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Overview

This guide walks through the full flow of sending a payout: verifying your balance, creating a beneficiary, sending the payout, and tracking its status.

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Prerequisites

  • An Anton Payments account with API keys
  • Funded balances in the payout currency (sandbox has test balances pre-loaded)

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1. Check your balance

Before sending a payout, verify you have sufficient funds: 
curl https://api.antonpayments.com/v1/balances/USD \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ak_test_..."
Response
{
  "data": {
    "currency": "USD",
    "available": "50000.00",
    "held": "2000.00",
    "total": "52000.00"
  }
}
The available amount is what you can use for new payouts. Ensure it covers the payout amount plus any fees.

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2. Create a beneficiary (if needed)

If you’re paying someone for the first time, create a beneficiary with their payment details: 
curl https://api.antonpayments.com/v1/beneficiaries \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ak_test_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "individual",
    "first_name": "Maria",
    "last_name": "Garcia",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "country": "US",
    "currency": "USD",
    "bank_account": {
      "account_number": "9876543210",
      "routing_number": "021000021"
    }
  }'
Response
{
  "data": {
    "id": "ben_cng3q8s6ek9kc5qg1h1g",
    "type": "individual",
    "first_name": "Maria",
    "last_name": "Garcia",
    "country": "US",
    "currency": "USD",
    "status": "active",
    "created_at": "2026-02-14T10:00:00Z"
  }
}
Save the id — you’ll use it to create the payout.

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3. Send the payout

curl https://api.antonpayments.com/v1/payouts \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ak_test_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: invoice-1042-maria" \
  -d '{
    "beneficiary_id": "ben_cng3q8s6ek9kc5qg1h1g",
    "amount": "2500.00",
    "currency": "USD",
    "description": "Consulting fee - January 2026",
    "reference": "INV-1042"
  }'
Always include an Idempotency-Key for payout creation. This protects against duplicate payouts if your request is retried due to network issues.

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4. Track the payout

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Option A: Poll the status

curl https://api.antonpayments.com/v1/payouts/pay_cng3q8s6ek9kc5qg1h2g \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ak_test_..."
Set up a webhook subscription to get notified automatically: 
payout.created → payout.screening → payout.processing → payout.sent → payout.completed

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Common issues

You’ll get a 400 error if available balance is too low. Fund your account or retry when pending payouts complete and release held funds.
Ensure the beneficiary ID exists and belongs to your merchant account. Check you’re using the right environment (test vs live).
In production, compliance screening can take a few seconds to a few minutes. If a payout stays in pending_screening for more than 10 minutes, contact support.