## Merchant Onboarding Guide

**Use our Merchant Onboarding API to easily board your merchants using our easy-to-use, customizable merchant application.**

### About the Merchant Application

Talus makes it easy to onboard merchants into payment processing—without the hassle of collecting sensitive information yourself. Instead, leverage **Talus’s robust, customizable, and white-labeled merchant application experience**.

Using the **Talus Connect API**, you can direct your merchants to a personalized onboarding flow that matches your branding and their specific business needs. Once completed, the merchant is automatically provisioned with the correct payment accounts to support the payment methods you’ve enabled for them.

# 

Merchant Onboarding Screnshot
### Before You Begin

Before you can start onboarding merchants:

1. You must be registered as an ISV with Talus.
2. Your onboarding experience must be configured.
3. Once setup is complete, you will receive your **ISV Master API Key**, which is required to authenticate the API calls described below.


### 1. Create a Merchant Account

Use the [Create Account API](https://docs.taluspay.com/) to create a new merchant account.

- At minimum, you must include the `phone`.
- Optionally, you can **prefill other merchant details** or **define custom [capabilities](https://docs.taluspay.com/)** for the account.
- If no custom capabilities are provided, the account will inherit the default configuration associated with your ISV.



```bash
curl https://api.taluspay.com/v1/merchants \
  -H "Authorization: Basic <sandbox_account_secret>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d
{
  "phone": "1500500500",
  "merchant" : {
    "capabilities": {
      "types": [
        "two_tiered",
        "ach"
      ],
      "options": {
        "two_tiered": {
          "vmd_cp_rate_percent": "2.00",
          "vmd_cp_fee_fixed": "0.10",
          "vmd_cnp_rate_percent": "2.50",
          "vmd_cnp_fee_fixed": "0.15",
          "amex_cp_rate_percent": "3.10",
          "amex_cp_fee_fixed": "0.25",
          "amex_cnp_rate_percent": "3.50",
          "amex_cnp_fee_fixed": "0.30"
        },
        "ach": {
          "txn_fee_percent": "1.50",
          "txn_fee_fixed": "0.25"
        }
      }
    }
  }
```

### 2. Create an Onboarding Link

Use the [Create Account Link API](https://docs.taluspay.com/) with the following parameters:

- `merchant_id`: The ID of the account you created in step 1.
- `redirect_url`: Where the merchant should be sent after completing onboarding.
- `type`: Must be `"account_onboarding"`.
This will generate a URL that launches the merchant into the onboarding flow.



```bash
curl https://api.taluspay.com/v1/onboarding_links \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Basic <sandbox_account_secret>" \
  -d '
{
  "merchant_id": "mch_123456
  "type": "account_onboarding"
}
```

### 3. Redirect Your Merchant to the Onboarding Link

Once you receive the onboarding link, redirect your merchant to it.

> ✅ **Important**: Authenticate the merchant within your app before redirecting them to ensure secure access and tracking.


### 4. Handle the Post-Onboarding Redirect

After onboarding, Talus will redirect the merchant to the `redirect_url` you provided.
Make sure your application:

- Validates the returned state or query params (if used),
- Confirms the merchant's onboarding status via API, and
- Displays a meaningful success (or next steps) message.


### 5. Monitor and Re-engage Incomplete Onboardings

Some merchants may abandon the flow before completion. You can:

- Use the [Retrieve Account API](https://docs.taluspay.com/) to check onboarding status.
- If not complete, prompt the merchant with a UI element to **resume onboarding**.
- Reuse the existing account link if it’s still valid, or generate a new one for a better user experience.


### Whats Next?

Explore the full [Create Merchant API](https://docs.taluspay.com/) and [Merchant Application Link API](https://docs.taluspay.com/) documentation for deeper integration options and advanced use cases.