An introduction to GoCardless

You've heard of GoCardless and now you want to start collecting money online. Here's a walk-through of the process you need to go through to integrate with our API.

Summary

1. Sign up on our homepage. This creates a test account in our Sandbox. (NB. To log back in to the sandbox you need to visit manage-sandbox.gocardless.com rather than using the login link on our homepage.)
2. Check out our documentation.
3. Use one of our API client libraries to generate a payment link. Make sure that you are using the library in 'sandbox' mode. There are three payment types: one-off bill, subscription and pre-authorization.
4. Create a page that 'confirms' new payments (all of our libraries have an easy function to do this, see our documentation for "Completing the payment") and update the 'Redirect URI' in the Developer panel to point to that page.
5. Click on the payment link you generated and make a test payment (make sure you log-out of your sandbox account first!). Don't worry, in the sandbox no payments are actually processed. You can also use test bank details - Account number: 55779911; Sort code: 20-00-00.
6. After completing payment, you will get redirected to your confirmation page.
7. Once you are happy with your integration then click 'Upgrade to a live account now' at the top of the sandbox dashboard (if that link has disappeared then email us).
8. You will be asked to enter some basic details about what you're collecting money for. Then you will be taken to your live dashboard. Your production account comes with a new set of API keys so grab those from the Developer panel and copy/paste them into your code. Also, make sure that you're no longer making API calls in sandbox mode. NB. Your sandbox credentials will continue to work in the sandbox so you can continue to experiment if you wish.
9. You're done! Though it might be a good idea to make a test payment in your production environment too.

Screen-by-screen walkthrough

1. Click the orange 'Try it for free' or 'Get started now' button on our homepage:
2. You'll be taken to the signup form below where you fill in your details. NB. If you're collecting payments for yourself (or you're a sole-trader) then simply enter your name or the name of your organisation as your business name. Then click 'Create your account'.
3. This gets you into the developer sandbox and gives you various information to help you get started including links to our API documentation.
4. If you scroll down on that page than you'll find you API keys which you'll need to copy and paste into your code. You'll also see where to update your 'Redirect URI':
5. Once you have tested your integration and are happy with it, click ‘Upgrade to a live account now' at the top of your sandbox pages. You'll be taken to this page to enter more details about your business: 
6. Once you complete that form then you're taken to your dashboard in the production environment.

This post should have helped to give you an idea of the process to go through to accept your first payment online with GoCardless. If you still have any questions then please feel free to email us any time - we're here to help!