Customer

Customer: Create

See also the Customer response object.

You can create a customer by itself, with a payment method, or with a credit card with a billing address.

note
If you intend to create a transaction at the same time as a customer, you may want to use Transaction: Sale with either the options-store_in_vault_on_success or options-store_in_vault options.

Ruby

result = gateway.customer.create(
  :first_name => "Jen",
  :last_name => "Smith",
  :company => "Braintree",
  :email => "jen@example.com",
  :phone => "312.555.1234",
  :fax => "614.555.5678",
  :website => "www.example.com"
)
if result.success?
  puts result.customer.id
else
  p result.errors
end

Parameters

:companyString

Company name. Maximum 255 characters.

:credit_card

A credit or debit payment method.

:billing_address

A billing address associated with a specific credit card. The maximum number of addresses per customer is 50.

:companyString

Company name. Maximum 255 characters.

:country_code_alpha2String

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code specified in an address. The gateway only accepts specific alpha-2 values.

:country_code_alpha3String

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code specified in an address. The gateway only accepts specific alpha-3 values.

:country_code_numericString

The ISO 3166-1 numeric country code specified in an address. The gateway only accepts specific numeric values.

:country_nameString

The country name specified in an address. We only accept specific country names.

:extended_addressString

The extended address information—such as apartment or suite number. 255 character maximum.

:first_nameString

The first name. Maximum 255 characters.

:international_phone

The phone number that belongs to the address that is structured with country code and national number.

:country_codeString

Country code of phone number. 1-3 digits. Required.

:national_numberString

National number of phone number. 4-12 digits. Required.

:last_nameString

The last name. Maximum 255 characters.

:localityString

The locality/city. Maximum 255 characters.

:options

:phone_numberString

Deprecated.

We recommend using international_phone. This functionality still exists in the gateway but is no longer documented. This parameter will be removed in the future.

:postal_codeString

The postal code. Postal code must be a string of 4-9 alphanumeric characters, optionally separated by a dash or a space. Spaces and hyphens are ignored.

:regionString

The state or province. Maximum 255 characters.

:street_addressString

The street address. Maximum 255 characters.

:cardholder_nameString

The name associated with the credit card. Must be less than or equal to 175 characters.

:cvvString

Typically requires PCI SAQ D compliance

We recommend using payment_method_nonce to avoid any PCI concerns with raw credit card data being present on your server.

A 3 or 4 digit card verification value assigned to a credit card. The CVV will never be stored in the gateway, but it can be provided with one-time requests to verify the card.

:expiration_dateString

Typically requires PCI SAQ D compliance

We recommend using payment_method_nonce to avoid any PCI concerns with raw credit card data being present on your server.

The expiration date of a credit card, formatted MM/YY or MM/YYYY. May be used instead of expiration_month and expiration_year.

:expiration_monthString

Typically requires PCI SAQ D compliance

We recommend using payment_method_nonce to avoid any PCI concerns with raw credit card data being present on your server.

The expiration month of a credit card, formatted MM. May be used with expiration_year, and instead of expiration_date.

:expiration_yearString

Typically requires PCI SAQ D compliance

We recommend using payment_method_nonce to avoid any PCI concerns with raw credit card data being present on your server.

The two or four digit year associated with a credit card, formatted YYYY or YY. May be used with expiration_month, and instead of expiration_date.

:numberString

Typically requires PCI SAQ D compliance

We recommend using payment_method_nonce to avoid any PCI concerns with raw credit card data being present on your server.

The 12-19 digit value on a credit card consisting of a bank identification number (BIN) and primary account number (PAN).

:options

Optional values that can be passed with a request.

:fail_on_duplicate_payment_methodbool

If this option is passed and the same payment method has already been added to the Vault for any customer, the request will fail. This option will be ignored for PayPal, Pay with Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung and ACH payment methods.

:make_defaultbool

This option makes the specified payment method the default for the customer.

:skip_advanced_fraud_checkingboolean

If the payment method is a credit card, prevents the verification from being evaluated as part of Premium Fraud Management Tools checks. Use with caution – once you've skipped checks for a verification, it is not possible to run them retroactively.

