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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).
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.

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Before you start

  1. Have an active M-Pesa Buy Goods till registered to your business.
  2. Link a MikroTik router and bring it online. This gateway will not send a payment prompt otherwise.
Till, Paybill, Bank, and Centipid Collections all require a linked MikroTik router that is currently online. If none is linked, checkout stops with “Link a MikroTik router and bring it online before sending payment prompts.” and no prompt is sent. See Routers.

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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.

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Credentials

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Callback URLs

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

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What the payer must provide

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

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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.

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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.

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Troubleshooting

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