Chapter 5

Searching and Reviewing Orders

The Business Center is your focal point when you need to search for your orders. The search results include all authorizations and rejections, including rejections by Smart Authorization. In addition to capturing payments, you can search orders to perform many tasks or to find errors that occurred in your orders.

Searching for Orders

Searching for Errors in Your Orders

Reviewing Declined Credit Card Authorizations

Processing Follow-On Transactions

Processing Authorized Orders

Processing Batches of Transactions

Reconciling Your Orders with the Reports

Important The Business Center provides several types of reports, which contain the complete information about your orders. These reports remain in the Business Center for six months. For a detailed description of the reports available, see the Business Center Reporting User’s Guide.

Searching for Orders

In the navigation pane, you can see the main search options that are discussed in this chapter.

Conducting Basic Searches

Under General Search, select among several options:

•   Time interval: last hour, today or yesterday, week to date or last week, month to date or last month, or a custom range. You can search an interval of up to six months.

•   By type of payment, such as credit card or electronic check

By default, the credit card search is limited to authorizations and the check search is limited to debits. However, if none exist, the search consists of stand-alone credits.

•   By specifying a field and a value:

This figure shows the search page.

The search results comprise this information: order number, date, name, amount, status, and request ID. The status column shows one of these values.

The order number is a link to the details of the transaction, which includes a summary of the order, the order history, and the customer information for the order. In addition, you can see authorization or other codes that are returned for the order and any comments that you sent with the original order request, including the four optional fields (Field 1 – Field 4) that you may have enabled and used. You may also see links to other information, such as a list of AVS codes. This figure shows a sample details page for a card transaction.

When a user processes a transaction with the Virtual Terminal, the Business Center stores the name of the user who made the request. You can see this information in the Authorization Status section.

If you use line-item fields, the data appears at the bottom of the details page.

AVS codes

Important The definition of the AVS codes that you see in the details page is abbreviated and may not be complete. To see the complete definition so that you understand exactly the meaning of the code, see AVS Codes.

You can use this page for several purposes:

•   Request a capture or credit or override an order declined by Smart Authorization; see Capturing Orders below and Crediting Orders.

•   Void an authorization that has not been captured; see Voiding Orders.

•   Search for other transactions that include the same customer name, payment type, or account number; see Searching for Orders with Similar Information below.

Searching for Orders with Similar Information

To find orders that use some of the same information as the current order, click any of the links on the page.

Locating Similar Order Information

All links to additional information, such as customer’s name, account number, or email address, are underlined. As a result, the Business Center will display a list of other transactions that include the same information, so that you can find other orders by the same customer or possibly fraudulent orders.

Locating Related Parts of an Order

The transaction details page can show many links for available possible follow-on actions, such as capture, credit, void, re-authorization, and re-authorization and capture. If you process one or more of these transactions, you can use the Related Transactions link under Similar Searches (top figure) to locate all the transactions associated with the original authorization (or authorization and capture) but not new orders created from a previous authorization because new orders are not linked to the original authorization.

When you click the link, the search results appear (bottom figure). At the top, you see the search parameters. For re-authorizations with or without capture, you also see the Linked Request ID (in red), which is the request ID of the original authorization. In this case, the original authorization was followed by a re-authorization and capture.

Searching for Errors in Your Orders

Use the Exception Search to find the errors in your transactions. In addition, you can use the Transaction Exception Detail Report, which is a daily downloadable report.

The figure below shows a request that failed because the authorization code had already been used to settle another transaction.

Because the search results page and the report share the same page, both tools show detailed information about transactions that were flagged by CyberSource or by your processor because of errors in the request data of your follow-on transactions. Follow-on services are those that depend on the processing results of another service. For example, you can request the capture service only if you have a successful card authorization, and you can request a follow-on credit only if you have a successful capture.

Important You will continue to receive immediately in the reply or the transaction receipt those error notifications sent by card processors during authorization attempts.

When you send follow-on transactions that contain data errors, such as a capture amount greater than the authorized amount or missing or invalid fields, these transactions are rejected and set aside. They cannot be processed until you locate and correct the errors. When errors occur, you are notified in the Message Center with a message that remains for seven days. A new message is added for each day when you have errors, with a maximum of seven messages. Messages older than seven days are deleted. The table below describes the type of information that you can find in the exception search.

