> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://primer.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Payment method token

A payment method token is a string representing sensitive payment method credentials and customer data.

Primer provides [Universal Checkout](https://primer.io/docs/checkout/checkout-builder.md), our all-in-one Checkout SDK, to securely capture payment method data while fully embedded on your site or in your app.

By communicating directly with Primer's PCI-L1 tokenization service, Universal Checkout transforms sensitive customer data into a secure uniform string called a **payment method token**.

Universal Checkout generates a payment method token regardless of the customer's chosen payment method. This enables you to reason about your checkout flow in a unified way.

![](https://goat-assets.production.core.primer.io/marketing/external-docs/concepts/payment-creation/payment-creation.png)

Payment creation

> [!NOTE]
>
> Our agnostic tokenization service and centralized vault enable you to handle [recurring payments](https://primer.io/docs/get-started/recurring-payments.md), fallbacks, and retries across processors without compromising UX.
>
> No more PSP-specific tokens — now **you** own your payment data.

## Get a payment method token

The Payments API requires a payment method token to create a payment.

You can get a payment method token from:

* Universal Checkout (see [Manual Payment Creation](https://primer.io/docs/checkout/advanced/manual-payment-creation.md))
* Primer’s unified vault (see [Save payment methods](https://primer.io/docs/payment-services/save-payment-methods.md))


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