Pre-authorize a Credit Card Payment
Overview
If you use Payment Processing, you can click the Pre-authorize button on the Order Entry form to pre-authorize a credit card payment for an order.
You pre-authorize a credit card payment when you want to verify that sufficient credit exists on a customer's credit card before processing a sale. When you create a pre-authorization, the cardholder's credit limit is reduced by the amount of the pre-authorization until the pre-authorization is captured or expires.
The amount of a pre-authorization does not need to match the amount captured in the final sale. The captured amount may be more (as when a restaurant customer adds a tip) or less (as when a service station customer swipes a credit card, and then purchases fuel that costs less than the amount pre-authorized for a fill-up).
If you use multicurrency accounting, you can pre-authorize a credit card payment only if the customer currency matches the currency specified for an existing processing code. For example, if you want to pre-authorize a credit card payment for a USD customer, USD must be specified as the currency for an existing processing code.
Merchant service providers charge a fee for voiding a credit card pre-authorization. However, this fee is lower than the fee that is charged if you do not void or capture a pre-authorization and allow it to expire. For this reason, we recommend that you void any pre-authorization that will not be captured.
If a pre-authorization has expired, you may be able to force a payment for the pre-authorized amount. You can force a payment only if the pre-authorization has expired recently (typically within 30 days), and if you used a saved credit card for the pre-authorization (that is, you did not select the Enter A Card For One-Time Use option when processing the pre-authorization).
For more information, see Pre-authorizing, Capturing, and Forcing Credit Card Transactions.
Note: Forced transactions may be subject to higher fees than regular transactions.
If it is likely that more than seven days will pass before an order is shipped, you should not pre-authorize a credit card payment for the order. If you do, the pre-authorization may expire, in which case your merchant service provider will charge a fee. (Credit card pre-authorization expires after approximately seven days.)
Before
you start
Sage Exchange must be installed and running on the workstation you are using to pre-authorize the payment. For more information, see Payment Processing Help.
You must have a working Internet connection.
To pre-authorize a credit card payment:
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Open Order Entry > Transactions > Order Entry.
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Create or select an order for which you want to pre-authorize a credit card payment.
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Click the Pre-authorize button.
The O/E Pre-authorization form appears. The Pre-authorization Amount field displays the order total (including taxes).
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Verify that the Payment Code field displays the correct payment code, or select a payment code that uses the payment type SPS Credit Card.
Tip: Click the Finder (
) to see a list of payment codes and associated payment types. -
Verify that the Processing Code field displays the correct processing code, or select a processing code.
The bank code associated with the processing code appears in the Bank Code field..
Note: The bank and currency for the processing code you select must match the bank and currency for the transaction.
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Enter remaining pre-authorization details, and then click Pre-authorize to open the Process Credit Card form.
The Process Credit Card form appears.
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Select a saved credit card or enter details for a new credit card:
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To select a saved credit card, use the Finder (
). -
To enter details for a new card and save the card in the customer record, click New (
) and then add the card details in the Credit Card Information form. -
To enter details for a new credit card that will not be saved in the customer record, select Enter a Card for One-Time Use.
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Enter or review billing details. These may be different from the information in the Sage ERP Accpac customer record. For example, the customer may be using a company credit card, or may be authorized to use a card on behalf of the primary cardholder.
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Review totals. For some transactions, you can edit the amount in the Subtotal and Taxes fields. When you edit one of these fields, the amount in the other field is calculated automatically by subtracting the amount you entered from the total.
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Click Process Pre-authorization.
The Sage Payment Solutions browser form appears.
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On the Sage Payment Solutions browser form, enter credit card details.
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If you use a card reader device and did not select a saved credit card for this transaction, you can click Swipe Card to swipe a credit card.
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Sage ERP Accpac automatically submits billing details for each transaction to Sage Payment Solutions. If you want to review these details, click the Next button on the browser form.
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Click Submit.
Sage Payment Solutions processes the pre-authorization. The browser form closes, and transaction details and a status message appear on the Process Credit Card form.
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On the Process Credit Card form, review pre-authorization details and status.
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Close the Process Credit Card form.
After pre-authorizing the credit card payment, you can post the order, and then use the Shipment Entry form to capture the pre-authorization when the order is shipped.