Overview

Plastiq Connect aims to make it easy to add payment processing to your product. Your customers are empowered to choose how to pay through Payment options including: credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfer and how to get paid through fulfillment options including: Check, Wire, ACH, and EFT.

In this article, we'll explain the different options you have to integrate with Plastiq Connect, and describe what each core resource in the API means.

Plastiq Connect Products

Depending on your needs and development resources, you can integrate with Plastiq Connect using one of two approaches:

Embeddable UI Widgets: You can embed a prebuilt widget directly on to your webpage with minimal implementation requirements, and avoid having to design and develop your own integration. The Connect Checkout widget can be used to offer an end to end payment experience, with affordances for pre-created resources such as returning customers and a wallet of added cards. And, the UI widgets offer custom theming to match your own user experience.
Direct API Integration: For the most flexibility and control over your user experience, you can integrate directly with our API. You can also subscribe to webhook events to implement a full payment lifecycle experience for your users.

Plastiq Connect API Resources

Plastiq Connect models payments using primarily the following resources:

Core Resource	Description
Partner	Your account, often referred to in this documentation as a "Partner Account" or simply a "Partner" is the root of the following resources. Plastiq Connect API does not expose the Partner directly, but it helps to understand the relationship between resources.
Payer	A Payer is the central resource for starting a payment flow in Plastiq Connect. In situations where you want to pay (AP) or receive (AR) money, a payer is necessary before creating a payment. Any Payer created in Plastiq Connect will be "owned" by your Partner account.
Recipient	A Recipient is the destination of a Payment. A Recipient must also be created as the receiver of a payment. Recipients have multiple levels of visibility. Payer: A Payer Recipient can only be seen or paid by a single payer. Partner: A Partner Recipient is available for payment by any Payer created within your Partner account. * Biller: A Biller Recipient is sourced from a curated list of known biller companies (e.g. a mobile phone provider) Recipients also require a Category .
Payment Method	A Payment Method is the credit card, bank account, or other supported financial information used to charge a payment. A payment method is owned by a single payer. There are necessary safeguards we use in order to accept credit card information and remain PCI compliant.
Payment Intent	A Payment Intent accepts the same input as a payment, but also allows a Payer to review a payment before processing the payment. Payment Intents require the Payer, Recipient, and Payment Method referenced above.
Payment	A Payment can be created directly, or using a Payment Intent. Creating a Payment will immediately submit the payment for processing. Payments require the Payer, Recipient, and Payment Method referenced above.
Identity Documents ](ref:documents)	Identity Documents support Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) requirements for payers. A Payer can have Identity Documents