Key Concepts

Here is an introduction to the main data objects used to complete the Hokodo checkout journey. For a complete view of the API, see the API Reference Docs.

The sequence they are presented here is the sequence in which they are created in the Hokodo database during the checkout journey.

Company, User and Organisation

API Reference Docs: Company | User | Organisation

A Company represents the entity that the customer works for. In the Hokodo database, each company is stored against its registration number, alongside other information that is used for credit decisioning.

The customer uses Hokodo's Checkout element to search for their company during their checkout journey.

Since multiple individuals using your site may work for the same company, Hokodo has other concepts to represent individual customers and groups of customers.

A User represents an individual customer. Usually it will be the person logged in on your website.

An Organisation is a group of Users. All Users in the same Organisation can see and take actions on the orders in that Organisation.

Order

API Reference Docs: Order

An Order describes an instance of buying or selling a basket of goods on your platform. An Order consists of a list of Order Items, plus details about the company and individual making the purchase.

The Order is created when the user has finalised their basket of goods, usually when they click on a 'checkout' button in your store.

When you create an Order in Hokodo, you inform us about the line items as Order Items, including quantities such as per-item prices and tax. See Orders and Items for more details. This per-item information is used for our automated fraud checks to reduce risk of non-payment.

Payment Offers

API Reference Docs: Payment Offers

A Payment Offer represents payment terms offered to the customer - such as "Pay in 30 Days", "Pay in 60 Days", etc.

The Payment Offers are usually fetched immediately after the Order has been created.

Payment Offers are generated based on a template that is agreed during the onboarding process with Hokodo. You can decide whether to offer 30 or 60-day payment terms, for example. These terms can be relative to the order creation date or the delivery of goods.

During checkout, Hokodo will underwrite the risk of nonpayment of the order based on the customer's credit score and other factors, and return a list of available Payment Offers for the current Order.

Deferred Payment

API Reference Docs: Deferred Payment

A Deferred Payment object represents the promise that the customer has made to pay the balance of the order according to an agreed schedule.

The Deferred Payment is created when the customer has completed their purchase with Hokodo.

Changes to the Deferred Payment trigger webhook notifications to a URL of your choice. In particular, changes to the status field keep you up-to-date with the progress of any fraud reviews, order capture and voiding. (Webhook notifications are also sent by changes to the Order object.)