Setting up Conekta as your Checkfront payment provider

Learn more about Conekta, including checking the service status, setting up your Conekta account, setting up Conekta in Checkfront, testing the integration, and processing refunds.

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

• Manage > Ecommerce Setup > Payment
   

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin permissions are required to manage Payment Providers.

Conekta is one of the most popular Payment Providers in Mexico.

Customers can make payments via credit, debit, cash, and interest-free deferred payments from banks like Banorte, Santander, Banjercito, HSBC, and many more. International customers can also pay with a credit card just as easily.

Conekta is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) certified, meaning your Customers’ payments are always safe and secure.

Conekta offers a subscription-based service for charging customers on a pre-set timescale in multiple payments. This feature can be accessed using the developer API. You can also use one-click checkout and other apps that take advantage of secure tokenization methods to ensure that no actual credit card numbers are ever stored in a compromising manner.

Conekta has a sandbox mode where you can test their plugins to see what works for you. It charges a small commission on every sale and deposits into your bank account every two days. Conekta is currently only available to businesses incorporated in Mexico with access to Mexican bank accounts, but it can process credit card charges from anywhere in the world.  

Check the service status Check the status of Conekta services at any time here: https://status.conekta.com/

There isn't any setup to perform in Conekta per se, but you do need to access the online portal to obtain some API credentials that must be entered into Checkfront.

Log in to your Conekta account and locate the Developers section in the left sidebar.

Here, you see a link labelled API Keys. Click on this.

Two types of API keys can be generated for use in Checkfront.

You should generate the sandbox mode keys to test the integration in Checkfront without using real, live credit cards. You need a Private Key and a Public Key, as seen in the image above.

When you've completed your testing in Checkfront, if you haven't already, you can activate your Conekta account (in the Conekta backend) to obtain the Production Keys.    

To enable Conekta, log in to your Checkfront account and navigate to Manage > Ecommerce Setup, ensuring the Payment tab is selected.

Here you see a list of available payment modules. Locate the Conekta tile from the list.

You find it by clicking on the links in the left-side menu labeled Available to [your country] or All. You can also search for the Conekta tile directly in the search box provided.

Hover over the tile, which turns grey, and click.  

This opens the Conekta activation window, as pictured above. From here, enter the API credentials you obtain from your Conekta account and click Activate.

Conekta is now successfully integrated with your Checkfront account and is listed under your section of Active Providers.  

Now that the integration is complete, it's time to test it!

Create a booking in your Checkfront account and use any credit card to process a payment. Remember, no charges are delivered to the credit card if you're working in sandbox mode.

For your peace of mind, you can use a fake credit card number to process your test transaction(s). This is as follows:

Name on Card: Any name

Card Number: 4242424242424242

Expiry: Any date in the future

CVC: Any 3-digit number

After clicking Process, the payment should be complete, and you see a copy of the booking invoice with the payment applied. A quick look at the invoice Transactions tab confirms this.

Within this view, you notice a Details button next to the payment details in the table.

If you click on this, you see a pop-up window with additional details on the transaction. This includes a transaction ID with confirms the transaction was processed successfully.

You can now be confident that the Payment Provider integration with Conekta is properly set up and ready to take live transactions.  

Obtain and enter Production Keys Don't forget to obtain your Production Keys from Conekta and enter them into Checkfront before taking live transactions. If you don't do this, you cannot collect any revenue from your Customers. You must also set your Conekta account to production mode, too!

Next to the Details button in the Transactions tab is the Refund button.  

Click on this to open up the refund box.  

The full amount of the invoice is presented for a refund, or you can change this to a smaller amount if you wish.

Since Conekta uses tokens for storing payment details, you do not need to obtain credit card credentials from your customer again. The payment card should be shown in the dropdown field below the refund amount.

Click Apply to process the refund. The Transactions tab updates to reflect the refund you just processed.