You must review the errors because the information provided may differ from what you received in the initial transaction receipt or reply.

Note The message in the Error Information section takes precedence over that in the Request Information section: you must correct the error if you want to capture the order.

Example This example compares the credit card transaction information that you can receive in the error information section versus what you can receive in the request information section immediately below:

After reviewing and correcting the errors, you can resend the request and change your system so that you can avoid these and other errors in the future. For more information on interpreting these errors, see the online help and the Transaction Exception Detail Report in the Business Center Reporting User’s Guide.

Reviewing Declined Credit Card Authorizations

In this section, you can search for orders that were rejected because of your Smart Authorization settings, that require a verbal authorization, or both. To search, go to the Order Search tab in the Auths Needing Review section. Select the options that you want, and in the results page, click the request ID of the order that you want to review.

Hiding Authorizations from Search

The Hide from Search feature prevents an authorization from appearing in future searches. Use this feature when you know that you will never capture an authorization, such as when an order is cancelled or fraudulent. You can still use the General Search tool to find this authorization.

You can find this feature on the search results page of the Auths Ready to Capture (highlighted in red in the above figure) and Auths Needing Review sections. From this page, you can hide transactions from search or capture authorizations.

Smart Authorization Declines

Smart Authorization guards against fraud losses by analyzing credit card authorizations to verify that the customer is legitimate. Orders can be rejected because of your Smart Authorization settings, such as when the Address Verification service cannot match the customer’s address (no address match) or the card verification is not available (card verification number was not submitted). The results are marked for review because they appeared to be risky.

After reviewing the orders carefully, if you determine that they are legitimate, you can capture the authorizations. To help you in reviewing these orders, you may want to contact the customer or take other steps to verify the customer’s identity and the validity of the order. This example shows an order that was declined because it exceeded the amount entered in your Smart Authorization settings. The reason for the failure is stated as factor code M.

Verbal Authorization Code Needed

Some orders are rejected when you do not receive as expected in the reply an authorization code from the customer's bank. In some cases, such as when a card’s magnetic strip is demagnetized, or the card is expired or invalid, you need to call to obtain verbally an authorization code. After processing, these transactions are indistinguishable from other credit card transactions. You do not need to call for an authorization code for declines due to Smart Authorization settings because these declines do not originate from the bank.

If you were required to call the card association to obtain the six-digit number, you must enter this code in the Business Center so that the transaction can be processed. Make sure to process a verbal authorization only with the same processor that gave you the verbal authorization. Otherwise, the transaction will fail.

Example The following example shows an order that was originally declined (Auth Code section empty and framed in red) in the first figure but later captured (settled) after an authorization code obtained verbally was entered in the Capture page (second figure). Because the authorization code was not received initially in the Business Center, the code never appears in the details page, even after the order is captured successfully (third figure).

Processing Follow-On Transactions

You can see the links and use the features if you have the correct Virtual Terminal and Payment permissions.

To enhance your order management of orders processed with card payments, you can use an existing authorization to process re-authorizations, sales (re-authorization and capture), and new orders. To do so, you can use a successful, failed, captured, reversed, credited, or voided authorization, or one that was placed in review or is pending settlement. Follow-on transactions are accepted, placed in review, or rejected as are any other transactions. If rejected, the Virtual Terminal attempts to process a capture or sale by using the original authorization.

The figure below shows a details page with many links:

•   The top callout shows the links that you click to process a follow-on action. See Follow-On Transactions.

•   The bottom callout shows the link that you use to search for events related to re-authorizations (with or without associated capture). See Locating Related Parts of an Order.

Important Before choosing any of these options, make sure that the original authorization that you want to use is not risky or fraudulent.

For more information on processing follow-on transactions, see Follow-On Transactions.

Processing Authorized Orders

After you have obtained the complete order information and reviewed and verified the information to make sure that it is complete, correct, and valid, you receive an authorization, and you are ready to finish processing the order.

Capturing Orders

Verifying the Status of Captured Orders

Crediting Orders

Voiding Orders

Capturing Orders

The capture process described below applies to credit card authorizations only. Electronic check debits are captured automatically after they are authorized.

You can capture orders when you have all the information required for the order, and you have reviewed and corrected all errors (if any) as discussed in the previous section.

