Till number (without API keys)

Collect payments with your till, without API keys

TILL_NUMBER sends a real M-Pesa Buy Goods STK push to the payer, using the platform’s Daraja credentials rather than your own. You supply only your till number; the money settles into that till.

Available to ISPs in Kenya (KE).

Note

The payer receives an STK prompt and enters their M-Pesa PIN — this is not an instructions-only method. The difference from Safaricom M-Pesa in till mode is that the Daraja API keys are the platform’s, so you can collect before your own Daraja onboarding is finished.

Before you start

1. Have an active M-Pesa Buy Goods till registered to your business.

Note

Need a till number? We can help Kenyan clients get one. Contact support with a copy of your ID, your primary phone number, and a contact email. The service costs KES 2,500 and the application is submitted after payment is confirmed.

Configure the gateway

1. Open Settings → Payments → Till Number - Without API keys

   Select the method from the payment marketplace.

2. Enter your till number

   Till number (required, maximum 20 characters) is the M-Pesa till shown to subscribers and the account the money lands in. No Daraja keys are requested.

3. Save and switch

   The till number is the only field that gates the switch. Switching gateways may require an OTP confirmation.

4. Run a controlled test payment

   Pay a small amount from the captive portal, and confirm the money arrives in the till.

Credentials

Field	Required	Notes
Till number	Yes	Maximum 20 characters. Your own Buy Goods till.

Callback URLs

None. The callback address is sent with every payment request, so there is nothing to register with Safaricom.

What the payer must provide

A Safaricom phone number, which receives the Buy Goods STK prompt.

How a payment completes

1. Request

   Centipid Billing raises a CustomerBuyGoodsOnline STK push against your till, using the platform’s Daraja app.

2. Authorization

   The payer enters their M-Pesa PIN.

3. Confirmation

   Safaricom posts the result to the platform callback, which records the payment and applies the subscriber’s package asynchronously.

Payments typed in by hand

A till has no account-number field, so there is no pay-by-hand instruction for an invoice on this method — a customer paying by hand cannot tell you which subscriber the money is for. TV payments are the exception: the TV screen shows the Centipid paybill, and that money is collected by the platform against the TV code and remitted to you.

Prove where money lands with a controlled test payment before moving subscribers onto this method.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What it means	What to do
“Unable to process payment. Please try again later.”	The STK push failed or Safaricom was unreachable.	Confirm the till is active and accepts Buy Goods payments, then retry. If it persists, raise it with support — the platform credentials are not yours to correct.
The prompt names an unexpected till	The saved till number is wrong.	Correct it in Settings → Payments.
Payer paid, service not applied	The callback did not arrive or did not match a checkout.	See Payment troubleshooting.

To hold your own Daraja keys instead, see Safaricom M-Pesa. For every gateway’s fields in one place, see the credential reference.