Manage Merchant Accounts¶
Overview¶
To use the Pitney Bowes Shipping APIs, a shipper must have a merchant account enrolled within your developer account. The APIs supports the enrollment models described here.
Merchant Enrollment Models¶
The APIs support two models for enrolling merchants and handling their postage payments:
Individual Postage Account Model: A merchant signs up for a merchant account through Merchant Portal using a signup URL specific to your developer account. During signup, the merchant enters a payment method and creates an Individual PB Postage Account for paying postage directly. To implement this approach, provide the merchant the custom signup URL. When the merchant signs up, retrieve the merchant’s Shipper ID through the Authorize a Merchant API.
Bulk Postage Account Model: You create merchant accounts using the Register a Known Shipper API. You pay your merchants’ postage through a Bulk Postage Account and bill each merchant separately. To set up Bulk Postage, contact Client Support at ClientSupportTechServices@pb.com.
API Operations¶
Use the following APIs to manage merchant accounts:
API |
Method |
Resource Path |
|---|---|---|
POST |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchants/credentials |
|
POST |
/v2/developers/{developerId}/merchants/registration |
|
PUT |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchants/{merchantId}/updateMerchant |
|
PATCH |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchant/{merchantId}/updateMerchant |
|
GET |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchants |
|
GET |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchants/{postalReportingNumber}/account-balance |
|
POST |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchants/{postalReportingNumber}/account/fund |
|
GET |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchants/{postalReportingNumber}/autorefillrule |
|
POST |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchants/{postalReportingNumber}/autorefillrule |
|
POST |
/v1/developers/{developerId}/merchants/{postalReportingNumber}/carrier-accounts/register?carrier={carrier} |
Shipper ID¶
Every merchant added to your developer account receives a unique Shipper ID to identify the merchant in transactions. To retrieve a merchant’s Shipper ID, issue the Get Merchants API. The Shipper ID is the value found in the postalReportingNumber field. If the merchant has an Individual PB Postage Account, the PB Postage Account number is the value found in the paymentAccountNumber field.
Auto Refill¶
By default, a PB Postage Account is set up to automatically refill when the balance falls falls below a specified threshold. You can change the refill settings at any time. You can also manually refill an account and can disable automatic refill. For more information, see Payments FAQs.
Subscription Fee¶
Pitney Bowes has the option to charge a subscription fee to merchants who have their own PB Postage Accounts. For more information, contact PaymentsAPISupport@pb.com.
Merchant Portal¶
Merchants who sign up for their own PB Postage Accounts have access to their accounts through Merchant Portal. Pitney Bowes provides separate Merchant Portals for the Sandbox and Production environments:
Environment |
Merchant Portal Link |
|---|---|
Production |
|
Sandbox |
Deactivate a Merchant Account¶
To deactivate a merchant account, please contact our Payments API Support team at PaymentsAPISupport@pb.com or +1 855 393-8874.
For More Information¶
For more information, see Merchant FAQs.