:venmo_sdk_session

This functionality still exists in the gateway but is no longer documented. Will remove this param/attr when the corresponding gateway code is removed.

:verification_amountString

Specify a non-negative amount that you want to use to verify a card. If you do not pass this option, the gateway will automatically use a verification amount of $0 or $1, depending on the processor and/or card type.

:verification_merchant_account_idString

Specify the merchant account ID that you want to use to verify a card. Can't be a Braintree Marketplace sub-merchant account. For more details on merchant accounts in general, see merchant_account_id on Transaction: Sale.

:verify_cardbool

If the payment method is a credit card, this option prompts the gateway to verify the card's number and expiration date. It also verifies the AVS and CVV information if you've enabled AVS and CVV rules.

note
Braintree strongly recommends verifying all cards before they are stored in your Vault by enabling card verification for your entire account in the Control Panel.

In some cases, cardholders may see a temporary authorization on their account after their card has been verified. The authorization will fall off the cardholder's account within a few days and will never settle.

Only returns a Credit Card Verification result if verification runs and is unsuccessful.

:three_d_secure_pass_thru

Results of a merchant-performed 3D Secure authentication. You will only need to use these fields if you've performed your own integration with a 3D Secure MPI provider (e.g. Cardinal Centinel). Otherwise, Braintree's SDKs handle this for you in our standard 3D Secure integration.

:cavvString

Cardholder authentication verification value or CAVV. The main encrypted message issuers and card networks use to verify authentication has occurred. Mastercard uses an AVV message and American Express uses an AEVV message, each of which should also be passed in the cavv parameter.

:ds_transaction_idString

Transaction identifier resulting from 3D Secure 2 authentication. This field must be supplied for Mastercard Identity Check.

:eci_flagString

The value of the electronic commerce indicator (ECI) flag, which indicates the outcome of the 3DS authentication.

Accepted values for Mastercard:

00 = Failed or not attempted
01 = Attempted
02 = Success
04 = Data-Only (Applies to limited processors)

Accepted values for all other card brands:

07 = Failed or not attempted
06 = Attempted
05 = Success

:three_d_secure_versionString

The version of 3D Secure authentication used for the transaction. Required on Visa and Mastercard authentications. Must be composed of digits separated by periods (e.g. 1.0.2).

:xidString

Transaction identifier resulting from 3D Secure authentication. Uniquely identifies the transaction and sometimes required in the authorization message. Must be base64-encoded. This field will no longer be used in 3D Secure 2 authentications.

:tokenString

An alphanumeric value that references a specific payment method stored in your Vault. Must be less than or equal to 36 characters. If using a custom integration, you can specify what you want the token to be. If not specified, the gateway will generate one that can be accessed on the result. If using our Drop-in UI with a customer ID to vault payment methods, you can't specify your own token. Length and format of gateway-generated tokens and IDs may change at any time.

:custom_fields

A collection of custom field/value pairs. Fields and values must be less than 255 characters. You must set up each custom field in the Control Panel prior to passing it with a request. Querying this value returns a collection of custom field values stored on the customer object.

:device_dataString

Customer device information. Pass this value only if you have Premium Fraud Management Tools enabled and are adding credit card data to your Vault. Be sure to provide the full string received from the Braintree client SDK.

:emailString

Email address composed of ASCII characters.

:faxString

Fax number. Maximum 255 characters.

:first_nameString

The first name. The first name value must be less than or equal to 255 characters.

:idString

A string value that will represent this specific customer in your Vault. 36 character maximum; must be unique within your Vault; valid characters are letters, numbers, -, and _; the words "all" and "new" currently can't be used. If not specified on creation, the gateway will generate an alphanumeric ID that can be accessed on the result. The generated IDs will never start with a leading 0 and are case insensitive.

:international_phone

The phone number that belongs to the address that is structured with country code and national number.

:country_codeString

Country code of phone number. 1-3 digits. Required.

:national_numberString

National number of phone number. 4-12 digits. Required.

