Create an order under a specific account
Use this endpoint to create a reward order under a specific account. After an order is successfully created, you can deliver the reward to the intended recipient using any supported delivery method, such as EMAIL, PHONE, ADDRESS, EMBEDDED, etc. For more details, see Reward delivery methods.
If you ever need to resend a reward, you can do so using the Resend a specific order endpoint. This operation sends the reward again to the same recipient information, but allows updating the email address or phone number used for delivery. Resends can also be issued through the same or a different delivery method. See Resend a specific order.
Use case
Acme Health, a wellness‑focused healthcare organization, uses the POST {URI}/orders endpoint to deliver digital rewards to members who complete specific health activities, such as, completing a health risk assessment. When a member qualifies for an incentive, Acme Health’s system automatically creates a reward order through the Tango API. The order includes a unique externalRefID, specifies the reward’s utid, and delivers it via email or SMS. The API responds with referenceOrderID and referenceLineItemID, which Acme Health uses for tracking, support, and resending rewards if needed.
Endpoint
Use the following endpoint to create an order under specific account.
| Endpoint | Purpose |
|---|---|
POST {URI}/orders | Create an order under a specific account. |
Note:
- We use i18nKey responses to provide more specific error messages to Tango API users in order to get a clear, helpful feedback when something isn’t working. See i18nkey codes and their error messages.
- The
POST {URI}/ordersendpoint has a 1 Transactions Per Second (TPS) rate limit. The rate limiting error can occur when you exceed the allowed number of requests per second. If you receive an error when placing an order, wait for 1 second and try again with the sameexternalRefID.- We highly recommend including the
externalRefIDwith the POST order endpoint to ensure duplicate orders are not created when you retry a failed order. Order requests receiving a 5XX error may occasionally process after a network connection is lost. See our Best practices topic regarding External Reference ID idempotent parameter.
Parameters
The following list are the body parameters to help you create an order under a specific account. The recipient address object is required for physical rewards only. If you include a recipient's mailing address in your order, the system assumes the item should be physically delivered and sets deliveryMethod = ADDRESS automatically. If no mailing address is provided, the system will use the specified deliveryMethod (like EMAIL or SMS) or wait for you to define it. For digital (not physical) orders, the recipient address is excluded or set to null.
Body params | Data type | Requirement | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
externalRefID | string | optional | Idempotent field that can be used for client-side order cross reference and prevent accidental order duplication. Will be returned in order response, order details, and order history. |
customerIdentifier | string | required | Specify the customer associated with the Order. This must be the same customer associated with the |
accountIdentifier | string | required | Specify the account from which this order will be deducted. The string must be 5-100 characters long. |
utid | string | required | The unique identifier for the reward you are sending, as provided in the |
deliveryMethod | string | required | Specify the |
amount | double | required | Specify the face value of the reward. Always required, including for fixed-value items. The amount is stored as a double-precision floating-point number. |
ptid | string | required | Only required for Printed Reward Links. PTID is a unique identifier for the Printed Reward Link Template provided in the Tango portal on the Printed Template page. |
sender | object | optional | Use to set the sender’s name and email address if they differ from the default platform setting. This information is for tracking purposes only and doesn’t change the email address the reward is sent from when |
SENDER DETAILS OBJECT | |||
-firstName | string | optional | always optional, string, 100 characters max |
-lastName | string | optional | always optional, string, 100 characters max |
string | optional | always optional, string | |
recipient | object | required if | Required if |
RECIPIENT DETAILS OBJECT | |||
-firstName | string | required if | Required if |
-lastName | string | required if | Required if |
string | required if | Required if | |
-mobileNumber | string | required if | Required if
|
-address | object | required if | Required if
|
RECIPIENT ADDRESS OBJECT | |||
companyName | string | optional | Used when shipping to a corporate address. |
-streetLine1 | string | required if | Required if |
-streetLine2 | string | optional if | Optional if deliveryMethod is ADDRESS, Not applicable for digital rewards. Allows 35 characters max, not blank, Digits 0-9, alpha (a-z, A-Z), space, period, comma, hyphen, forward slash (/), ampersand, percent, pound (#), at (@), and apostrophe. |
-city | string | required if | Required if deliveryMethod is ADDRESS, not applicable for digital rewards. Allows 30 characters, not blank, Digits 0-9, alpha (a-z, A-Z), space, period, hyphen, ampersand, and apostrophe. |
-stateOrProvince | string | required if | Required if deliveryMethod is ADDRESS, not applicable for digital rewards. Address region must be a valid 2-character uppercase abbreviation for a U.S. state, territory, or military base; a Canadian province; or contain an international region less than 36 characters. |
-postalCode | string | required if | Required if deliveryMethod is ADDRESS, not applicable for digital rewards. Allows 5 to 10 characters, not blank, Digits 0-9, and alpha (a-z, A-Z). For US addresses, this must include only the five-digit US ZIP Code. |
-country | string | required if | Required if |
emailSubject | string | optional | Used with |
message | string | optional | Gift message. The string may have up to 1024 characters. |
etid | string | optional | Template ID (ETID) is optional for email and mobile orders. Used with |
campaign | string | optional | Campaign that may be used to group orders under a particular campaign. The maximum length is 1024 characters, including special characters such as @, #, %, etc. |
purchaseOrderNumber | string | The Purchase Order Number associated with this order. The string may have up to 100 characters. | |
notes | string | optional | Order notes. The string may have up to 150 characters. |
expirationDate | date-time | optional | This is optional for Promo Links; the exact calendar date the Promo Link will expire. See the Promo Link acceptance criteria. |
*See the description for more information.
