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Monetize a PWA

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In one line: the Payment Request API is a browser-native checkout mechanism a PWA can use to collect payment, address, and contact information without building a custom checkout form, and it can present payment methods such as Google Pay.

A page creates a PaymentRequest object in response to a user action (for example, clicking a “Purchase” button), and the browser handles the exchange of information with the user while they provide input to complete the transaction. The API is meant to reduce the number of steps needed to complete an online payment, since many checkout-abandonment problems trace back to checkout forms that are slow or difficult to fill out. It is not a new way of paying for things — it is a consistent, standardized way for a user to select their preferred payment method and make that information available to the page. It is available only in secure contexts (HTTPS).

A PaymentRequest is created with one or more payment method identifiers, which determine which payment methods the browser can offer the user. Google Pay is one such method: integrating it lets a page offer “quick and easy checkout on websites by leveraging millions of cards saved to Google Accounts,” and after the user selects a payment method, the Google Pay API returns a payment token to the page.

For the API’s OS × browser support matrix, see the Payment Request compatibility data.

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