Payments

Supported Payment Types & Rails

Lipafy natively orchestrates all major Kenyan payment rails with real-time settlement and automated reconciliation.

📱 1. Safaricom M-Pesa PayBill (PAYBILL_PAYMENT)

Used for automated B2B payments to registered utilities, government agencies, schools, and corporate billers:

  • Shortcode: 5 to 7 digits (e.g. 150501 for Safaricom Home Fibre, 444400 for Nairobi Water, 572572 for KRA iTax).
  • Account Reference: Required customer identifier (e.g. Fibre phone number, Water meter account number, PRN e-slip).
  • Settlement SLA: Instantaneous (< 3s).

🛒 2. Safaricom Buy Goods & Services Till (TILL_PAYMENT)

Used for in-person and merchant payments at restaurants, supermarkets, and physical retail outlets:

  • Till Number: 5 to 7 digits (e.g. 565444).
  • Account Reference: Not required.
  • Settlement SLA: Instantaneous (< 3s).

💸 3. M-Pesa B2C Mobile Money (B2C_PAYMENT)

Used for dishing out payments directly to individuals, delivery couriers, remote contractors, and payroll disbursements:

  • Destination: Kenyan phone number formatted in E.164 without leading plus or standard Kenyan format (e.g. 254712345678 or 0712345678).
  • Settlement SLA: Instantaneous (< 3s). Recipient receives official Safaricom M-Pesa SMS confirmation immediately.

🏦 4. PesaLink & EFT Bank Transfers (PESALINK_TRANSFER)

Used for large interbank transfers directly into Kenyan commercial bank accounts:

  • Destination: Bank Account Number + Destination Bank Code (e.g. Equity Bank 068, KCB 001, Standard Chartered 002, NCBA 074).
  • Settlement SLA: PesaLink settles in real time 24/7/365 for amounts up to KES 999,999.

⚡ 5. Inbound M-Pesa STK Push Collections (STK_COLLECTION)

Used by AI sales bots in WhatsApp, Telegram, and social commerce apps to collect payments directly from buyers:

  • Triggers an on-device popup on the customer’s phone prompting them to enter their M-Pesa PIN.
  • Lipafy receives verified telecom webhook telemetry in < 3s and emits a real-time callback to your bot or application.

🏷️ 6. Zero-Fee Lipafy @tag Ledger Transfers (TAG_TRANSFER)

Used for instant, fee-free transfers between verified Lipafy accounts:

  • Destination: @username (e.g. @alice or @techcorp).
  • Settlement SLA: Immediate atomic ledger debit/credit with KES 0.00 fee.