options, and broader provider access, while maintaining PCI DSS compliance, though merchants must evaluate their technical, operational, and cost requirements when selecting an approach.

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