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In developmentConcept walkthrough with a local demo link
•Ozow (Planned)…SnapScan (Researching)…PayShap (Researching)
ShapLink • Pay by Link Concept

Create a link. Get paid. Move on.

This page is a walkthrough of how ShapLink is intended to work. It covers the merchant and customer journeys, planned rails, and draft API and webhook shapes.

Open concept demoSee product walkthroughRead the concept case study
  • • Full merchant and customer journey storyboard
  • • One webhook and CSV export concept
  • • Rails roadmap Ozow, SnapScan, PayShap
ShapLink storyboard preview

End to end journeys

Merchant journey
  1. 1) Create a payment link with amount and reference
  2. 2) Share it WhatsApp SMS email
  3. 3) Status moves to paid
  4. 4) Receive one payment.paid webhook
  5. 5) Export CSV for finance
  6. 6) Optional send receipt mark fulfilled or refund
Open concept demoView planned railsSee security notes
Customer journey
  1. 1) Tap link then clean ShapLink pay page
  2. 2) Continue to provider bank or PSP page
  3. 3) Login OTP approve payment
  4. 4) Redirect back to success page and receipt
  5. 5) Optional email themselves the receipt
Heads up. There is no live product or MVP. This page is a concept walkthrough to explain how ShapLink would work.

How it would work

  1. 1) Create a link via API or dashboard concept
  2. 2) Share the link with your customer
  3. 3) Customer pays on the provider page
  4. 4) We update the link status to paid
  5. 5) You get one normalized webhook and CSV
  6. 6) After payment send receipt fulfill refund

Security: planned HMAC signed webhooks X-Shap-Signature.

Observability: idempotency keys request IDs and simple latency charts.

Concept only. The following snippets are not functional sketches.
API concept curl
# Concept API sketch not live
curl -X POST https://api.shap.link/v1/links \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_test_***' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "amount": 199.00,
    "currency": "ZAR",
    "description": "Order #A452",
    "rails": ["ozow"],
    "customer": {"email": "lee@example.com"},
    "metadata": {"orderId": "A452"}
  }'
API concept Node
// Concept API sketch not live
const res = await fetch("https://api.shap.link/v1/links", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": "Bearer sk_test_***",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    amount: 199.00,
    currency: "ZAR",
    description: "Order #A452",
    rails: ["ozow"],
    customer: { email: "lee@example.com" },
    metadata: { orderId: "A452" }
  })
});
const link = await res.json();
console.log(link);
Webhook concept JSON
// Concept webhook sketch not live
{
  "type": "payment.paid",
  "linkId": "lnk_01HXY…",
  "status": "paid",
  "amount": 199.00,
  "currency": "ZAR",
  "rail": "ozow",
  "reference": "Order #A452",
  "metadata": { "orderId": "A452" },
  "occurredAt": "2025-09-12T14:22:31Z"
}
// Signature header (concept): X-Shap-Signature: t=..., v1=HMAC_SHA256(payload, webhook_secret)

Designed for both journeys

Universal link

One URL for your buyer. More rails planned.

Single webhook

One normalized event shape for status updates.

Real time status

Live updates in the dashboard view planned.

Post payment actions

Send receipts mark fulfilled issue refunds.

Simple exports

CSV with amounts and rail references.

Security

Signed webhooks and short lived admin token planned.

Get involved

Early conversations

We are exploring a pilot. If this solves your problem reach out and we will share the concept deck and timelines.

Contact the teamOpen concept demoView walkthrough

Planned rails

These are planned integrations.

RailLink createRefundsStatus eventsSettlement refs
OzowPlannedFuturePlannedPlanned
SnapScanFutureFutureFutureFuture
PayShapFutureFutureFutureFuture
YocoFutureFutureFutureFuture
PayFastFutureFutureFutureFuture

Security and compliance planned

  • • POPIA data minimisation and clear retention windows
  • • No card PAN handled. We store tokens and provider references only
  • • Encryption at rest and in transit. HMAC signed webhooks

Notes

  • 2025 08 29 Concept walkthrough page
  • 2025 08 20 PayShap adapter research
  • 2025 08 12 Normalised webhook schema v0.1 draft

Roadmap tentative

  • Validate demand with design partners
  • Prototype with one rail then expand
  • Smart routing and basic settlement forecasts
Read the case study

Problem approach and risks. Architecture and schema drafts.

Contact the team

Share your use case and we will send timelines and notes.

Walk the concept in five minutes

Open the local demo to see the storyboard then scroll the journeys.

Open concept demoSee product walkthrough