Create Direct Payment Session

This endpoint initiates a Create Direct Payment referring to specific payment method and stored payment instrument. No Aera payment payment page is rendered. The payment is initiated directly with the specified payment method. CARD and VIPPS payment methods are supported.

For payment method CARDa specific stored card referenced bypaymentInstrumentReference required. The endpoint starts an online transaction that

• Tries a low-value expemption if applicable (supported by the payment method and amount lower than limits). If successful, a success response is returned.
• If the low-value expeption is not possible or the issuer requires authentication, a checkoutUrl for rendering is included in the response. If no checkoutUrl is included in the response, the Authorize request is approved or declined without shopper interaction.

For payment method VIPPS the endpoint initiates at Vipps payment. The checkoutUrl in the response is a Vipps url to enter the mobile number (if needed) and to confirm and authenticate the Vipps payment.

Generally, all subsequent operations — such as capture, cancel, refund, update, and status retrieval — must refer to the pspReference in the response of this request.

Request Structure

{
  "header": {
    "merchantId": "Aera Merchant ID",
    "idempotency-key": "UUID v7 provided by merchant to uniquely identify the request"
  },
  "body": {    
    "transactionData": {
      "merchantReference": "Merchant provided reference to the payment (e.g. order number)",
      "paymentInstrumentReference": "Mandatory: Reference to a pre selected payment instrument",
      "immediateCapture": "Optional, true if immediate capture requested, default false",
      "splitShipment": "Optional, true if shipment potentially can be split into multiple shipments",
      "amountDetails": {
        "amount": "Gross amount in minor units",
        "currency": "ISO 4217 alphabetic code (e.g.NOK), must be the same as the merchant currency"
      },
      "paymentMethodDetails": {
        "CARD": {
          "paymentInstrumentReference": "Reference to a pre selected card payment instrument"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Response Structure

The response contains session metadata and checkout information.

{
  "responseInfo": {
    "responseCode": "000",
    "responseText": "Approved"
  },
  "sessionInfo": {
    "pspReference": "018f7a2e-8f5c-7a9b-b123-123456789abc",
    "createdAt": "2026-03-01T10:15:30Z",
    "expiredAt": "2026-03-01T10:30:30Z",
  }
}

Field reference: Create Direct Payment

HTTP Headers

Request body

transactionData object

transactionData.amountDetails

transactionData.paymentMethodDetails object

Only one object allowed, i.e. one of CARD or VIPPS.

transactionData.paymentMethodDetails.CARDobject

transactionData.paymentMethodDetails.VIPPSobject

Field reference: response

High-level processing result information.

sessionInfo

Create Direct Payment metadata.