MOTO and eCommerce
This section addresses topics unique to the integration of the Fusebox platform with Direct Marketing or eCommerce applications.
Your implementation should address the following business criteria that are specific to the Direct Marketing industry:
Cardholder not present - Card number is manually entered.
Only one electronic authorization request - Authorization reversal is allowed to make the total authorization amount equal to the amount settled.
eCommerce - Card not present and cardholder information received over a secure website.
Transaction Types
Below are the transactions used by most MOTO/eCommerce POS applications.
Direct Marketing Industry Requirements
Transactions can be subject to higher processing costs if the following payment industry requirements are not supported.
Amount Tolerance: The acceptable tolerance (difference) between the amount authorized (initial and subsequent reversals) and the final amount must be zero percent (0%).
The transaction is not compliant with industry requirements if the authorization and final amounts are out of tolerance, or if your application submits more than one authorization request for the same card number and reference number.
Authorization Practices: The card associations recommend that the original authorization request not exceed 15% over the estimated final transaction amount. This guideline is intended to aid in the management of the cardholder’s open-to-buy.
In the event that the original authorization amount exceeds the final transaction amount, an authorization reversal is required to comply with the proper qualification requirements. A periodic review of the percentage calculation is recommended, so that adjustments can be made when warranted.
If the total amount authorized exceeds the amount to be settled by an amount larger than the tolerance percentage configured in the Gateway solution or Fusebox, a Partial Authorization Reversal (tran type 76) is automatically generated prior to settlement.
note
In order to return open-to-buy to a cardholder, a real-time partial Authorization Reversal is necessary as a best practice. If you allow the Elavon Gateway products to perform the reversal at the time of settlement, it may be over 24 hours before the reversal is processed to the cardholder’s open-to-buy.
Account Verification:
- Account verification (zero-dollar authorization) can be used when starting a transaction, but requires entering the billing ZIP Code, street address, and CVV2/CVC2/CID to obtain an approval from American Express and Discover.
- MasterCard and Visa only require the billing zip code.
- This allows the POS system to confirm that the card is valid, approve (not for a specific amount), and confirm the AVS and CVV2/CVC2/CID values. Start with a new reference number when authorizing the transaction since an account verification transaction cannot be used to settle a transaction.
- Additional fees will be charged for the account verification transactions.
Any authorization for more than $0.00 that is left unsettled is subject to a misuse of auth fee. Settlement must occur within 10 days of authorization or within 20 days for travel and entertainment (T&E). Validate an account number using a $0.00 amount to avoid incurring this fee.
If the cardholder account is not in good standing, the transaction processor responds with a decline message. Use the Authorization Only transaction to verify a credit card when the cardholder is not present to minimize the risk of fraud. Authorization-only transactions identify the card as a valid before the purchase is completed without impacting the customer’s open-to-buy for the entire purchase price, or before processing an order.
Transaction Date: The transaction is compliant when the current transaction date and the date shipped (API field 0711) are the same, and not more than 7 days from the original authorization request. Follow the rules for a long-term purchase if the dates are different.
Timeliness Presentation: A transaction is not in compliance with industry requirements if it can’t be settled within 7 days.
Address Verification Service (AVS): AVS is a required service in the Direct Marketing industry. The cardholder’s billing zip code must be supplied to meet minimum industry requirements.
An address verification request must be performed on the cardholder’s billing ZIP Code to obtain improved qualification status and lower processing costs. It is the responsibility of the POS to interpret the AVS Response (field 1020) to ensure that the merchant is not exposed to risk in processing the transaction.
CVV2 / CVC2 / CID Validation: CVV2, CVC2, and CID are values that can be included in the authorization request when a card is not present. Passing this data with direct marketing transactions helps protect the merchant against chargebacks.
It is the responsibility of the POS to interpret the CVV2/CVC2/CID Response (field 0040) to ensure that the merchant is not exposed to risk in processing the transaction.
eCommerce Reference: Card associations require merchants to provide an Electronic Commerce Indicator (ECI) to identify an eCommerce transaction and the method of authentication used to secure the transaction. Merchants may incur penalties if an eCommerce transaction does not have a valid indicator.
note
Transactions require eCommerce indicators if they were the direct result of the cardholder entering their account number online. Indicators for the first eCommerce transaction include storing a card number on file or recurring billing. Entering the card data online can be considered direct marketing after the first instance.