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Do you know about idempotency of payments and how you solved the double payment problem?
sobes.tech AI
Answer from AI
Idempotency of payments means that a repeated request for payment with the same parameters will not lead to a double charge.
The problem of double payment arises due to repeated requests (for example, due to network failures or repeated button presses).
Solutions:
- Using a unique transaction identifier (idempotency key), which the client generates and sends with the request.
- The server stores the transaction status by this key: if a request with such a key has already been processed, the reprocessing does not occur, and the result of the first operation is returned.
- Transactions are recorded in the database with this key, preventing duplication.
Example:
- The client sends a payment with idempotency_key = "abc123".
- The server checks if there is a record with "abc123".
- If not — it processes the payment and saves the result.
- If yes — it returns the saved result without re-deducting.
This ensures safety against double payments.