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.

EndpointPurpose
POST {URI}/ordersCreate an order under a specific account.

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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}/orders endpoint 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 same externalRefID.
  • We highly recommend including the externalRefID with 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 . The string must be 5-100 characters long.

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 GET {URI}/catalogs call. The UTID must be in your platform catalog (and not just in a Tango Choice product catalog) to place the order.

deliveryMethod

string

required

Specify the deliveryMethod for your order. We have introduced various ways of reward delivery to your recipients through deliveryMethod. See Delivery method for more information.

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 deliveryMethod=EMAIL. You cannot use < or > or / in the name.

SENDER DETAILS OBJECT

-firstName

string

optional

always optional, string, 100 characters max

-lastName

string

optional

always optional, string, 100 characters max

-email

string

optional

always optional, string

recipient

object

required if

Required if deliveryMethod is set to EMAIL, PHONE, or ADDRESS. May be required for some UTIDs. Use to set and store the recipient name and email address. When deliveryMethod is set to NONE and EMBEDDED, setting these parameters will allow the platform to store this information for reporting, auditing, and reconciliation.

RECIPIENT DETAILS OBJECT

-firstName

string

required if

Required if deliveryMethod is EMAIL, PHONE, or ADDRESS. May be required for some UTIDs. Digital rewards: allows 100 characters, cannot use < or > or / in the name. Physical rewards: allows 25 characters max, Digits 0-9, alpha (a-z, A-Z), space period, comma, ampersand, and hyphen.

-lastName

string

required if

Required if deliveryMethod is ADDRESS, otherwise optional. May be required for some UTIDs. Digital rewards: allows 100 characters, cannot use < or > or / in the name. Physical rewards: allows 25 characters max, Digits 0-9, alpha (a-z, A-Z), space period, comma, ampersand, and hyphen.

-email

string

required if

Required if deliveryMethod=EMAIL. May be required for some UTIDs. It is useful to include when deliveryMethod is PHONE to easily switch between email and phone delivery. The email address is limited to 100 characters.

-mobileNumber

string

required if

Required if deliveryMethod=PHONE. May be required for some UTIDs. The following validation rules apply to mobile numbers for SMS delivery:

  • Country code: Must be included.
  • Format: +CCCPPPPPPPPPPPP (where C is the country code, 1-3 digits, and P is the phone number, up to 12 digits).
  • Initial release: Current only Country code = +1 and 10 digits for the phone number.
  • Standard: Follows ITU E.164, allowing (+) and up to 15 digits for the combined country code and phone number.

-address

object

required if

Required if deliveryMethod is ADDRESS. May be required for some UTIDs. This field is optional for digital orders. NOTE: Some digital cash options may require including an address. The following validation rules apply to addresses:

  • Physical rewards: Address is required.
  • Digital orders: Address field must be excluded or set to null. Providing an address for digital orders will result in validation failure.
  • ❗️Disclaimer: When ordering a physical gift card, ensure the physical address of your reward recipients is validated before sending it to Tango. Tango does not accept responsibility for incorrect addresses.
  • NOTE: Do not pass an address object when the reward is digital.

RECIPIENT ADDRESS OBJECT

companyName

string

optional

Used when shipping to a corporate address.

-streetLine1

string

required if

Required 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.

-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 deliveryMethod is ADDRESS, not applicable for digital rewards. Must be a valid 2-character abbreviation

emailSubject

string

optional

Used with deliveryMethod is EMAIL. The ETID email subject will be used for the specified reward if not specified.

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 deliveryMethod of EMAIL or PHONE. The unique identifier for the electronic template you would like to use. In POST {URI}/orders if ETID is not provided, the system uses the default ETID configured at either the account, group, or platform level, in that order. If no default ETID is found, E000000 is used.

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.

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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"
  }
]
``
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Note:

credentials is deprecated and should no longer be used. Use credentialList instead.

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:

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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]”
    }
  ]
}
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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:

  • credentialList may 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 customUrl or HTML-formatted instructions. Ensure your UI safely handles these formats.
  • The externalRefID is returned exactly as provided. Use it to safely retry failed order requests without creating duplicates.
  • referenceOrderID uniquely identifies the order.
  • referenceLineItemID uniquely identifies the reward within the order and is required for: Resending, Canceling, Freezing/unfreezing, Reissuing, and Updating metadata (campaign, PO number, notes).
  • deliveryMethod reflects 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 redemptionInstructions is provided for convenience. However, detailed instructions may also appear per‑credential within credentialList.
  • amountCharged represents 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.
  • createdAt follows 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:

ResponseDescription
200The request was successful.
201A new resource has been successfully created in response to the request.
400The server could not understand the request due to invalid syntax.
401Authentication is required and has either not been provided or failed.
402There are insufficient funds.
403The server understood the request but refused to authorize it.
422The server understands the request but cannot process it due to semantic errors.
429Exceeded 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.
500Something went wrong on the server, but the server cannot be more specific about the exact problem.
503The server is currently unable to handle the request due to temporary overload or maintenance.


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