Appetier + Helcim integration

What works

With your access: Create an API access configuration in Helcim under Integrations, then paste its API token into the console. Appetier creates charges and reads payment status on your Helcim account. Helcim's developer sign-up is self-serve.

On our own: Without Helcim, card checkout runs on Appetier Pay, and any processor works.

What it does

Takes card payments for direct orders at Helcim's published rates, and marks each order paid once Helcim confirms it.

Who it's for

Restaurants that want to see what card processing costs them.

Keep Helcim for direct orders

Appetier Pay is the simplest way to take cards, and there is nothing to connect. A restaurant that already runs on Helcim can keep it instead. Helcim prices every transaction as the card network's cost plus a set margin, and it publishes that margin. For online and keyed payments under $50,000 a month, the margin is 0.50% + 25¢. It falls as volume grows. Between $1 million and $5 million a month, it's 0.15% + 15¢. Helcim lists no monthly account fee, no minimums, and no statement fees. Appetier adds nothing.

Guests pay in a form Helcim hosts

The guest enters a card in HelcimPay.js, a payment form Helcim hosts. That card goes straight to Helcim. Appetier receives a token, never the number. A declined card or an abandoned form leaves the order unpaid, and the kitchen never sees it as paid. Each order also records how it was paid, so reports split by payment method.

Paid means Helcim lists an approved purchase

Appetier doesn't trust what the card form posts back to the page. Instead it asks Helcim for the card transactions that carry the order's number as their invoice number. When Helcim lists an approved purchase with a matching amount, the order is paid.

Left to Helcim

Payout timing is Helcim's to set, and so are the rates. When Helcim changes its margins, that change comes from Helcim, not Appetier. Refunds are issued from your Helcim dashboard. Chargebacks go through Helcim and the guest's bank. You send any supporting documents to Helcim. Guests with a question about a charge contact you or their card issuer. Keeping the Helcim account in good standing is on you, because checkout depends on it.

Dollars only, and a 60 minute window

HelcimPay.js checkout runs in US or Canadian dollars. An order in any other currency is refused before a payment opens. Each checkout session lasts 60 minutes. A declined card leaves the form open for another try until that time is up, and the order stays unpaid.

What you enter in the console

One value: an API token. In Helcim, create an API access configuration under Integrations. Its permissions come in three groups, General, Settings, and Transaction Processing, and Appetier needs the last. Turn on HelcimPay.js and list your storefront's address in Helcim, or the card form won't load. Appetier keeps the token in encrypted storage and never shows it again.

Testing, and switching processors

For a test order, use a token from a free Helcim developer test account, then swap in your live token before you start taking payments. Switching to Helcim from another processor turns the old one off for that brand.