Stop reconciling by hand: a one-time bank account for every order

Suleiman — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 09:46:01 +0000

Use Paymish dynamic virtual accounts so every incoming transfer is already tied to an order.

tags: fintech, api, backend, nigeria

If all customers pay into one account, you end up matching sender names and amounts by eye. Paymish can return a one-time dynamic virtual account for a transaction, straight from your backend with no hosted checkout redirect. Each order gets its own account number, so every incoming transfer is already tied to an order.

const BASE = 'https://api.paymish.com/api/transaction-service/external/v1';

async function createPaymentAccount(order) {
  const res = await fetch(`${BASE}/transaction-initialize/dva`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.PAYMISH_SECRET_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      email: order.customerEmail,
      amount: String(order.amountKobo), // kobo
      reference: order.id, // optional, must be unique
    }),
  });

  const data = await res.json();
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Paymish error ${res.status}: ${JSON.stringify(data)}`);
  return data; // { status, message, data }
}

What to know

email and amount are required. reference is optional and auto-generated if you leave it out, but pass your own order ID so the webhook maps straight back to the order.
The customer's email receives the account details and receipt notifications.
A 400 means a missing email or amount, or that an account could not be issued. A 401 means a missing or invalid key.
[CONFIRM: the docs show the response data field only as a placeholder. Fill in the real field names for account number, bank, and expiry before publishing.]

Need a permanent account per customer instead of per order? Look at the Dedicated Virtual Accounts collection.

Decide your rules before launch

What should happen in each case?

Situation	Suggested handling
Exact amount	Mark paid and fulfil
Underpayment	Do not fulfil. Hold, then refund or ask for the balance
Overpayment	Fulfil only if policy allows, and refund the excess
Duplicate payment	Fulfil once, refund the extra
Payment after your order has expired	Do not auto-fulfil. Review manually

Always reconcile by the order reference and your own records, never by the sender's name. Confirm each payment with a signed webhook before you fulfil the order.

Docs: docs.paymish.com

Start a Paymish payment from your backend in 10 minutes

Suleiman — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 09:44:18 +0000

description: Go from a new Paymish account to your first test payment using only your backend and a test key.

tags: api, fintech, node, nigeria

If you build for Nigerian users, you already know the checkout reality: cards get declined, networks drop, and plenty of customers would rather just send a transfer. This guide gets you from a new Paymish account to your first test payment, using only your backend and a test key.

You need: a Paymish account, your test keys, and Node 18+ or Python 3.9+.

Step 1: Get your test keys

Open Dashboard, Settings, API. Test keys start with pk_test_ and sk_test_ and simulate production without moving real money. Live keys start with pk_live_ and sk_live_. Your secret key lives on your server only, never in browser or mobile code.

export PAYMISH_SECRET_KEY='sk_test_...'

Step 2: Initialize a transaction (Node)

Every request carries your secret key as a Bearer token. Amounts are strings in the currency's subunit, so kobo for NGN: 250000 is NGN 2,500.00.

// initialize.js (Node 18+)
const BASE = 'https://api.paymish.com/api/transaction-service/external/v1';

async function initializeTransaction() {
  const res = await fetch(`${BASE}/transaction-initialize`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.PAYMISH_SECRET_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      email: 'ada@example.com',
      amount: '250000', // kobo, so NGN 2,500.00
    }),
  });

  const data = await res.json();
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Paymish error ${res.status}: ${JSON.stringify(data)}`);
  return data; // { status, transactionId, message }
}

initializeTransaction().then(console.log).catch(console.error);

The same thing in Python:

import os, requests

BASE = 'https://api.paymish.com/api/transaction-service/external/v1'

res = requests.post(
    f'{BASE}/transaction-initialize',
    headers={'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + os.environ['PAYMISH_SECRET_KEY']},
    json={'email': 'ada@example.com', 'amount': '250000'},  # kobo
    timeout=15,
)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())  # status, transactionId, message

Step 3: Save the transaction ID

The response includes a transactionId. Store it against your order so you can match the payment later. [CONFIRM: what the customer sees next. The docs do not show a checkout URL in this response.]

Step 4: Confirm with a webhook, not a redirect

A customer closing the page does not mean the payment failed, and reaching a success page does not mean it succeeded. Treat the signed webhook as the source of truth.

Step 5: Break it on purpose

Send an empty email, a zero amount, and a bad key. Your code should handle each error without crashing or showing raw API errors to customers.

Want to skip the hosted checkout?

Paymish can also return a one-time bank account for a customer to pay into, straight from your backend. That is covered in the next article in this series.