Get customer payment methods from Shopify

Retrieves all payment methods associated with a customer directly from Shopify’s payment API. This endpoint returns detailed information about stored payment instruments including credit/debit cards, digital wallets, and other payment methods that the customer can use for subscription billing.

What This Endpoint Does: Queries Shopify’s GraphQL API to fetch the customer’s payment methods, including active instruments and optionally revoked (expired, removed, or failed) payment methods. This provides real-time payment method data directly from Shopify’s payment vault.

Payment Method Types Supported:

Credit/Debit Cards:

• Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover
• Card last 4 digits
• Expiry month and year
• Card brand and type
• Billing address associated with card

Digital Wallets:

• Shop Pay
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• PayPal (when stored)

Alternative Payment Methods:

• Bank accounts (ACH, SEPA)
• Buy Now Pay Later instruments
• Store credit

Payment Method Information Returned:

For Each Payment Method:

• Payment Instrument ID: Unique identifier (used for updates)
• Display Name: Human-readable name (e.g., “Visa ending in 4242”)
• Payment Type: Card, wallet, bank account, etc.
• Status: ACTIVE, REVOKED, EXPIRED, FAILED
• Is Default: Whether this is the customer’s default payment method
• Last 4 Digits: For cards and bank accounts
• Expiry Date: For cards (month/year)
• Brand: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc.
• Billing Address: Address associated with payment method
• Created Date: When payment method was added

Query Parameters:

allowRevokedMethod (optional, default: false):

• false: Returns only active, usable payment methods
• true: Returns both active AND revoked payment methods

Revoked Payment Methods: Include expired cards, deleted payment methods, failed instruments, and customer-removed methods. Useful for historical records and troubleshooting, but cannot be used for new billing attempts.

Use Cases:

1. Customer Portal:

• Display saved payment methods
• Allow customer to select default payment method
• Show payment method update/delete options
• Validate payment methods before subscription modification

2. Subscription Management:

• Verify customer has valid payment method before creating subscription
• Check payment method expiry before next billing
• Identify subscriptions at risk due to expiring cards
• Prompt customer to update payment if needed

3. Payment Method Updates:

• List available payment methods for customer selection
• Identify payment instrument ID for update operations
• Validate payment method before switching subscription

4. Troubleshooting & Support:

• Debug payment failures
• Verify which payment method is being used
• Check if payment method is expired or revoked
• Assist customer with payment issues

5. Analytics & Alerts:

• Track payment methods approaching expiry
• Send proactive notifications to update cards
• Analyze payment method distribution
• Identify customers with no valid payment methods

Response Structure:

Returns CustomerPaymentMethodsQuery.PaymentMethods object from Shopify GraphQL:

{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "id": "gid://shopify/CustomerPaymentMethod/abc123",
      "instrument": {
        "__typename": "CustomerCreditCard",
        "brand": "VISA",
        "lastDigits": "4242",
        "expiryMonth": 12,
        "expiryYear": 2025,
        "name": "John Doe"
      },
      "revokedAt": null,
      "revokedReason": null,
      "subscriptionContracts": [...]
    }
  ]
}

Common Scenarios:

Scenario 1: Customer with multiple cards Returns array with multiple payment method objects, each representing a stored card.

Scenario 2: Customer with no payment methods Returns empty nodes array - customer needs to add payment method.

Scenario 3: Expired card included (allowRevokedMethod=true) Returns both active cards and expired/revoked cards with revokedAt timestamp.

Important Considerations:

Data Source:

• Queries Shopify API in real-time (not Appstle database)
• Always returns current Shopify payment method state
• Subject to Shopify API rate limits

Performance:

• Response time: 300-800ms (depends on Shopify API)
• Slower than database queries
• Consider caching for non-critical displays

Security:

• Never returns full card numbers (PCI compliance)
• Returns only last 4 digits
• CVV is never stored or returned
• Payment instrument IDs are tokenized references

Privacy:

• Customer ID validated against shop
• Cannot query payment methods from other shops
• Requires appropriate API permissions

Best Practices:

1. Default to Active Only: Use allowRevokedMethod=false for payment selection UIs
2. Check Expiry Dates: Validate card expiry before using for subscriptions
3. Cache Responsibly: Cache for short periods (5-10 min) to reduce API calls
4. Handle Empty Response: Always handle case where customer has no payment methods
5. Show User-Friendly Names: Display brand and last 4 (e.g., “Visa •••• 4242”)
6. Indicate Default: Highlight the default payment method clearly

Integration Examples:

Example 1: Display payment methods in customer portal

const paymentMethods = await fetch(
  `/api/external/v2/subscription-contract-details/shopify/customer/${customerId}/payment-methods`,
  { headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your-key' } }
).then(r => r.json());

paymentMethods.nodes.forEach(pm => {
  if (pm.instrument.__typename === 'CustomerCreditCard') {
    console.log(`${pm.instrument.brand} ending in ${pm.instrument.lastDigits}`);
    if (pm.instrument.expiryYear < currentYear) {
      console.warn('Card expired!');
    }
  }
});

Example 2: Check for valid payment before creating subscription

const paymentMethods = await fetch(...);
const hasValidPayment = paymentMethods.nodes.some(pm => 
  !pm.revokedAt && pm.instrument.expiryYear >= currentYear
);

if (!hasValidPayment) {
  alert('Please add a valid payment method before subscribing');
}

Related Endpoints:

• PUT /api/external/v2/subscription-contracts-update-payment-method - Update subscription payment method
• POST /api/external/v2/associate-shopify-customer-to-external-payment-gateways - Add external payment method

Authentication: Requires valid X-API-Key header