Auto Debit Payment

If a merchant releases their mini program to an Alipay+ partner app located in a different country and requires payment services, they must provide cross-border transaction capability. To provide such capability, the merchant must implement either of Alipay+'s payment solutions: Cashier Payment or Auto Debit Payment.

This topic explains Auto Debit Payment, including its definition, user experience, prerequisites, workflow, and implementation resources.

Note: If you release your mini program to AlipayCN, to implement Cashier Payment for cross-border transactions, refer to the AlipayCN Auto Debit Payment solution.

What is Auto Debit Payment

Auto Debit Payment is a payment solution that enables merchants to accept payments worldwide within their mini programs. With this solution, merchants can obtain user authorizations to bind their super app accounts (e-wallet accounts), and then automatically deduct funds from the bound accounts for subsequent transactions.

User experience

User experience with Auto Debit Payment consists of the following two parts:

• Authorization
• Automatic payment

Authorization

Users can bind their super app accounts (e-wallet accounts) from either a payment method management page or a cashier page.

From a payment method management page

The following steps describe the account binding process from a payment method management page:

1. The user enters the merchant's payment method management page and selects the super app (an e-wallet) to add it as a payment method.
2. The merchant redirects the user to the super app's authorization page.
3. The user signs the authorization agreement and binds a super app account as a payment method to be used for transactions on the merchant's mini program.
4. The super app presents the authorization result page to the user.
5. The user is redirected back to the merchant's payment method page where the bound super app account is displayed.

From a cashier page

The following steps describe the account binding process from a cashier page:

1. The user places an order and selects the super app (an e-wallet) as payment method on the merchant's cashier page.
2. The merchant redirects the user to the super app's authorization page.
3. The user signs the authorization agreement and binds a super app account as a payment method to be used for transactions on the merchant's mini program.
4. The super app presents the authorization result page to the user.
5. The user is redirected back to the merchant's cashier page where the bound super app account is displayed and selected. Then the user clicks the pay button.
6. The payment is automatically processed without requiring a password or other verification, and then the merchant displays the payment result.

Automatic payment

With a bound super app account, the user can make automatic payments for recurring transactions or password-free payments for single purchases. For recurring transactions, such as subscriptions or utilities, the payment process is fully automated and does not require any user interaction. For single purchases, the process is illustrated as follows:

1. The user places an order and selects the bound super app account as the payment method on the merchant's cashier page.
2. The user clicks the pay button to pay.
3. The merchant displays the payment result page to the user.

Before you start

To implement the Auto Debit Payment capability, the merchant must choose either Antom or one of the Alipay+ acquiring service providers as their acquiring partner. For a full list of Alipay+ acquiring service providers, refer to Alipay+ Acquiring Service Providers.

Procedure

To implement Auto Debit Payment, there are three steps you can expect:

Step 1: Obtain Auto Debit Payment authorization

The following diagram walks you through how to obtain Auto Debit Payment authorization by calling the my.signContract JSAPI.

As shown in the above diagram, the authorization process can further be divided into the following two steps:

1.1 Display authorization page

1. The user initiates the Auto Debit Payment authorization in a mini program (step 1). This can be triggered either on a cashier page after placing an order or on a payment method management page.
2. The mini program's frontend invokes the my.getSiteInfo JSAPI to retrieve the super app information from the super app (steps 1.1.1-1.1.2). This information might be required when requesting the authorization information from the acquirer.
3. The mini program's frontend requests its server to start the authorization process (step 1.2). This request might need to include the super app information based on the acquirer's requirements.
4. The mini program's backend checks if a valid user authorization already exists, indicated by the presence of accessToken (a long-term credential that verifies the user's acceptance) (step 1.3).
5. If no accessToken exists, the mini program's backend requests the authorization information from the acquirer via an API call. The request might require the super app information. For technical specifics on this step, please consult the acquirer (steps 1.4.1-1.5.1).
6. The mini program's backend sends the authorization information to its frontend, and then the frontend invokes the my.signContract JSAPI, passing the authorization information to the signStr parameter. This action prompts the super app to display the authorization page to the user (steps 1.5.2-1.7.2).

1.2 Review and accept authorization

1. The user reviews and accepts the Auto Debit Payment authorization (step 2).
2. The super app confirms the user's acceptance and sends authCode (a temporary credential that verifies the user's acceptance) to the mini program's frontend through the my.signContract JSAPI callback (steps 2.1-2.2).
3. The mini program's frontend forwards authCode to its backend (step 2.3).
4. The mini program's backend requests accessToken from the acquirer using authCode. The acquirer then validates authCode with the super app, retrieves accessToken and userId, and sends them to the mini program's backend (steps 2.4-2.6.1.1). For technical specifics on this step, please consult the acquirer.
5. The mini program's backend receives accessToken and userId, saves them for future automatic payments, and forwards them to the frontend. (steps 2.6.1.2-2.6.2.1)
6. The mini program's frontend receives accessToken and userId, and then displays an authorization success page (steps 2.6.2.2-2.6.2.3).

Step 2: Make payment via Auto Debit Payment

The payment workflow via Auto Debit Payment differs by scenario. As described in the Automatic payment section, the following two scenarios are expected:

Recurring transactions

The following diagram illustrates the workflow of recurring transactions via Auto Debit Payment:

The workflow consists of the following steps:

1. When a user who has authorized Auto Debit Payment has a recurring transaction due, the mini program's backend generates an order to initiate the payment process (step 1.1).
2. The mini program's backend retrieves the previously stored accessToken and then invokes the payment API with accessToken to request payment from the acquirer. The acquirer processes the payment request by sending it to the super app, receives the payment result, and forwards this result to the mini program's backend (steps 1.2.1-1.3.2). For technical specifics on this step, please consult the acquirer.

Single purchases

The following diagram illustrates the workflow of user-initiated single purchases via Auto Debit Payment:

The workflow consists of the following steps:

1. The user who has authorized Auto Debit Payment places an order, selects the bound Alipay+ wallet account as payment method, and confirms to pay (step 1).
2. The mini program's frontend generates an order and initiates the Auto Debit Payment process (steps 1.1-1.2).
3. The mini program's backend retrieves the previously stored accessToken and then invokes the payment API with accessToken to request payment from the acquirer. The acquirer processes the payment request by sending it to the super app, receives the payment result, and forwards this result to the mini program's backend (steps 1.3.1-1.4.2). For technical specifics on this step, please consult the acquirer.
4. The mini program's frontend displays the payment result to the user (step 1.4.3).

With the above steps, you have now completed the implementation of Auto Debit Payment. The following section introduces optional steps to revoke Auto Debit Payment.

(Optional) Step 3: Revoke Auto Debit Payment authorization

The following diagram illustrates how to revoke the authorization for Auto Debit Payment.

The workflow consists of the following steps:

1. The user requests to revoke the authorization for Auto Debit Payment (step 1).
2. The mini program's frontend initiates the authorization revocation process (step 1.1).
3. The mini program's backend calls an API to request the acquirer to revoke the authorization. The acquirer forwards the revocation request to the super app, receives the revocation result, and sends it back to the mini program's backend (steps 1.2-1.4.2). For technical specifics on this step, please consult the acquirer.
4. The mini program's backend communicates the revocation result to the frontend. Then the frontend displays the result to the user (steps 1.4.3-1.4.4).

API list

The following table lists the JSAPIs that mini programs must integrate to implement Auto Debit Payment: