How payments work
Follow the path of a charge in Vipter, from the provider to the checkout, and compare what each provider supports.
Vipter does not hold the money from your sales. Your account at a payment provider, such as Stripe or Pagar.me, charges the buyer, and the money lands in that account. Vipter connects the checkout to the providers and decides which account charges each payment.
The path has four parts:
- Provider: the company that processes the payment (Stripe, Pagar.me, Mercado Pago, Asaas or Paystack).
- Connection: an account of yours at that provider, registered in Vipter with its API keys.
- Payment flow: the rule that says which connection charges each payment method and which one is the fallback.
- Checkout: the page where the buyer pays. It only offers a payment method that has an active flow.
Connections
A connection is an account at a provider. You can have several at the same provider, for example one Stripe account in the United States and another in Brazil, or a test account and a live one. They all live in PaymentsProviders.
Each connection stores:
- Name: shows on the cards and in the payment flows. You can change it later with the Rename button.
- Account country: the country where the provider account was opened. It cannot change after you save it.
- API keys: go straight to the payments platform, which checks them with the provider before saving. A wrong key is not saved.
- Test mode: the Test connection switch starts on. When on, the connection uses the provider's test environment and never charges anyone for real. To sell, create the connection with it off and the production keys.
- Webhook: the address you register at the provider so it tells Vipter about refunds, disputes and confirmed payments after the purchase. See Provider webhook.
Your plan's connection limit
Your Vipter plan limits how many connections can be active at the same time. The top of the PaymentsProviders screen shows how many you use and the limit. Deactivated connections do not count.
The first flow is created for you
When you create a connection, Vipter checks each payment method that provider supports. For each method that has no active flow yet, it creates a flow called PIX · default (or with the name of the matching method) that charges through this connection. That is why the first connected account can sell right after you save it.
Later connections do not change the flows that already exist. To use the new account, for example as a fallback when the first one declines, adjust the flows in PaymentsPayment flows. See payment flows.
A payment method with no active flow does not show on the checkout: No flow yet — the checkout hides this method.
Compare the providers
Vipter's checkout offers credit card and PIX (Brazil's instant payment). Some providers also support debit cards, and Vipter creates debit flows for them, but the checkout does not offer that option to buyers yet.
| Provider | Payment methods | Installments | Account countries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Credit and debit card | No | 56 countries, including Brazil, the United States, Mexico and most of Europe |
| Pagar.me | Credit and debit card, PIX | Yes | Brazil |
| Mercado Pago | Credit and debit card, PIX | Yes | Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay |
| Asaas | Credit card, PIX | Yes | Brazil |
| Paystack | Credit and debit card | No | Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt |
What each provider supports in sales. Each provider's page in the dashboard shows the same list under Features.
| Stripe | Pagar.me | Mercado Pago | Asaas | Paystack | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-time sale | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Order bump | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| One-click upsell | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Subscriptions | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Network tokens | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 3DS | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Subscriptions and one-click upsells charge the saved card without the buyer present. That is why Mercado Pago does not support them. If you sell subscriptions and also use Mercado Pago, connect another card provider and send the recurring charges to it in the payment flows.
The accepted card brands and currencies show on each provider's page, under Accepted card brands and Currencies.
Installments also depend on the store's rule in PaymentsInstallments. See installments.
Manage a connection
Open PaymentsProviders and click the connection. Its card has these controls:
- Activate or deactivate: the switch next to the card's buttons. Flows skip an inactive connection, and it no longer charges anything.
- Rename: changes the account's name.
- Test: calls the provider with the saved keys. If everything is fine, you see Connection OK.
- Replace keys: replaces the current keys with new ones. The platform checks the new keys with the provider before saving. Use it when a key leaks or when you create a new one at the provider.
Deactivate instead of delete
Connections are never deleted: deactivate one to take it out of rotation without losing the history of its transactions.A connection used by an active payment flow cannot be deactivated. In that case Vipter shows This connection cannot be deactivated with the list of flows that use it. Swap the connection in those flows or deactivate the flows, then deactivate the connection again.
To reactivate a connection, your plan needs room for one more active connection. Without room, you see: Your plan allows N active acquirers. Deactivate another before turning this one back on.
Common problems
-
Your plan allows N active connector(s). Upgrade to add more.
Your plan reached its limit of active connections. Deactivate a connection you no longer use or change plans in Vipter plan.
-
PIX or card does not show on the checkout
There is no active flow for that payment method, or the flow's connection is inactive. Check in PaymentsPayment flows.
-
Without the verification secret the platform rejects this provider's events. Register the URL above at the provider, copy the secret and save it here.
The connection's webhook is not complete. See Provider webhook.
What to do next
- Connect your first provider: Stripe, Pagar.me, Mercado Pago, Asaas or Paystack.
- Then make a test purchase. See test your store.