Step 1: Create a recipient #

Choose the Customer Type for your Recipient #

Before your end user can receive funds to their connected bank account, they must be created as a Customer via the Dwolla API. The ability to send funds to end users is very flexible in that all Customer types can be used to leverage this funds flow. To learn more about the different types of Customers and the capabilities of each, check out our developer resource article.

Step 1A. Create the Customer #

While you can use any Customer type for this funds flow, we will be creating a receive-only user in this guide, as it offers a lightweight onboarding experience for users. Just as the name implies, receive-only users are only eligible to receive funds into their attached bank account.

Request Parameters - Receive-only User

POST https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers
Content-Type: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Accept: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Authorization: Bearer 0Sn0W6kzNicvoWhDbQcVSKLRUpGjIdlPSEYyrHqrDDoRnQwE7Q
{
  "firstName": "Jane",
  "lastName": "Merchant",
  "email": "jmerchant@nomail.net",
  "type": "receive-only",
  "ipAddress": "99.99.99.99"
}

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Location: https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/c7f300c0-f1ef-4151-9bbe-005005aa3747

When the Customer is successfully created on your application, you will receive a 201 HTTP response with an empty response body. You can reference the Location header to retrieve a link that represents the created Customer resource. We recommend storing the full URL for future use, as it will be needed for actions such as attaching a bank or correlating webhooks that are triggered for the user in the Dwolla system.

Step 1B. Handle Webhooks #

If you have an active webhook subscription, you will receive the customer_created webhook immediately after the resource has been created.