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The Payment Initiator API parameter, denoted as payment_initiator, serves a critical role in distinguishing the originator of a transaction in Chargebee. Specifically, this parameter allows differentiation between transactions initiated by merchants and those initiated by customers. The payment_initiator parameter can have one of two distinct values: "merchant" or "customer".
In instances where customer participation is requisite, such as in 3D-secure flows, it is easier for Chargebee to differentiate between Customer-Initiated Transactions (CIT) and Merchant-Initiated Transactions (MIT). However, it is more complex for Chargebee in custom checkout flows, especially in non-3DS scenarios to classify transactions as either Customer-Initiated (CIT) or Merchant-Initiated (MIT). This complexity stems from the diverse front-end experiences controlled by individual merchants, coupled with our limited insight into the unique operational flows adopted by various businesses. In such scenarios, the payment Initiator parameter becomes highly valuable in informing Chargebee about how to handle the transaction.
merchant is considered as the default value if a specific value is not passed to the payment_initiator parameter except for payment_intent flows.
During the initiation of an operation via Chargebee APIs, such as Creating a subscription, Creating an invoice etc., merchants can specify the payment initiator parameter value in their API call. Chargebee will store the parameter's value in the database and return it along with the transaction response for the merchants to distinguish between customer-initiated and merchant-initiated transactions.
If you want this to be prioritized for a payment gateway that is not part of the above list, submit your request through your Customer Success Manager / Chargebee Support .
The Payment Initiator parameter will be used to set the initiator type only for the immediate payment transaction resulting from an operation (say creating a subscription). All subsequent renewal payments will be automatically classified as Merchant-Initiated Transactions by Chargebee.
BlueSnap provides the flexibility to leverage Kount for fraud verification. By default, BlueSnap conducts fraud checks for both CIT and MIT payments. However, some businesses may seek to optimize costs related to fraud verification with Kount by excluding MIT payments from the fraud check process.
To achieve this, BlueSnap offers the option to configure a specific parameter known as recurringTransaction with the value "Recurring" in the MIT flow for card payments. Setting this parameter allows businesses to selectively skip sending MIT payments for fraud checks.
In scenarios involving MIT Non-3DS, the payment initiator parameter plays a crucial role in determining and configuring this additional parameter within BlueSnap. This customization is an additional configuration step that must be independently enabled in your Chargebee account and your BlueSnap account.
If you wish to implement this configuration for your BlueSnap account within Chargebee, please contact Chargebee support for assistance in enabling this feature. Check with your Bluesnap Account Manager if it's already enabled on your Bluesnap account before enabling this in Chargebee.
Following are the API Endpoints from the Product Catalogue 1.0 and 2.0 that support the Payment Initiator parameter. You can navigate to the relevant API document using the hyperlink for each endpoint:
