Payment links are merchant-owned hosted checkout URLs for invoices, sales outreach, social posts, email, and simple storefronts. Use them when your application does not need to render a custom checkout page; use a checkout session when you need per-order server orchestration or an in-page experience.
  • Use a link for a fixed catalog offer, an invoice request, or a campaign destination.
  • Use a checkout session for a cart whose amount, customer, shipping, tax, or method set is calculated per order.
  • Use a customer portal session for authenticated billing self-service rather than a public link.
Create the link from a trusted server with one or more price/quantity line items, optional coupon support, shipping/tax configuration, order metadata, and completion URLs.
Send the returned URL to customers. The link can be retrieved, updated, or deactivated from the API. Keep the link ID and your campaign or invoice ID in your own database. Treat a link as a reference to current checkout behavior, not as proof that a particular customer has paid. If the catalog price or policy changes, decide whether to update or deactivate the link and issue a new one.

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Customer completion

The completion page can show a receipt or next step, but it must not grant access or ship goods. Correlate the verified payment event with the link ID, your order metadata, amount, and currency. A link can be opened multiple times; make each order or fulfillment transition idempotent.

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Fulfillment

Use signed payment events to mark an order paid. A customer reaching the completion page is not sufficient evidence of payment.