Payment Types Overview

Understanding Invoice-first vs Payment-first workflows and direct payment types

Overview

Request Network supports two primary payment workflows and multiple payment types to accommodate different business needs.

Payment Workflows

Invoice-first Workflow

Create a payment request first, then allow customers to pay at their convenience.

Use Cases: Professional invoicing, B2B payments, formal payment collection

Payment-first Workflow

Send payments directly without creating a request first.

Use Cases: Vendor payments, contractor payouts, immediate transfers

Direct Payment Types

Direct Payments include Native, ERC20, and Conversion payments - the foundational payment methods that other features build upon.

Native & ERC20

Simple crypto-to-crypto payments

Conversion

Fiat-denominated, crypto-settled

Crosschain

Multi-network payment routing

Used In

Invoicing

Invoice-first workflow with payment requests

Payouts

Payment-first workflow for direct transfers

Implementation Details

See API Reference - Payment Types for complete technical documentation.