If you use line-item fields, the content of the fields appears in the details page and in the capture request page where you can modify the content of the fields if you want.

After you have shipped the order or provided the service, you must request that the customer's bank transfers the funds from the customer's account to your bank account by a process called capture. If you do not request, you will not be paid. Depending on your type of business, you can request payment in one of two ways:

•   If you ship goods, you must proceed in three steps:

1. Authorization in the first request

2. Order review (if necessary) and shipping

3. Capture in the second request (this section)

•   If you provide a service, such as subscriptions or music downloads, you can request the authorization and the capture at the same time. In this case, see Orders That Required No Review.

You can request only one capture for each authorization. In the Business Center, you can capture an order from either the General Search or the Authorizations Ready to Capture search pages.

Important If a capture fails, you are not notified, and you do not receive payment for the order. Therefore, make sure to check the Capture Detail report frequently to verify that your captures and credits are processed successfully. For more information on correcting failed capture or credit requests, see the Business Center Reporting User’s Guide.

Orders That Required a Review

To capture authorizations after reviewing them, such as those for goods shipped, use the Transaction Detail page. If you have not yet captured the authorization for an order, a Capture link appears below the Payment History table as shown below. You need to capture all orders whether you received a electronic (immediate) authorization in the Business Center or a verbal authorization. You are not be paid until you capture the order.

Capturing an Order

customer ID and the comments

The figure below shows the capture (settlement page). In that page, you cannot capture more than the amount of the authorization. In addition, if a comment and/or customer ID was entered in the order form, you can modify either or both of them.

When the capture request is successful, the details page reappears with a line added to the history table (highlighted in red) and the options to void the capture request and to credit part or all of the order.

The comment and any merchant-defined data fields appear highlighted in blue at the bottom of the page, but the customer ID does not appear on the page.

Note To see the updated comment, you may need to wait a few minutes before refreshing the page. For example, the updated comment does not appear in the figure below but does appear in the following figure.

The customer ID and the comments appear in the detailed reports: exported search results and Order Detail.

In the figure below, which is the result of a new search for recent transactions, such as a capture request, the customer ID is no longer visible, but the comment is shown updated.

Orders That Required No Review

To capture authorizations that do not need to be reviewed, such as those for services provided, you use the Authorizations Ready to Capture Search page.

From your search results, you can choose the orders that you want to capture and request the capture directly from the results page, or you can click the order number link and request the capture from the details page. Use the time-saving results page option if you are confident that you do not need to look at the order details.

Verifying the Status of Captured Orders

After you have requested to capture your orders, you can search for them to check on the settlement status. This feature applies to all types of card transactions that you processed in the Virtual Terminal. As soon as the settlement is complete, the order disappears from this list and appear in the reports. If you want to see these orders in report format without waiting for a report to be available, you can export the list to a CSV or an XML report.

Because the capture is pending, you also have the option of voiding the order. To void an order, you can do so either from the results page or the details page. In both cases, the confirmation page appears.

If you choose to void the order(s), you see a results page with two options:

•   If you conduct the search again, you will not see the voided order because it has been deleted.

•   If you return to the search results (figure below), the order is still visible. The void option is grayed out, but the link to the details of the order is still active. After you leave this page, you will no longer see this order.

Crediting Orders

You request a credit when you need to give your customer a refund. If you have successfully requested a credit card capture or sale transaction or a check debit, a Credit button appears below the Order Information table. The button leads to the page where you enter that amount to be credited. To issue credits, users must have the CO access level. For more information, see the Permissions or the online help in the Business Center.

Because the void and credit options are available after you have successfully requested a capture, you can see both options at the same time in the details page.

If you use merchant-defined data fields, the content of these fields is retained even after you credit an order.

When you request a credit, money is not transferred immediately. Instead, all the credit requests for a day are placed in a batch file and settled nightly. The funds are transferred usually in two to four days.

The authorization information necessary to perform a credit is available in the CyberSource database for a limited time only:

•   Credit card credit: you can request a credit only up to 180 days after the authorization:

Important You can issue an unlimited number of follow-on credits for an unlimited amount, regardless of the amount of the original settlement. In addition, you can issue a stand-alone credit without referencing a settlement. To prevent abuses and errors, a warning message appears on the screen before you submit the credit request to give you the chance to verify that the amount entered for the credit is correct.

