Overview
The GraphQL API behaves the same for both partners and merchants, however, there are some considerations that should be made by partners. This section discusses those partner specific considerations.
Who is considered a Partner?
Partners are generally software providers who integrate Braintree into their software to provide a bundled solution to many different merchants. These partners are usually Point of Sale software companies, Order Management, Call Center or Ecommerce software providers, but there can be many types of different partners who may want to explore offering Braintree as an integrated offering. For more info on the types of partner models available or to determine whether this solution would be a good fit, please reach out to the PayPal/Braintree sales team.
API Key Management
For partners who are building an integration to be used for multiple merchants you must consider how the API keys are made to be configurable on a per merchant basis. For example, when using basic authentication every merchant will have their own set of API keys unique to their Braintree Gateway Account.
Account Structure
Braintree offers multiple account structure models to our merchants which can impact their deposits, report generation, user management, and other aspects of their solution with Braintree. For these reasons we recommend integrating using a flexible account hierarchy which can meet the needs of any merchant using your integrated solution. Knowing that every software application has its own architecture please discuss this with your Solutions Engineer.
Partner Tracking/Audit
Official PayPal partners are required to pass in a partner BN code which is a partnership identifier that allows us to track merchants and volume over the partner integration. Please discuss the passing of this data with your Solutions Engineer as you design your integration.
Recommended Functionality For Partner Solutions
Since partner solutions are designed to work with many different merchants, there are some additional API calls which are recommended to create a scalable and easy to maintain solution. Please take a look at the below table for more information:
note
The below recommendations are meant to be in addition to the basic charge and refund API calls needed to perform MVP functionality. Also, take a look at our high level functionality summary to see what else our API can do
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Recommended Feature |
Use Case Description |
Importance |
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Ping a specific reader to get back online/offline status, firmware version, and other useful reader data. |
This can be useful to streamline troubleshooting and more quickly diagnose issues. |
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Invoke an API call from the POS app UI in order to trigger a reader firmware update. |
Streamline the firmware update process, foster quicker adoption of newly integrated features, and improve the bug fix cycle. |
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Send an API call from the POS to create a merchant location ID within the Braintree platform. |
By integrating this feature into the POS app UI you will ensure scalability for merchants as they open new store locations, or as you onboard new merchants. |
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Send an API call from the POS to trigger the pairing of the reader to the location ID. |
Integrating this flow will streamline the reader setup process for both new reader installations as well as replacement reader installations. |
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Send a request from the POS as you scan items to display the scanned line items with amounts on the reader display screen. |
Utilize the reader to display line items instead of the POS customer facing display. |
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Send a request from the POS to display custom text on the reader and either collect a customer signature or have them make a selection on the reader. |
This highly customizable feature can be used for things like displaying terms & conditions for custom orders, taking a customer satisfaction survey or shipping address confirmation and much more. |