Cards
Card payments are one of the most widely used payment modes in online commerce. Nimbbl supports credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards across multiple card networks. Customers enter their card details during checkout, authenticate the transaction, and the funds are collected through the merchant's configured payment partner.
What Are Card Payments
A card payment occurs when a customer uses a credit card, debit card, or prepaid card to pay for an order. The customer provides their card number, expiry date, and CVV during checkout. The transaction is then authenticated (typically through 3D Secure or OTP verification) before the payment partner processes the fund transfer.
Nimbbl handles the complete card payment lifecycle: presenting the card input form (when using Sonic checkout), routing the transaction to the appropriate payment partner, managing authentication redirects, and communicating the outcome.
Card Types
Nimbbl supports three card types based on the funding source:
- Credit cards — the issuing bank extends a line of credit; the cardholder pays later
- Debit cards — funds are deducted directly from the cardholder's bank account
- Prepaid cards — funds are loaded onto the card in advance
Card Attributes
Every card has attributes that affect payment processing, routing, and eligibility for features like EMI. These attributes are determined by the card's BIN (Bank Identification Number) — the first six to eight digits of the card number.
| Attribute | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Card network (scheme) | The payment network that facilitates the transaction | Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, Amex |
| Card geography | Whether the card was issued domestically or internationally | Domestic, International |
| Card type | Whether the card is issued to a business or an individual | Corporate, Retail |
| Card issuer | The bank that issued the card | HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Axis |
| Country | The country where the card was issued (ISO3 code) | IND, USA, GBR |
These attributes are used by Nimbbl's routing engine (Pulse) to determine which payment partner processes the transaction. They also determine eligibility for features like Card EMI, where availability depends on the card network, issuer, and geography.
You can retrieve card attributes for any card using the BIN lookup API. For full details, see the Checkout Utilities API.
Supported Card Networks
Nimbbl supports the following card networks through its payment partners:
| Card Network | Notes |
|---|---|
| Visa | Most widely accepted network globally |
| Mastercard | Global acceptance with strong domestic presence |
| RuPay | India's domestic card network operated by NPCI |
| American Express | Premium card network; may require separate merchant onboarding |
| Diners Club | Accepted through select payment partners |
| JCB | Japan-based international network |
| Maestro | Debit-focused network by Mastercard |
| UnionPay | China's national card network with growing international presence |
Card network availability depends on your payment partner configuration. Not all payment partners support every card network. Contact your Nimbbl account manager for specifics.
Card Payment Flow
A card payment follows these steps from initiation to completion:
- Customer selects card payment — during checkout, the customer chooses to pay by card and enters their card number, expiry date, and CVV (or selects a saved card)
- Card details are sent to the payment partner — Nimbbl routes the transaction to the appropriate payment partner based on Pulse routing rules
- Authentication — the payment partner initiates 3D Secure authentication. The customer is redirected to their bank's authentication page to enter an OTP or approve the transaction
- Authorization — once authenticated, the issuing bank authorizes (or declines) the transaction based on available funds and fraud checks
- Payment result — the payment partner returns the result to Nimbbl. If successful, the payment moves to Succeeded state and the parent order moves to Completed
All card transactions in India require two-factor authentication (3D Secure) as mandated by the RBI. International transactions may also require authentication depending on the issuing bank's policies.
Saved Cards and Tokenization
Nimbbl supports saved cards to enable faster repeat checkouts. Saved cards use tokenization to store card references securely without retaining the actual card number.
How Tokenization Works
As per RBI guidelines, merchants and payment aggregators are not permitted to store actual card details. Instead, a unique token is generated for each card-merchant combination:
- First transaction — the customer enters their full card details and completes the payment. During this process, the card network (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay) generates a network token that represents the card for this specific merchant
- Token storage — Nimbbl stores the token reference (not the actual card number). The token is linked to the customer and the merchant
- Subsequent transactions — when the customer returns, they can select their saved card. Nimbbl uses the stored token to process the payment without requiring the full card number again. The customer still needs to authenticate (OTP or 3D Secure)
Card Input Types
The card_input_type attribute in payment responses indicates how the card was provided:
| Input Type | Description |
|---|---|
card_pan | Customer entered the full card number manually |
nimbbl_token_id | Payment was made using a Nimbbl-stored card token |
merchant_network_token | Payment was made using a merchant-provided network token |
A saved card token preserves the card's key attributes (network, issuer, country, last four digits) so that the checkout can display recognizable card information to the customer. When the customer selects a saved card, only the CVV is required to complete the payment.
For more details on retrieving saved card information, see the Checkout Utilities API.
International Cards
Nimbbl supports international card payments for merchants who have international payment processing enabled with their payment partners. International cards follow the same payment flow as domestic cards, with the following considerations:
- Currency — international transactions can be processed in the order currency or converted to INR depending on the merchant's currency configuration
- Authentication — international cards may or may not require 3D Secure authentication, depending on the issuing bank and the card network's policies
- Card networks — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Diners Club are the primary networks for international transactions. RuPay is a domestic-only network
- Payment partner support — not all payment partners support international card processing. Check your partner configuration for international acceptance
International card acceptance requires additional onboarding with your payment partner. Contact your Nimbbl account manager to enable international payments.