Track transactions using an acquirer reference number

APICURRENTADVANCED

Last updated: Feb 27th, 7:39am

The acquirer reference number (ARN) is a unique value assigned to a credit or debit card transaction after the card has been processed. The ARN tracks the transaction's movement, which helps card brands, card issuing banks, and processors locate the transaction and confirm its handling.

Customers can use the ARN to confirm that a refund was processed. If you provide your customer with the ARN, their bank can trace the transaction using this value. The ARN is passed as part of the response object.

Without an ARN, if a customer's card has been lost, stolen, or closed since the original transaction, the issuing bank can have trouble routing a refund to the customer's account. When this happens, the bank reroutes the money to the appropriate account, mails the customer a check, or returns the money to your merchant account.

Know before you code

This integration requires an Expanded Checkout integration.

Availability

This integration is available:

In the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and the EU.
For credit and debit card purchases, including those made with digital wallets or mobile devices.

Retrieve an ARN

You can retrieve the ARN for orders, captured payments, or refunded transactions. Make a GET call to the v2/checkout/orders/ORDER-ID, v2/payments/captures/CAPTURE-ID, or v2/payments/refunds/REFUND-ID endpoints to retrieve a transaction's ARN. If the ARN is available, it is listed in the response.

Note: After you capture a payment or refund a transaction, the ARN is available after a few days.

Orders API

API endpoint used: Show order details

Sample request
Sample response

1"request": {
2"method": "GET",
3"path": "v2/checkout/orders/ORDER-ID?fields=payment_source",
4"headers": {
5  "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS-TOKEN"
6}
7},

Step result

A successful request results in the following:

A return status code of HTTP 200 OK.

A JSON response body that contains the ARN.

Note: The sample response shows the ARN for payments and refunds. Your response body might return more data, such as payee, payer, and address information.

Refund API

API endpoint used: Show refund details

Sample request
Sample response

1"request": {
2"method": "GET",
3"path": "v2/payments/refunds/REFUND-ID",
4"headers": {
5  "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS-TOKEN"
6}
7},

Step result

A successful request results in the following:

A return status code of HTTP 200 OK.

A JSON response body that contains the ARN.

Capture API

API endpoint used: Show captured payment details

Sample request
Sample respones

1"request": {
2"method": "GET",
3"path": "v2/payments/captures/CAPTURE-ID",
4"headers": {
5  "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS-TOKEN"
6}
7},

Step result

A successful request results in the following:

A return status code of HTTP 200 OK.

A JSON response body that contains the ARN.