What is Reference line item ID?
The referenceLineItemID in the Tango API is a unique identifier for a specific line item within an order. It's included in the response payload to uniquely identify a reward transaction or line item. With referenceLineItemID , there's no need to use a GET endpoint call to retrieve such info.
For example, if a reward is sent to the wrong email address, you can use the referenceLineItemID to locate the specific reward and resend it to the correct email using the appropriate endpoint.
Note:
- For single-item orders, just return the one
referenceLineItemID.- For multi-item orders, the API returns the line item associated with lineNumber == 1.
The referenceLineItemID is used to:
- Update line item details such as campaign name, purchase order number, and notes using
PATCH /lineItems/{referenceLineItemID}. - Retrieve line item information using
GET /lineItems/{referenceLineItemID}. - Manage reward actions, such as canceling, freezing, unfreezing, or reissuing a reward using the corresponding cancel and reissue endpoints.
What is Credential list?
The credentialList is a collection of reward attributes returned in the response payload that describe how a recipient can redeem their reward. Each item includes details such as the credential type, label, value, and other stable parameters. See how you can Get credential type.
The credentialList helps your system understand how to display or deliver the reward. It supports multiple formats to accommodate different reward types and enables customized redemption experiences—for example, branded redemption pages using customUrl.
"credentialList": [
{
"label": "Redemption Link",
"value": "https://rewards.example.com/redeem?user=abc123",
"type": "url",
"credentialType": "customUrl"
}
]
``
Note:
credentialsis deprecated and should no longer be used. UsecredentialListinstead.
Examples
The following example illustrates the payload for using this endpoint and the body parameters. The delivery method, delivery status and other delivery details are included in the payload.
{
"referenceOrderID": "string",
"referenceLineItemID": "string",
"externalRefID": "string",
"customerIdentifier": "string",
"accountIdentifier": "string",
"amountCharged": {
"value": 0,
"currencyCode": "string",
"exchangeRate": 0,
"fee": 0,
"total": 0
},
"denomination": {
"value": 0,
"currencyCode": "string",
"exchangeRate": 0,
"fee": 0,
"total": 0
},
"utid": "string",
"ptid": "string",
"rewardName": "string",
"reward": {
"credentials": {
"additionalProp": "string"
},
"credentialList": [
{
"label": "string",
"value": "string",
"type": "string",
"credentialType": "string"
}
],
"redemptionInstructions": "string"
},
"sender": {
"firstName": "string",
"lastName": "string",
"email": "string"
},
"recipient": {
"firstName": "string",
"lastName": "string",
"email": "string",
"mobileNumber": "string",
"address": {
"companyName": "string",
"streetLine1": "string",
"streetLine2": "string",
"city": "string",
"stateOrProvince": "string",
"postalCode": "string",
"country": "string"
}
},
"emailSubject": "string",
"message": "string",
"deliveryMethod": "NONE",
"status": "string",
"campaign": "string",
"purchaseOrderNumber": "string",
"createdAt": "2025-11-03T23:25:29.857Z",
"redemptionInstructions": "string"
}Here is a payload example for when you use POST {URI}/orders to create an order with Promo link. You can set an expiration date for the Promo Link at the time of the order:
Note:Expiration date only applies to Promo Links.
