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The choice between Customer payout and Merchant payout depends on the recipient and the final destination of the funds. This page presents the most common use cases and the recommended method for each.

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Order refund

A customer requests a refund after a cancellation or a product return. You need to send back the amount they paid. Recommended method: Merchant payout (/pay/v01/straight/payout) The customer does not necessarily have a LigdiCash account. Merchant payout sends directly to their mobile money number, with no prerequisite on their side.
LigdiCash contractual fees apply to every payout, including refunds. The customer will not necessarily receive the exact amount they paid. Plan for this difference in your refund policy.
1

Retrieve the customer's mobile money number

Use the number the customer provided when they paid — it is available in the original payin callback via operator_id and customer.
2

Initiate the payout

Call POST /pay/v01/straight/payout with the refund amount and a transaction_id linked to the original order.
3

Confirm via callback

Wait for the callback on your callback_url. Once status: "completed" is received, update the order status and notify the customer.
Example custom_data

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Salary payments

You need to pay salaries to employees or field agents on their mobile money accounts. Recommended method: Merchant payout (/pay/v01/straight/payout) Recipients do not necessarily have a LigdiCash account. Merchant payout lets you send directly to any mobile money number.
Merchant payout is not instant. For bulk payments, send the requests sequentially and track each returned token. Only consider a payment finalized when you receive the status: "completed" callback.

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Distributing winnings and cashback

You want to credit winnings, rewards, or cashback to your users — to spend on your platform or withdraw to their mobile money. Recommended method: Customer payout (/pay/v01/withdrawal/create)
Use top_up_wallet: 1 — funds arrive in the user’s LigdiCash wallet. They can use them to pay on LigdiCash platforms. Withdrawing to mobile money is left to their initiative.Ideal for: cashback, loyalty credits, game winnings kept within the LigdiCash ecosystem.

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Paying agents and service providers

You need to pay freelancers, field agents, or suppliers who delivered a service. Recommended method: Merchant payout (/pay/v01/straight/payout) Service providers usually do not have a LigdiCash account. Merchant payout sends directly to their mobile money number, whatever the operator — provided that the corresponding sub-account is funded.
If you regularly pay to several different operators, monitor your balances per sub-account from the LigdiCash Dashboard. A payout fails if the sub-account of the recipient’s operator is insufficient, even if your other sub-accounts have a credit balance.

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Summary table