Integrating in-person payments

This guide helps you choose the right integration approach for your platform and your connected accounts.

Why use Mollie Connect

We recommend using Mollie Connect for platform integrations as it offers:

• Centralized control over payments and terminals across all your connected merchants
• Revenue tools like application fees, split payments, and routing
• Secure authentication without needing to store or manage private API keys
• Scalable onboarding via a standardized OAuth flow

Overview

Mollie offers two types of devices for accepting in-person payments, both fully compatible with Mollie Connect:

Mollie supports two integration methods for these devices:

Both approaches support core Mollie Connect features including split payments, application fees and delayed routing. See our Mollie Connect documentation for more details.

Choosing your integration method

Use the decision criteria below to determine which approach — or combination of approaches — is right for your platform.

API integration

We suggest an API integration if your merchants:

• Operate from fixed locations such as retail stores, restaurants, or service desks
• Need a dedicated, always-ready payment device at the point-of-sale
• Want to integrate a payment terminal into a POS or order management system running on a secondary device (e.g., tablet or desktop)

Typical platforms: retail POS platforms, restaurant management systems, appointment booking software with on-site payment etc.

How it works: your backend creates a payment via the Mollie API and assigns it to a specific terminal. The terminal receives the payment instruction, your customer taps or inserts their card and the terminal communicates the result back via the API. Your server receives status updates through webhooks.

→ Next step: Integrating Mollie Terminals.

Mobile integration

Consider a mobile integration if your merchants:

• Are mobile or on-the-go, such as delivery drivers, market vendors, or field service workers
• Want to accept payments without additional hardware (beyond their Android device)
• Need a lightweight, low-cost way to start accepting in-person payments
• Already use your platform's Android app as their primary tool

Platform examples: hospitality & food ordering, event management & ticketing, delivery and logistics platforms, mobile service marketplaces, field service management software etc.

How it works: your Android app triggers Mollie Tap App on the same device using Android Intents. Our Tap App handles the NFC payment interaction and returns the result to your app.

→ Next step: Integrating Tap to Pay in Your Android App.

Hybrid approach

Your platform can integrate both options to cater to different use cases. For example:

• A restaurant platform might offer terminals for accepting payments at the counter and the Tap App for taking orders and payments at the table
• A services marketplace might use terminals at reception desks and the Tap App for technicians making house calls

Since both paths rely on the same Mollie Connect integration for onboarding and managing connected merchants, you can support both without building fundamentally different integrations. The key difference lies in how payments are initiated, however, terminal management and payment reconciliation work consistently across both approaches.

Direct API key integration

The following differences apply when you are integrating using your merchants' live API credentials compared to Mollie Connect:

And the following features stay the same:

• The choice between API and mobile integration still applies — use the comparison table and decision criteria above.
• The payment flow, terminal interaction and webhook handling are functionally identical.
• The Managing Terminals, Testing, and Go-live checklist guides are still fully relevant.