> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.paypal.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Get a customer by ID ## OpenAPI ````yaml /api-reference/ubb_openapi_inline.json get /customers/{external_customer_id} openapi: 3.0.1 info: title: Usage Based Billing API version: 1.0.0 description: An Orchestrator for Usage Based Billing and Payments servers: - url: https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/commerce/billing security: - BearerAuth: - read - write tags: - name: Alerts description: API endpoints for managing subscription alerts - name: Events description: API endpoints for managing events - name: Metrics description: API endpoints for metrics and usage data - name: Merchant Activation description: API endpoint for merchant activation - name: Credit Notes description: API endpoints for credit notes management - name: Customers description: API endpoints for customer management - name: Invoices description: API endpoints for invoice management - name: Plans description: API endpoints for subscription plans - name: Subscriptions description: API endpoints for subscriptions - name: Wallets description: API endpoints for wallet management - name: Taxes description: API endpoints for tax management - name: Billing Entities description: API endpoints for billing entities - name: Features description: API endpoints for managing features and privileges - name: Entitlements description: API endpoints for managing plan and subscription entitlements paths: /customers/{external_customer_id}: get: tags: - Customers summary: Get a customer by ID operationId: GetCustomerById parameters: - $ref: '#/components/parameters/external_customer_id' responses: '200': description: Customer retrieved successfully content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CustomerWithId' example: name: TechStart Solutions external_id: 5eb02857-a71e-4ea2-bcf9-1753826282 email: finance@techstart.io address: line1: 123 Innovation Way line2: Suite 400 city: San Francisco state: CA postal_code: '94087' country: US phone: +1 (555) 789-1234 payment_method_token: 6ta69628uw121251c payment_method_type: CARD metadata: - key: Purchase Order value: PO-2023-4521 display_in_invoice: true - key: Sales Region value: West Coast display_in_invoice: false id: f772b19c-c5c2-426d-8871-346a6cd094c5 '403': $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden' '404': $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound' '500': $ref: '#/components/responses/InternalServerError' components: parameters: external_customer_id: name: external_customer_id in: path required: true description: The unique external identifier of the customer schema: type: string example: 9c402857-a71e-4ea2-bcf9-57d3a41bc6ba schemas: CustomerWithId: allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Customer' - type: object properties: id: type: string Customer: title: Customer description: >- A customer represents an individual or organization that can be billed for services. It includes personal information, contact details, and metadata. type: object required: - name - email - external_id properties: name: type: string nullable: false minLength: 1 maxLength: 512 description: Full name of the customer example: John Doe external_id: type: string minLength: 1 maxLength: 64 description: >- External identifier for the customer. Must contain only alphanumeric characters, underscores, and hyphens. pattern: ^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]*$ example: ext_cust_12345 email: $ref: '#/components/schemas/EmailAddress' billing_entity_code: $ref: '#/components/schemas/BillingEntityCode' address: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Address' phone: type: string format: phone description: >- Primary phone number of the customer, including country code if available. example: +1-234-567-8900 payment_method_token: allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentMethodToken' description: >- Token representing the customer's saved payment method in PayPal Vault. example: 03t59758xv4247939 payment_method_type: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentMethodType' taxes: type: array description: List of tax entities configured for the customer. items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/TaxResponse' metadata: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CustomerMetadata' Error: type: object properties: name: type: string debug_id: type: string message: type: string details: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorDetail' EmailAddress: type: string description: The internationalized email address. minLength: 3 maxLength: 254 pattern: ^.+@[^"\-].