Understanding the checkout API

Retired Boards Appdev Custom Storefronts
1

Hi, I’ve been going through the docs quite thoroughly in relation to building a sales channel app and I need some more understanding of the Checkout API and Shopify payments. Specifically I have 4 questions that come out of reading the docs.

  1. When I programatically create a checkout using the checkout API, how long does/can the checkout session last?

  2. After I created the checkout and store the user’s credit card in the card vault, I get a sessionID to be used for payment processing, what is the expiry period of that sessionID?

  3. In the docs when I use the aforementioned sessionID to create a payment, is that simply an authorization where the customer is NOT actually charged yet until I complete the checkout?

  4. If the above point is true, what is the maximum length of time allowed between payment authorization and payment charged (when I send another request to complete the checkout)?

My questions above comes from the following documentation pages:

https://help.shopify.com/en/api/reference/sales-channels/payment

https://help.shopify.com/en/api/reference/sales-channels/checkout#create-2019-07

https://help.shopify.com/en/api/guides/sell-through-the-checkout-api

If anyone has expertise or experience with using the checkout API please give me some pointers on the above, or simply tell me if I’m misinterpreting the docs.

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

2 Likes
2

Hey @joeykim ,

I asked the appropriate teams internally, and here’s what I found.

  1. Checkout sessions last for 24 hours.

  2. Payment session lasts for 1 hour.

  3. You are correct. You are creating an authorization that is completed when the checkout is completed.

  4. The authorization period is usually 7 days, but depends on things such as the merchant’s industry, payment provider, the credit card network used, etc. For Shopify Payments it is 7 days.

Hope that helps!

3

Hi @Busfox - Does the checkout session (24 hrs) and payment session (1hr) period still apply? Where can I find the official documentation for the checkout and payment sessions?

2 Likes
4

Hi @Busfox - Does the checkout session (24 hrs) and payment session (1hr) period still apply? Where can I find the official documentation for the checkout and payment sessions?