{
"referenceOrderID": "string",
"externalRefID": "string", (100 chars)
"customerIdentifier": "string", (5-100 chars)
"accountIdentifier": "string", (5-100 chars)
"accountNumber": "string", (5-100 chars)
"amountCharged": {
"value": 10.00,
"currencyCode": "USD",
"total": 10.0
},
"denomination": {
"value": 10.0,
"currencyCode": "USD"
},
"utid": "string",
"rewardName": "Promo Link",
"sender": {
"firstName": "string",
"lastName": "string",
"email": "string"
},
"recipient": {
"email": "string",
"firstName": "string", (100 chars)
"lastName": "string", (100 chars)
"address": null
},
"sendEmail": false,
"status": "COMPLETE",
"createdAt": "2023-10-11T23:10:55.284Z",
"reward": {
"credentials": {
"redemptionUrl": "https://gamma.rewardlink.io/r/1/Cl4e2dX_qz3zyUbSTb4dZgrbQta9qg-oBd6sPkywiIk",
"expirationDate": "2024-12-31T06:59:59Z"
},
"credentialList": [
{
"label": "redemptionUrl",
"value": "https://gamma.rewardlink.io/r/1/Cl4e2dX_qz3zyUbSTb4dZgrbQta9qg-oBd6sPkywiIk",
"type": "url",
"credentialType": "redemptionUrl"
},
{
"label": "expirationDate",
"value": "2024-12-31T06:59:59Z",
"type": "date",
"credentialType": "expirationDate"
}
],
"redemptionInstructions": "string"
}
}Here's a payload example for a 422 (Unprocessable entity) response, including i18nkey for internationalization. The 422 response is returned when you try to place an order with a **frozen ** account.
{
“timestamp”: “2025-01-15T19:12:42.059287141Z”,
“requestId”: “08f50da4-aa93-40ba-968d-375b76085af6",
“path”: “/raas/v2/orders”,
“httpCode”: 422,
“httpPhrase”: “Unprocessable Entity”,
“errors”: [
{
“code”: 422001,
“i18nKey”: “404.142”,
“message”: “Account has been frozen, please contact your Tango CSM or email [email protected]”
}
]
}
Note:An account may be frozen when detecting a fraudulent activity. Reach out to [email protected] or dial 1 (855)-257-2581 should you notice any fraudulent activity on your account.
Response body
On a successful request (200 OK), the response body includes several important fields. Below are key notes and considerations to help you understand field behaviors and best practices:
credentialListmay contain multiple credential objects depending on reward type (e.g., code + PIN, URL + instructions). Your integration should not assume a single credential.- Some credential entries may include
customUrlor HTML-formatted instructions. Ensure your UI safely handles these formats. - The
externalRefIDis returned exactly as provided. Use it to safely retry failed order requests without creating duplicates. referenceOrderIDuniquely identifies the order.referenceLineItemIDuniquely identifies the reward within the order and is required for: Resending, Canceling, Freezing/unfreezing, Reissuing, and Updating metadata (campaign, PO number, notes).deliveryMethodreflects how the reward was actually delivered. Example: EMAIL, PHONE, ADDRESS, EMBEDDED, etc.- The address field appears only for rewards that require physical shipping. If
deliveryMethod = ADDRESS, ensure your system handles the necessary address fields. - The top-level
redemptionInstructionsis provided for convenience. However, detailed instructions may also appear per‑credential withincredentialList. amountChargedrepresents the billed amount (including fees, currency conversion, and exchange rate). denomination represents the reward value to the recipient. These may differ depending on markup, program rules, or exchange rates.createdAtfollows ISO 8601 format (such as 2013-02-21T20:37:07-07:00) and is always returned in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Response codes
The possible response codes for this endpoint are as follows. For details, see i18nkey codes and their error messages:
| Response | Description |
|---|---|
| 200 | The request was successful. |
| 201 | A new resource has been successfully created in response to the request. |
| 400 | The server could not understand the request due to invalid syntax. |
| 401 | Authentication is required and has either not been provided or failed. |
| 402 | There are insufficient funds. |
| 403 | The server understood the request but refused to authorize it. |
| 422 | The server understands the request but cannot process it due to semantic errors. |
| 429 | Exceeded the allowable TPS rate limit. It indicates that the user has sent too many requests within a given time frame, and the server is rate-limiting further requests. |
| 500 | Something went wrong on the server, but the server cannot be more specific about the exact problem. |
| 503 | The server is currently unable to handle the request due to temporary overload or maintenance. |
Updated 4 days ago