+$ example: abc@test.com BillingEntityCode: type: string description: >- Unique code used to identify the billing entity. Must contain only alphanumeric characters, underscores, and hyphens. pattern: ^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]*$ example: acme_inc Address: description: Address of the customer or party. type: object properties: line1: type: string nullable: false minLength: 1 maxLength: 254 description: First line of the address. example: 123 Main St line2: type: string minLength: 1 maxLength: 512 description: >- Second line of the address (optional). This can include apartment, suite, or unit numbers. example: Apt 4B city: type: string nullable: false minLength: 1 maxLength: 512 description: City of the customer or party. example: New York state: type: string nullable: false minLength: 1 maxLength: 512 description: State or region of the customer or party. example: NY postal_code: type: string nullable: false minLength: 1 maxLength: 512 description: >- Postal or ZIP code of the customer or party. Typically required for countries with a postal code or an equivalent. example: '10001' country: type: string nullable: false pattern: ^[A-Z]{2}$ minLength: 2 maxLength: 2 description: >- Country of the customer or party. Use ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes. example: US PaymentMethodToken: type: string minLength: 1 maxLength: 36 description: Token representing the customer's saved payment method in PayPal Vault. example: pm_visa_4242 PaymentMethodType: type: string description: Type of payment method used (e.g., CARD, ACH_DEBIT) enum: - CARD - PAYPAL - ACH_DEBIT - APPLE_PAY x-enum-varnames: - CARD - PAYPAL - ACH_DEBIT - APPLE_PAY x-enum-description: - Payment made using a Credit or Debit card. - Payment made using PayPal. - Payment made using Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer. - Payment made using Apple Pay. example: CARD TaxResponse: description: >- Represents a customizable tax rate that can be applied to invoices and fees type: object allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/TaxBase' - type: object properties: code: $ref: '#/components/schemas/TaxCode' id: type: string format: uuid description: Unique identifier of the tax example: 1a901a90-1a90-1a90-1a90-1a901a901a90 created_at: allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/DateTimeWithZone' - description: >- The effective start date of the subscription; can be past, current, or future. Date must be provided in ISO 8601 format example: '2025-06-01T00:00:00Z' CustomerMetadata: type: object description: >- Set of key-value pairs that you can attach to a customer. This can be useful for storing additional information about the customer in a structured format required: - key - value - display_in_invoice properties: key: type: string example: Purchase Order description: The metadata object key maxLength: 20 value: type: string example: '123456789' description: The metadata object value maxLength: 100 display_in_invoice: type: boolean example: true description: >- Determines whether the item or information should be displayed in the invoice. If set to true, the item or information will be included and visible in the generated invoice. If set to false, the item or information will be excluded and not displayed in the invoice. ErrorDetail: type: object properties: field: type: string value: type: string location: type: string issue: type: string description: type: string TaxBase: description: Base schema for tax request/response objects type: object required: - name properties: name: type: string description: Name of the tax example: TVA rate: type: string pattern: >- ^(?!0+(?:\.0+)?$)(?:0?\.\d{1,2}|[1-9]\d?(?:\.\d{1,2})?|100(?:\.0{1,2})?)$ description: >- The percentage rate of the tax applied to transactions. A decimal amount from 0.01 to 100.00 inclusive, always with exactly two decimal places, no leading zeros except 0.xx. example: '20.00' description: type: string description: Detailed description of the tax for internal reference example: French standard VAT TaxCode: type: string description: >- Unique code used to identify the tax. Must contain only alphanumeric characters, underscores, and hyphens. pattern: ^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]*$ example: standard_vat DateTimeWithZone: type: string format: date-time description: Date and time in ISO 8601 format. example: '2023-10-01T12:00:00Z' responses: Forbidden: description: Authorization failed due to insufficient permissions. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: name: NOT_AUTHORIZED message: Authorization failed due to insufficient permissions. debug_id: 565f78f101498 details: - issue: PERMISSION_DENIED description: >- You do not have permission to access or perform operations on this resource. NotFound: description: Resource Not Found. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' InternalServerError: description: Internal Server Error - An unexpected error occurred content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: name: INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR message: An internal server error has occurred. debug_id: 90957fca61718 securitySchemes: BearerAuth: type: oauth2 description: >- Use the /v1/oauth2/token endpoint to obtain an access token and pass it as a Bearer token in the Authorization header. flows: clientCredentials: tokenUrl: https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/oauth2/token scopes: read: Read access write: Write access ````