By John Robinson

It seems like everyone’s using the internet these days to run transactions. Even brick-n-mortar businesses are using web-based software with USB magnetic strip readers, making their laptops into swipe terminals.

As fantastic as that is, it can confuse even the most sophisticated internet geek when something goes awry. Who should you call?

I just jumped through a bunch of hoops to fix a problem caused when a merchant didn’t realize their gateway wasn’t their processor. (If you are wondering what the difference is, I’m getting there! ) A batch failed (something that happens on occasion), probably because of a single, corrupted transaction. The merchant called the gateway, who offered to resubmit the batch, and then promptly resubmitted an already successful batch from a different day.

The result? A bunch of annoyed customers who’d been double-charged, chargebacks for the merchant (that we’ve since refunded and stricken from the record), and the merchant didn’t get paid for the failed batch. Sadly, the gateway probably wouldn’t have been able to identify the faulty transaction, as that’s a processing thing, much less fix the problem, and didn’t refer my merchant back to me.

This has all been fixed now, but as you can imagine, it was a bit painful. This was the worst issue I’ve dealt with regarding this misunderstanding. But I’ve talked with plenty of people who should know better who didn’t know who the processor was versus who their payment engine was. Even after multiple explanations.

It became clear this article needed writing.

Authorize.net , PC Charge , PayFlow Pro , CyberSource , etc., are not credit card processors; they are payment gateways.

The payment gateway is responsible for taking the card information and the transaction information and sending that over a network to the acquiring bank. When the acquiring bank gets its okay to authorize the transaction, they send that information back to your gateway, which then tells you it’s authorized.

The simplified analogy: Whatever you’re using to take payments, it functions as a terminal. Yes, some software has all sorts of things that are far more functional (recurring billing, detailed reporting, exporting to other software, etc.) than a terminal. However, ‘processing-wise’, it’s just a terminal.

To call them rather than your processor for authorization and settlement issues is a little like calling your terminal’s manufacturer. (Yes, I’m being blunt here, but it’s important to remember.)

I’ll save the differences between gateways and PC-based engines, etc., for another post. Or maybe Robb will beat me to the punch. My point here is: Once a transaction has asked for an authorization, problems with that transaction are now a processing problem, and the processor is usually not the creator of the payment gateway.

Related Posts

• Introducing the iPhone Virtual Credit Card Terminal
• Authorize.net – Moving in the Right Direction?
• What is a “Third Party Processor?”
• Make Some Money and Feel Good Doing It!
• More on Free Authorize.net
• Video: Merchant Accounts – What to Look For and Ask About, Part 2
• Suggested Read: PCI DSS Blog

Statement Confusion

What I found interesting about these two statements was how difficult they were to comprehend. On the cover page of the statement, in bold letters, there is a summary statement that reads "TOTAL CHARGE TO YOUR ACCOUNT IS…" The amount that was shown on both statements I analyzed equaled about half of what the business actually paid. Then when I reviewed the summary of the types of transactions my confusion increased. Now I review merchant account statements for a living and I’m confused? So how is a business owner or an account supposed to decipher this stuff?

Options

The good news is that there are a few solutions for businesses that desire to run their credit card transactions through Quickbooks. The first is from a company named Skipjack . They have developed a plug-in you can download and install on your computer. Once installed the plug-in produces a payment window(see below) from within Quickbooks for you to enter your transactions. What this means is you can pretty much use any merchant account provider and still enter your transactions through Quickbooks. Go here for more details on this product.

The other option is from authorize.net . This is the most popular online payment gateway for small to mid sized businesses in North America. They do not allow you to run transactions from with in Quickbooks but they do provide the ability to download your transactions and upload them into your ledger.Both of these options charge a monthly gateway fee and a per transaction fee. However, those fees become insignificant when you realize how much money your business can save by getting out of Quickbooks merchant account jail.

Take Action

So if you want to use Quickbooks, maintain an accurate records of your credit card transactions and lower your merchant account fees what should you do? Go ahead and take a look at the websites I have linked to above and then give me a call . I will answer any questions you may have and then analyze your current merchant account and show you how much we can reduce your fees by. Go ahead take some action – the jail door is wide open. You are free to leave!

Related Posts

• Make Some Money and Feel Good Doing It!
• More on Free Authorize.net
• Introducing the iPhone Virtual Credit Card Terminal
• Free Authorize.net? You Got It!
• Authorize.net – Moving in the Right Direction?
• What is a “Third Party Processor?”
• QuickBooks and Merchant Accounts

http://www.skipjack.com/merchant/demos/solutions/

Related Posts

• Why You May Need Multiple Merchant Accounts
• Free Authorize.net? You Got It!
• Authorize.net – Moving in the Right Direction?
• How Do Merchant Accounts Work?
• Options for QuickBooks Users