Payment Method: Create

See also the Payment Method response object.

To create a new payment method for an existing customer, the only required attributes are the customer ID and payment method nonce.

note

You can also create a payment method when you create a customer.

result = gateway.payment_method.create(
  :customer_id => "131866",
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client
)

Parameters

Examples

Specify a token

If you are using a custom integration and want to specify what you would like the token to be, pass it with the other parameters, as in the example below. If you do not specify a payment method token, the gateway will generate a random one. Note that if you are using our Drop-in UI, you can't specify your own token.

result = gateway.payment_method.create(
  :customer_id => "131866",
  :token => "the_token",
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client
)

New default payment method

If a customer has multiple payment methods, the first payment method created will be the customer's default. The default payment method is used when creating transactions with customer_id. To set a new payment method as the default, use the make_default option.

result = gateway.payment_method.create(
  :customer_id => "131866",
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client,
  :options => {
    :make_default => true
  }
)

New payment method with billing address

To specify a billing address when creating a new payment method, use the billing_address option (ignored if the payment method is a PayPal account). Note that the specified billing address will override any address specified during nonce creation.

result = gateway.payment_method.create(
  :customer_id => "131866",
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client,
  :billing_address => {
    :street_address => "123 Abc Way"
  }
)

New payment method with existing billing address

If a customer already has an address you'd like to use, you can create a new payment method with that address.

result = gateway.payment_method.create(
  :customer_id => "131866",
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client,
  :billing_address_id => "the-billing-address-id"
)

Preventing duplicate payment methods

If a payment method exists in your Vault and you do not want to create a new payment method, you can reject duplicates by using the fail_on_duplicate_payment_method option. Note: This option will be ignored for PayPal, Pay with Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay payment methods.

result = gateway.payment_method.create(
  :customer_id => "131866",
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client,
  :options => {
    :fail_on_duplicate_payment_method => true
  }
)

Card verification

By default we will run credit card validations but not perform verification. Braintree strongly recommends verifying all cards before they are stored in your Vault by enabling card verification for your entire account in the Control Panel. If you choose to manually verify cards, set verify_card to true.

result = gateway.payment_method.create(
  :customer_id => "the_customer_id",
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client,
  :options => {
    :verify_card => true
  }
)

important

If you are using our Premium Fraud Management Tools, we strongly recommend passing device_data each time you verify a card.

Payment method nonces vs. raw card data

While it is possible to pass both raw card data and a payment method nonce in the same call, we recommend passing only a payment method nonce.

Passing both will result in a payment method that has a mix of their attributes, with precedence given to the fields individually, then to the attributes of the payment method nonce. For example, if you pass both a card number and a payment method nonce, the payment method will have the number you passed explicitly, but the rest of the attributes will be obtained through the nonce.