Pay by Link allows you to generate a payment link that you can share with a customer, enabling them to complete a payment without requiring a full checkout integration.
This is useful for:
Email or SMS payments
Customer support or back-office payments
Invoices or manual payment requests
How It Works
Your backend creates a payment link via Adyen
You send the link to the customer
The customer opens the link and completes the payment on a hosted page
Adyen processes the payment
You receive the result via webhooks
When to Use Pay by Link
Use Pay by Link when:
You don’t control the frontend checkout
You need a quick way to collect payments
Payments are initiated outside a standard e-commerce flow
Create a Payment Link
To generate a payment link, call Adyen’s Pay by Link API.
Example request (pseudocode)
POST /paymentLinks
{
"merchantAccount": "YOUR_MERCHANT_ACCOUNT",
"amount": {
"currency": "EUR",
"value": 1000
},
"reference": "ORDER-12345",
"shopperEmail": "customer@example.com",
"returnUrl": "https://yourdomain.com/return",
"store": "YOUR_STORE_ID"
}
Important fields
merchantAccount→ your Adyen merchant accountamount→ payment amountreference→ your internal order referencestore→ required for Valpay integrationsreturnUrl→ where the customer is redirected after payment
Response
Adyen returns a hosted payment URL:
{
"url": "https://pay.adyen.link/xyz123"
}You can then share this URL with your customer.
Customer Experience
The customer opens the link
A secure Adyen-hosted payment page is displayed
Available payment methods are shown
The customer completes the payment
They are redirected back to your
returnUrl
Handling Payment Results
Like other Adyen integrations, the final payment status is not guaranteed from the redirect alone.
You must:
Implement webhooks
Listen for events such as
AUTHORISATIONUpdate your system based on webhook data
Expiration and Management
Payment links can:
Expire after a defined time
Be used once or multiple times (depending on configuration)
You can manage links via API:
Retrieve link status
Cancel a link
Testing
Use Adyen test environment
Generate links using test credentials
Complete payments with test cards
Security Considerations
Do not expose API keys when creating links
Only generate links from your backend
Treat links as sensitive (they allow payment access)
Adyen Documentation
For full API details, refer to:
https://docs.adyen.com/online-payments/pay-by-link
Key Takeaway
Pay by Link is a fast and flexible way to accept payments without building a full checkout flow. It leverages Adyen’s hosted payment pages while still integrating with your backend through APIs and webhooks.