Payment Lifecycle

It's important to understand the lifecycle of payments in Finix to support your sellers and buyers.

While there are some nuances, most transactions in Finix follow a similar pattern. Understanding this pattern and the lifecycle a of payments will help you better understand and explain what causes a payment to get rejected, or where funds are at any point in a transactions.

Even though the process can change depending on the transaction, the lifecycle of most payments in Finix follows this standard pattern:

1. Buyer requests to make a payment with seller.
2. The platform collects the buyers information and creates an Identity to represent the buyer in Finix.
3. The platform collects the buyer's payment information and creates a Payment Instrument to represent the payment method used by the buyer to complete the payment. Once created, Finix notifies the seller with:

   • A webhook which only gets sent when a Payment Instrument gets created from a bank account , debit or credit card .
   • A payment instrument entry on the Payment Instruments tab of the Finix Dashboard .

4. The platform creates an Authorization to reserve the funds on the Payment Instrument to be captured (i.e. debited) at a later date, usually within seven days.

   • An authorization entry also gets added on the Authorizations tab of the Finix Dashboard .

5. If the Authorization is successful, Authorization#state gets updated to SUCCEEDED and Authorization#expires_at gets updated with a timestamp. The Authorization entry on the Authorizations tab of the Finix Dashboard also gets updated.

   • If the Authorization fails, Authorization#state gets updated to FAILED . The Authorization entry on the Authorizations tab of the Finix Dashboard also gets updated. To proceed, the platform needs to submit the Authorization again.

6. The platform captures the Authorization .

   • A webhooks gets sent when the Authorization gets captured .
   • The authorization entry gets updated on the Authorizations tab of the Finix Dashboard .

7. Finix creates a Transfer to debit and move funds.

   • The id of the Transfer is available in the Authorization captured webhook.
   • A transaction entry gets added on the Transactions tab of the Finix Dashboard .

8. When funds get debited, the Transfer gets updated with a timestamp in Transfer#ready_to_settle_at .

   • A webhooks gets sent when the Transfer is ready_to_settle .
   • The transaction entry gets updated on the Transactions tab of the Finix Dashboard .

9. Once the timestamp in Transfer#ready_to_settle_at passes, the Transfer will appear in the next Settlement that closes and requires approval.

   • A webhooks gets sent when a Settlement is ready and waiting for your approval .
   • An settlement entry also gets added on the Settlements tab of the Finix Dashboard .

10. Once the Settlement is approved, a funding Transfer gets created to credit funds to the seller.

    • The settlement entry also gets updated on the Settlements tab of the Finix Dashboard .

11. When the funding Transfer gets updated to SUCCEEDED , the seller can expect funds to hit their bank account in 5-7 business days (depending on their bank).

    • See Managing Failed Payouts for details on how to handle a funding Transfer that gets updated to FAILED .
    • A webhooks gets sent when the Transfer gets updated .