Connecting PayWay or Payfast
Enter your PayWay or Payfast credentials, check them with Verify credentials, and read the result.
PayWay (ABA Bank, Cambodia) and Payfast (South Africa) pay donations straight into your organisation's own account with them. To connect one, you add it as a payment provider and enter the credentials it gave you. Supporter Club then checks those credentials with PayWay or Payfast. The provider can take donations once the check succeeds and its status reads Ready.
Connecting a provider does not route any donations to it. After connecting, add a payment route for the currencies it should take. See Currencies and routes.
Before you start
Have your credentials ready:
- For PayWay: the merchant ID and the API key ABA issued for your organisation, and whether the merchant account is on ABA's sandbox or live environment.
- For Payfast: the merchant ID and merchant key Payfast issued, the passphrase set on your Payfast account, and whether the account is on Payfast's sandbox or live environment.
Add the provider
- Select Settings in the sidebar, then the Payments tab.
- On the Providers panel, select Add provider.
- Select the PayWay or Payfast card, then Continue.
- On the Configuration step, fill in the fields below.
- Select Create payment provider.
When you create the provider, Supporter Club checks the credentials straight away and opens the provider's screen showing the result.
To change the fields later, open the provider and select Edit, then Save changes. Each save checks the credentials again.
PayWay fields
- Title: "Short title for this payment provider". Required when you add the provider.
- Merchant ID: "The merchant ID ABA issued for this organisation's PayWay account."
- API key: the key is never shown again once saved. The hint says whether one is stored:
- "No key is stored yet. Enter the API key ABA issued alongside this merchant ID."
- "A key is stored. Leave this blank to keep it, or enter a new one to replace it."
- Sandbox: "Tick this while the merchant account is on ABA's sandbox environment rather than its live one." Leave it unticked for a live account.
- Processing fee percentage: "Entered as a percentage — 1.5 means 1.5%." Between 0 and 100. Blank means 1.5%.
- Fixed fee: "A whole number of cents added to every donation." Blank means 20 cents.
Payfast fields
- Title: "Short title for this payment provider". Required when you add the provider.
- Merchant ID: "The merchant ID Payfast issued for this organisation's account."
- Merchant key and Passphrase: neither is shown again once saved. Each hint says whether one is stored, for example "A merchant key is stored. Leave this blank to keep it, or enter a new one to replace it." If the form is refused for another reason, what you typed is not saved, and the hint asks you to enter it again.
- Sandbox: "Tick this while the merchant account is on Payfast's sandbox environment rather than its live one." Leave it unticked for a live account.
- Processing fee percentage: "Entered as a percentage — 3.5 means 3.5%." Between 0 and 100. Blank means 3.5%.
- Fixed fee: "A whole number of cents added to every donation." Blank means 200 cents.
What the fee fields do
PayWay and Payfast take their fees from what they pay you, on terms agreed between you and them. PayWay never tells Supporter Club what it took. Payfast can report what it deducted when it confirms a payment. The fee fields are an estimate only. As the note on the form says, "These figures only estimate what a donation costs before it is charged", and nothing here is deducted at settlement.
On a donation's detail screen, the Processing fee amount for these providers is shown as "Not visible", because the processor settles its fee with you directly. Where Payfast reported what it deducted and paid you, the screen shows it under Organisation's processing fee and Organisation's payout. See Donation statuses.
When the credentials are checked
Supporter Club checks the credentials:
- when you finish adding the provider;
- each time you save the provider;
- each time you open a provider whose status isn't Ready;
- when you select Verify credentials on the provider's screen.
Verify credentials is shown only when all the credentials are stored: merchant ID and API key for PayWay; merchant ID, merchant key and passphrase for Payfast. Use it to recheck a provider that is already Ready, for example after you change a key with ABA or Payfast.
If a credential is missing, nothing is checked and the status is Not connected.
Read the result
The provider's screen shows the last answer in a notice. The same answer appears in a line under the credential fields when you edit the provider. Each answer names the environment that was checked, such as "ABA's live environment" or "Payfast's sandbox environment", and when it was checked.
When the credentials are accepted, the status becomes Ready. Any refusal sets the status to Not connected, even if it was Ready before.
PayWay answers
| Title | What to do |
|---|---|
| "PayWay accepted these credentials" | Nothing. The provider is proven to work. |
| "PayWay would not accept the request as signed" | "Re-enter the API key ABA issued for this merchant" on the named environment. "If the key is right, check the merchant ID too — PayWay can answer the same way for a merchant it doesn't recognise." |
| "PayWay does not recognise this merchant" | Check the merchant ID against the one ABA issued for the named environment, "and check with ABA that this outlet is enabled for API access." |
| "PayWay refused the call from our domain" | "Ask ABA's PayWay integration team to whitelist our domain" for the named environment, "then verify again." |
| "PayWay refused the call" | Check the merchant ID and the API key for the named environment, then verify again. If PayWay sent a code Supporter Club can't read, the notice shows it; if PayWay keeps answering this way, quote that code to ABA. |
A refusal of Supporter Club's domain is a common first answer for a new PayWay account. The domain to give ABA is Supporter Club's: the web address your supporters pay on, without your organisation's own part at the start. For example, if your supporters pay on yourcharity.example.org, the domain is example.org. If ABA asks for anything else, contact Supporter Club through the person or email address you dealt with when your organisation's account was set up. There is no support form in the admin. Once ABA has whitelisted the domain, open the provider or select Verify credentials again.
If the environment is wrong, the answer looks like a wrong credential. Check the Sandbox box matches your account.
Payfast answers
| Title | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Payfast accepted these credentials" | Nothing more for now. This check proves the merchant ID and the passphrase only: "The merchant key is not covered by this check — no Payfast API call uses one. The first real donation is what proves it." |
| "Payfast would not accept the call as authorised" | "Check the merchant ID and the passphrase are the ones Payfast issued for" the named environment. "If both are right, check whether API access on the Payfast account is restricted to a list of IP addresses that ours is not on." |
| "Payfast rejected the request itself" | Nothing for you to change: "There is nothing to re-enter — this is ours to fix, and it has been reported for investigation." The notice quotes Payfast's answer. |
| "Payfast refused the call" | Payfast sent a status Supporter Club has no reading for. If Payfast sent a message with it, the notice quotes it. Check the merchant ID and the passphrase for the named environment, then verify again. If Payfast keeps answering this way, quote that answer to Payfast. |
Supporter Club's IP addresses are not shown in the admin. If API access on your Payfast account is restricted to a list of IP addresses, contact Supporter Club (as above) for the addresses to add.
When the check couldn't be completed
Sometimes the check gets no answer about your credentials. Nothing is recorded and the status doesn't change. You see one of these messages, either on the provider's screen under "The check couldn't be completed" or at the top of the Payments tab:
- "PayWay is limiting our requests, so the check couldn't be completed. Nothing has changed — wait a minute and verify again."
- "We couldn't reach PayWay, so the check couldn't be completed. Nothing has changed. Please try again."
- "Payfast is limiting our requests, so the check couldn't be completed. Nothing has changed — wait a minute and verify again."
- "We couldn't reach Payfast, so the check couldn't be completed. Nothing has changed. Please try again."
What supporters can give through these providers
Each provider has limits on what a supporter can give. See How supporters pay.
- PayWay takes recurring donations monthly only. A supporter giving in a currency routed to PayWay isn't offered a yearly recurring donation.
- Payfast takes South African rand only, and no less than R5.00.
Tips with PayWay and Payfast
PayWay and Payfast pay the whole charge into your account: the donation and any tip the donor added. The tip is not your organisation's money. It is owed to Supporter Club. See Tipping.