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Technical newsletter for developers 2021-12

This newsletter was sent in December 2021.

Omikron tips​

These Vipps solutions are extra relevant (again):

Vipps Hurtigkasse: Use the explicit flow​

When users are prompted to select shipping address and shipping address, the explicit flow is strongly recommended. The user then has to actively select shipping address and shipping method.

The "old" flow does not prompt the user in the same way, and some users do not notice that they select an incorrect/old/outdated address.

Using the explicit flow is simple: Just specify "useExplicitCheckoutFlow": true in POST:/ecomm/v2/payments.

See Old and new express checkout flow for more details.

Use the API Dashboard to find problems with your integration​

The API Dashboard is available for both the production and test environments, and is an easy way to see if you are using the Vipps APIs correctly. Think of it as a "health check", that you can use to see if there are any problems you need to investigate.

See it on portal.vipps.no under the "Utvikler" ("Developer") tab. Here's an example for the Vipps eCom API's /refund endpoint:

API Dashboard example

Important information for partners​

There is quite a bit happening for Vipps partners. Please see Vipps Partner pages for (continuously) updated information.

Reminders​

Use Userinfo to register visitors​

For guest registration/tracking: Use Userinfo to ask for the user's details, such as: phone number, name, email address, postal address, birthdate, national identity number and bank accounts. The user must of course consent to sharing the information.

See Userinfo for eCom and Userinfo for Recurring.

"Click and collect" recommendations​

For "click and collect" we recommend to use staticShippingDetails (to avoid the extra HTTP roundtrip where Vipps asks the merchant for the shipping options and prices) and also to set the default shipping method to "Click and collect".

This will significantly speed up the payment process for customers.

This is done in the POST:​/ecomm​/v2​/payments call by including:

"staticShippingDetails": [
  {
    "isDefault": "Y",
    "priority": 0,
    "shippingCost": 0,
    "shippingMethod": "Click and collect",
    "shippingMethodId": "click-and-collect"
  }
]

The Vipps QR API​

Make window shopping great again!

An early version of the Vipps QR API is available.

The Vipps QR API lets merchants generate Vipps QR codes that can be used to pay over the counter, without requiring the Vipps user to provide their telephone number to the merchant. Or you can create your own QR with a short URL that we provide.

The QR code, when scanned and opened, will redirect the user to the Vipps landing page, which on the phone will automatically trigger a switch to the Vipps app where they can pay the merchant.

The Order Management API​

An early version of the Order Management API is available.

The Order Management API allows merchants to send rich receipt information to existing Vipps transaction. This information is shown to the customer in the app in their order history. This functionality is available for both recurring and direct payments, but not for pass-through payments.

The Vipps Recurring API now supports variable amounts​

Recurring agreements with variable amount lets merchants charge users a different amount each for interval, based on the user's specified max amount.

More information can be found in the Recurring guide.

Vipps Login support for authentication/registration outside of browser/app (CIBA)​

The Vipps Login service has been extended with Client Initiated Backchannel Authentication (CIBA) flows to support use cases where authentication/registration does not start in a browser or an app.

This could typically be physical contexts like point of sales (POS) solutions, on the phone in call center solutions, or devices/terminals like TV boxes. We currently support initiating logins based on the users phone number. We are also working on supporting the same flows with the user scanning the merchant's QR-code as a starting point.

More information can be found in our documentation.

Newsletter archive​

All the previous newsletters are in the newsletter archive.

Questions or comments?​

We're always happy to help with code or other questions you might have! Please create GitHub issues or pull requests for the relevant API, or contact us.