If a credit fails, you are not notified, and your customer does not receive a refund for the order. Therefore, make sure to return to the search to check on the status of your credit request.

• Within 60 days of the original transaction, you click a link called Credit. After you request the credit, it will appear in the status table below the authorization and the capture. This credit request, which is linked to the original transaction, is called a follow-on credit. This option is available if have a successful capture that has not been credited.

• From 60 to 180 days after the original transaction, you click a link called Stand-Alone Credit. This option is available for card-not-present transactions if your payment processor supports this type of credit. After you request the credit, it will not appear in the status table because although this credit appears linked to the original transaction, CyberSource processes it differently. If you search for the credit, it will appear as the only transaction in the status table. This credit request, which is linked to the original transaction, is called a stand-alone credit.

• For transactions older than 180 days, you need to use the Virtual Terminal to request a credit. In this case, you must provide all the customer and payment information used for the original order.

•   Check credits: you can request a credit only up to 60 days after the authorization:

• Within 60 days of the original transaction, you click a link called Credit to process a follow-on transaction. After you request the credit, it will appear in the status table below the debit. This credit request is linked to the original transaction. You can do as many follow-on credits as you want as long as the total amount does not exceed the original debit amount.

• For transactions older than 60 days, you need to use the Virtual Terminal to process a credit as a stand-alone transaction. In this case, you must provide all the customer and payment information used for the original order.

Voiding Orders

You can void these settlement requests that CyberSource has not yet sent to the processor: credit card capture and credit, and check debit and credit requests. After the transaction information for these types of requests is sent to your processor, the Void option disappears. At that time, your only option to undo a transaction is to issue a credit to your customer. For credit card orders, if your account provider allows multiple credits for the same order, you can void each credit request.

Important You cannot undo a voided transaction: if you void a request but later want to process the transaction, you must request a new authorization and a new capture.

If you use merchant-defined data fields, the content of these fields is retained even after you void a capture request. For more information on voiding orders, see Verifying the Status of Captured Orders.

The figure below shows a card transaction detail page in which a capture request was processed successfully. A Void option appears in the Order History table.

Processing Batches of Transactions

This section provides an overview of a feature that you can use to send to CyberSource a single file that contains a set of order requests instead of sending individual transactions.

In the Business Center, you can download a template for each of the types of transactions that you can submit in a batch file:

The menu item is located under Tools & Settings > Batch Transactions > Templates.

The information that you provide for each request in the batch file is the same that you provide for an individual service request. After you have created your files, you can upload them in the Upload area.

CyberSource reads the file, verifies that it conforms to the template, and sends you an email indicating whether the file passed the verification test. If the file is valid, CyberSource creates a separate request for each transaction and sends the information to the payment processor according to the normal processor batch schedule.

After all the requests in a file are processed, CyberSource creates two reports:

•   Daily Summary Report shows a summary of the transactions in the batch.

•   Daily Detail Report (CSV and XML formats) shows details of the transactions in the batch.

For detailed information about using batch files to process credit card and electronic check transactions, see the online help and the Business Center Batch Submission User’s Guide.

Reconciling Your Orders with the Reports

The Business Center is your focal point when you need to reconcile your orders and the amount in your bank account on a weekly and monthly basis. Funds are transferred to your account usually two to four days after you capture a payment. The same time period applies to credits. The reports in the Business Center show all payments collected from all customers during a specific day and show all refunds as well.

You are not notified if the credit card processor is unable to process a capture or credit. If a capture fails, you do not receive payment for the order; if a credit fails, your customer does not receive a refund for the order.

To ensure that your captures and credits are processed, use the Capture Detail Report to identify transactions that failed. For information about this report and instructions for correcting failed captures and credits, see the Business Center Reporting User’s Guide. Make sure to compare your monthly Capture Detail Report with your monthly bank statement to ensure that funds were successfully deposited into your account.

To reconcile the amount in your bank account with the orders you have processed, use the reports available in the Business Center and from your bank or financial institution:

•   View the total number of orders and the total amount by card type. For example, you can use this information to decide what credit cards to accept.

•   Compare your sales with your credits. For example, you can use this information to make sure that your credits do not exceed a certain percentage of your sales and that no suspicious pattern exists in the amounts refunded to customers.

The Business Center provides several types of reports, which remain in the Business Center for six months.