:last_nameString

The last name. The last name value must be less than or equal to 255 characters.

:payment_method_nonceString

One-time-use reference to payment information provided by your customer, such as a credit card or PayPal account. When passed on customer create, it creates a payment method associated with the new customer; see example below.

:phoneString

Deprecated.

We recommend using international_phone. This functionality still exists in the gateway but is no longer documented. This parameter will be removed in the future.

:risk_data

Customer device information, which is sent directly to supported processors for fraud analysis. These fields are automatically populated if using Premium Fraud Management Tools. Currently only available when processing American Express via Amex Direct. Contact us with any questions.

:customer_browserString

The User Agent field provided by the customer. Maximum 255 characters.

:customer_ipString

The customer's IP address.

:tax_identifiersarray

A set of country code ID pairs, analogous to Social Security numbers in the United States. A customer may have multiple national tax identifiers in the event of multinational citizenship, but only one identifier per country code. Because tax identifiers are PII, these values are not displayed in the Control Panel or serialized on the customer response. You will only need to use these fields for processing in certain countries.

:tax_identifiers[#]

:country_codeString

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code specified in an address. The gateway only accepts specific alpha-2 values.

:identifierString

The Social Security number analogue for the corresponding country code.

:three_d_secure_authentication_idString

ID of the 3D Secure authentication performed for create. Do not provide this field if you are using a nonce that is 3D Secure enriched.

:websiteString

Website URL. Must be less than or equal to 255 characters. Website must be well-formed. The URL scheme is optional.

Examples

Specify your own customer ID

You can optionally choose what you would like the ID to be. Customer IDs are case insensitive.

Ruby

result = gateway.customer.create(
  :id => "customer_123",
  :first_name => "Katrina"
)

Blank customer

If you're only interested in storing a payment method without any customer information, you can create a blank customer:

Ruby

result = gateway.customer.create

Customer with a payment method

You can also create a payment method along with a customer. If all customer validations and credit card validations or PayPal account validations pass, and the credit card is verified (if supplied and verification is requested), success will return true.

Ruby

result = gateway.customer.create(
  :first_name => "Charity",
  :last_name => "Smith",
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client
)
if result.success?
  puts result.customer.id
  puts result.customer.payment_methods[0].token
else
  p result.errors
end

If you do not specify a token for the payment method, as in the example above, the gateway will generate one. If you are using a custom integration, you can also choose what you want the token to be.

Ruby

result = gateway.customer.create(
  :credit_card => {
    :token => "credit_card_123"
  },
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client
)

Customer with a payment method and billing address

You can also pass in a billing address when creating a customer and payment method.

Ruby

result = gateway.customer.create(
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client,
  :credit_card => {
    :billing_address => {
      :first_name => "Jen",
      :last_name => "Smith",
      :company => "Braintree",
      :street_address => "123 Address",
      :locality => "City",
      :region => "State",
      :postal_code => "12345"
    }
  }
)

Card verification

By default we will run credit card validations but not perform verification. Braintree strongly recommends verifying all cards before they are stored in your Vault by enabling card verification for your entire account in the Control Panel. If you choose to manually verify cards, set verify_card to true.

Ruby

result = gateway.customer.create(
  :payment_method_nonce => nonce_from_the_client,
  :first_name => "Fred",
  :last_name => "Jones",
  :credit_card => {
    :options => {
      :verify_card => true
    }
  }
)

important
If you are using our Premium Fraud Management Tools, we strongly recommend passing device_data each time you verify a card.

Use custom fields

Use custom fields to store additional data about your customers in Braintree. You'll need to configure your custom fields in the Control Panel to use them via the API.

Here is an example of setting custom fields with API names of custom_field_one and custom_field_two:

Ruby

result = gateway.customer.create(
  :first_name => "Bob",
  :last_name => "Smith",
  :custom_fields => {
    :custom_field_one => "value one",
    :custom_field_two => "value two"
  }
)

if result.success?
  result.customer.custom_fields
  #=> {:custom_field_one => "value one", :custom_field_two => "value two"}
end

See also

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