What you'll need
Checklist of accounts, credentials, and decisions before you write a line of code.
Who this is for
Project managers, founders, and engineers about to kick off an EPD integration. Use this page to stop a project from stalling halfway in because a prerequisite was missed.
Before you write code
Go to commerce.epd.com. If you already have an EPD account, log in directly. Otherwise, create a sandbox account: after verifying your email you’ll be asked for your first name, last name, company name, and a password.
In the Merchant Portal, switch to your Demo Company from the profile avatar (top right), then open the gear icon → Developer & Integrations → API Keys tab → Create API Key. Keys created inside the Demo Company are sandbox keys (epd_test_sk_...). Copy and store somewhere safe.
A publicly reachable HTTPS URL where EPD will POST events. Local development: use ngrok or a similar tunnel.
Decisions to make up front
One-time payments use orders. Recurring billing uses products + plans + subscriptions. Picking now informs how you model your catalog.
EPD Elements (recommended), a hosted payment page, or a fully hosted checkout: each has trade-offs in PCI scope and customization.
EPD supports multi-currency, but a single subscription must use one currency. Decide by market.
A separate key per environment (dev / staging / prod) and per service. Restricted keys for narrow jobs.
Read these in order
Run a charge end-to-end. Builds intuition.
How keys work. Get this right once.
Receive and verify events. Skipping this is the most common production mistake.
Why retries are safe. Protects you from duplicate charges.