Virtual Card on the Web

Starting a payment with Affirm on the web with a virtual card consists of creating a checkout form, tokenizing customer information securely, and generating a virtual card. You can then process the card through your existing payment gateway.

This guide shows you how to include Affirm.js and Affirm Checkout on your web page to create an Affirm virtual card.

Step 1: Set up Affirm.js

Use only your sandbox API keys and domain for testing and development. This ensures that you don't accidentally modify your live transactions. Note that Affirm does not generate real virtual cards in the sandbox environment. Please work with your technical account manager on live testing.

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Use only your sandbox API keys and domain for testing and development. This ensures that you don't accidentally modify your live transactions.

<script>
 _affirm_config = {
   public_api_key:  "YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY",
   script:          "https://cdn1-sandbox.affirm.com/js/v2/affirm.js"
 };
(function(m,g,n,d,a,e,h,c){var b=m[n]||{},k=document.createElement(e),p=document.getElementsByTagName(e)[0],l=function(a,b,c){return function(){a[b]._.push([c,arguments])}};b[d]=l(b,d,"set");var f=b[d];b[a]={};b[a]._=[];f._=[];b._=[];b[a][h]=l(b,a,h);b[c]=function(){b._.push([h,arguments])};a=0;for(c="set add save post open empty reset on off trigger ready setProduct".split(" ");a<c.length;a++)f[c[a]]=l(b,d,c[a]);a=0;for(c=["get","token","url","items"];a<c.length;a++)f[c[a]]=function(){};k.async=
!0;k.src=g[e];p.parentNode.insertBefore(k,p);delete g[e];f(g);m[n]=b})(window,_affirm_config,"affirm","checkout","ui","script","ready","jsReady");
</script>

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Once you included the script above, a defined instance of Affirm will be created on your client. You will gain access to methods that are within the affirm object to trigger multiples actions.

Step 2: Create the checkout object

When a customer chooses Affirm to pay for a purchase, a [checkout object](https://docs.affirm.com/developers/reference/the-checkout-object) containing the order details should be created with affirm.checkout() so that Affirm can render the checkout flow. See below for a sample checkout object:

affirm.checkout({ 
   "merchant":{ 
      "name":"Your Customer-Facing Merchant Name",
      "use_vcn": true
   },
   "shipping":{ 
      "name":{ 
         "first":"Joe",
         "last":"Doe"
      },
      "address":{ 
         "line1":"633 Folsom St",
         "line2":"Floor 7",
         "city":"San Francisco",
         "state":"CA",
         "zipcode":"94107",
         "country":"USA"
      },
      "phone_number":"4153334567",
      "email":"[email protected]"
   },
   "billing":{ 
      "name":{ 
         "first":"Joe",
         "last":"Doe"
      },
      "address":{ 
         "line1":"633 Folsom St",
         "line2":"Floor 7",
         "city":"San Francisco",
         "state":"CA",
         "zipcode":"94107",
         "country":"USA"
      },
      "phone_number":"4153334567",
      "email":"[email protected]"
   },
   "items":[ 
      { 
         "display_name":"Awesome Pants",
         "sku":"ABC-123",
         "unit_price":1999,
         "qty":3,
         "item_image_url":"http://merchantsite.com/images/awesome-pants.jpg",
         "item_url":"http://merchantsite.com/products/awesome-pants.html"
      }
   ],
   "order_id":"JKLMO4321",   
   "metadata": {
       "mode": "modal"
     },
   "shipping_amount":1000,
   "tax_amount":500,
   "total":5997
});

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Note:

• Our virtual card product only supports modal mode. The Affirm checkout will open in a modal that floats on top of your checkout page. This is indicated in the checkout object when setting the mode parameter to modal.
• Set the use_vcn parameter to true to enable card details to be generated on loan origination.
• affirm.checkout() validates the required data in the checkout object.

Step 3: Launch checkout and handle callbacks

After you create the checkout object, you can launch the Affirm checkout modal using the affirm.checkout.open_vcn() function. When the customer confirms their Affirm loan, we send a JavaScript callback on success or on error, depending on the outcome. In the event of a successful checkout, you will retrieve the card details and the checkout_id from the callback. See below for a template:

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If you don't want to retrieve the card details from the client-side, we can always pass them back via the server-side only (for PCI reasons). Please contact Affirm through [email protected] for further information.

affirm.checkout.open_vcn({
      success: function(card_response) {
         console.log(card_response);
         //add logic on handling the returned client-side card details and/or checkout token here
      },
      error: function(error_response) {
        console.log(error_response);
        //add logic on handling a declination or abandoned checkout here. We recommend redirecting users to the payment selection screen to choose an alternative payment method.
      },
      checkout_data: data
});

Step 4: Card management

Once you receive the card details from the checkout response, you can submit authorizations, captures, and refunds to the virtual card using your existing payment rails.

You can also retrieve card details via your server using our Read Card API endpoint and the associated checkout_id.

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If you don't want to retrieve the card details from the client-side, we can always pass them back via the server-side only (for PCI reasons). Please [contact Affirm] for further details.

affirm.checkout.open_vcn({
      success: function(card_response) {
         console.log(card_response);
      },
      error: function(error_response) {
        console.log(error_response);
      },
      checkout_data: data
});

Step 5: Card management

Once you have received the card details from the checkout response, you can submit authorizations, captures, and refunds to the virtual card using your existing payment rails. You can also retrieve card details via your server using our Read Card API endpoint and the associated checkout_id.

FAQ

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Resolving "affirm.checkout.open_vcn is not a function" Error in VCN Integration

Q: How do I fix the error "affirm.checkout.open_vcn is not a function" when using Affirm's checkout methods?

A: This error typically occurs when the Affirm script hasn't fully loaded before the checkout and open_vcn methods are called. To resolve this, wrap the Affirm checkout and open_vcn method calls within the affirm.ui.ready method. Below is a solution that has assisted multiple merchants:

JavaScript

affirm.ui.ready(function() {
  affirm.checkout(checkoutObj);
  affirm.checkout.open_vcn({
      success: function(card_checkout) {
          //On successful loan confirmation Affirm will trigger this function
          //This function will be used to pass CC number to your CC processor
          //You will need to handle redirecting to a success page here as well
          console.log(card_checkout);
      },
      error: function(error_response) {
          //On Cancel or decline Affirm will trigger the following function
          //You will need to handle redirecting to an error page here
          console.log(error_response);
      }
  });
});

In this solution, the success function is used for processing successful loan confirmations, including passing credit card details to your processor and redirecting to a success page. The error function handles cancellations or declines by redirecting to an error page. This workaround ensures that Affirm's methods are only called after the script is fully loaded, effectively preventing the error.