Declined Transactions

[dannywynne]

We are investigating several declined transactions from one of our custom forms. Our account number is 25991, and the WID is 69236. Please look into the transactions for Lisa K, on the morning of 8/24. There will be 4 total transactions, 2 accepted and 2 approved.

Our forms submits two separate orders. I inquired about this on the forum previously, and using AJAX, we were able to successfully implement it. But since going live, we have frequently seen this declined responses. What is even more frustrating is that it appears that some part of the order is being accepted, so when people see the decline, they try again and get charged a second time.

Another thing to note - the second order will usually be free, as is the case with this example. So while I know that submitting 2 orders in quick succession can throw fraud flags, does the logic account for the fact that the order is free?

Please let me know if you need any further information.

Thanks,
Danny Wynne

[CnP.Support]

Good day @DannyWynne:

To fully understand what you are doing I had to review the transactions and the XML that you are posting to the API platform. The declined transactions you referred to all report "Invalid Amount" in the API log files. Following the discussion below will resolve your issue.

Based on the XML the $0 amount is being passed to us as:

<input type="hidden" name="TransactionType" id="TransactionType" value="Payment" />

The above is invalid for $0 payments. You cannot process a live credit card with $0 using the Payment as the Transaction Type. If you wish to use a credit card for $0 then you should use the following:

<input type="hidden" name="TransactionType" id="TransactionType" value="PreAuthorization" />

PreAuthorization allows for $0 processing of a credit card and will also issue a GUID for future transactions with that card. To avoid possible fraud hit because of back-to-back transaction you may want to process the second transaction as INVOICE so the end user does not get a hit on the credit card but still get a receipt for the second transaction. The Invoicing will not hit the credit card and simply sends an email for the amount of transaction which is $0 in this case.

Here is the manual link for PreAuthorization: http://manual.clickandpledge.com/For...pt_Information

For invoicing you may want to see the following: https//manual.clickandpledge.com/Form-Field-Names.html#Payment_Information

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

[cliff.archey]

We are also investigating a consistently declined transaction through our website's custom API. One particular individual looking to make an online donation with an AMEX gets a "Declined" message despite entering all of his information properly. A screen shot of his error message is attached. We've tested this with other AMEX's to make sure it's not a website-specific problem, and they are working properly. Do you have any idea what might be causing this error? Our account number is 25688.

[CnP.Support]

Good day @Cliff.Archey:

Did you see the last post? You have a major issue with your implementation and we posted a detailed answer to the issue.

Has that issue been addressed? The server error is because you are posting an invalid amount for a transaction.

[cliff.archey]

Hello,

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by a major issue with our implementation. I checked out your response to @dannywynne, and it seemed that you were referencing an issue with the $0 amount. However, the issue with the transaction that we've had is for $1,000.00. Again, we only seem to have a problem with the particular donor, but if this is a larger issue, please let me know the steps to resolving it.

Thanks,

Cliff

[CnP.Support]

Good day Cliff,

Please see my email posted earlier showing you the problem with your $0 processing. All those transactions are generating server errors since you are posting the wrong Transaction Type. I explained it in great detail on how to fix the issue.

In reviewing your account I see a transaction by James S**** for $100 with AMEX which was declined due to "Invalid CV2".

Decline reasons are also available in the report. Simply download the report and you will see the decline reason for declined transactions.

I hope the above answers your question.

[cliff.archey]

I'm sorry, but your explanation doesn't make much sense to me. I understand that we have to allow for "pre-authorization" in our transaction types, but I'm confused as to where I actually entered this. The link you posted in the earlier response is to a stagnant page, but doesn't mention where to actually make this edit. Our web designers created the API, so I'm guessing my disconnect is that the solution you're presenting must be done within the API generation, not within our Click and Pledge account portal. Am I correct in this assumption?

[dannywynne]

To Support - Thanks for your input on the necessary updates to the form. I made those changes and everything is currently working as we expected it to. If I can add two cents, it would have been helpful to me if there had been something more in the Form Field Names documentation about the PreAuthorization option. I do see where it says $0, but since I wasn't searching for that, I never found it. Even adding in that the Authorization type must have a non-zero total would have done the trick for me.

To @cliff.archey - For what it's worth, to make it work on my page I had to make the change on the form that is submitted. You say that "our web designers created the API", which I take to mean there is some sort of automated form generation going on. If that is true, then I would think that they would need to make the change in there to handle the $0 case.

[CnP.Support]

Good day @dannywynee:

I will request the changes in the manual to add more comments in that section.

One question I have is why are you using Credit Card for $0. Yes- you can do it but that is designed to send you the authorization code for processing transactions in the future. Based on what you have said so far the best way for you to do this is to use invoicing since that will not ping the credit card and will not cost you another authorization fee. Invoice is free and the system simply sends an email with a $0 balance.

Let me know if you need more clarification.

[dannywynne]

Per your original suggestion, we made the Invoice change at the same time as making the $0 order set to PreAuthorization, and it has worked fine. This was another case of not knowing what to look for in the documentation. But once I knew about it, the form functions perfectly.

[CnP.Support]

Glad to hear that all is working fine.

The problem is the API manual offers what each node does but an application naturally requires a complete understanding of how it all comes together. It is hard for a manual to have use case for each scenario. In your case knowing the big picture would have helped from the beginning.

We will go ahead and add more comments in the manual.

Let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

[cliff.archey]

Hello all,

Thank you for your cooperation on this as we believe we've found and created the solution. However, we want to test a $1,000 donation first before relaying the information to our donors that would like to donate. I am wondering how to do the following:

1.) How to void a transaction that was made through an API within the Click and Pledge portal? (so that we can void the test transaction)
2.) How to create a test account that is used only for test transactions of this nature?

I realize #2 may not be feasible, but if you could tell me how to void transactions manually, that would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Cliff

[CnP.Support]

Good day @Cliff.Archey:

Answers to your questions:

1.) How to void a transaction that was made through an API within the Click and Pledge portal? (so that we can void the test transaction)

REPLY: Please see this KB article:http://forums.clickandpledge.com/con...-a-Transaction -- NOTE: If the transaction is credited before settlement at midnight it will be considered a voided transaction and will not appear on your credit card.

2.) How to create a test account that is used only for test transactions of this nature?
REPLY: Why do you need a test account? Simply copy your form and change the mode to TEST. It is the same thing.

We don't set up a TEST account for clients since in the past we have had major disasters when clients forget to switch from their TEST account to production. Going live with TEST account is a major issue since the server responds to transactions just like a real card but will not settle. These accounts are only created for our Partners & Developers that are NOT clients since they don't need to have a real merchant account. Those that have a merchant account may simply put the mode to TEST and test as much as they want.

Let me know if we can be of any further help.

[cliff.archey]

Despite having our developer address the "0" and comma issue on our API form, the issue with the donor's AMEX persists. It refuses to process the donation. We need to figure out another solution asap so that this donor doesn't become dissatisfied and decides to take his contribution elsewhere. Please let me know what problem you diagnose, and if we can schedule a phone call to go over the specific issue. The attached error message was still displayed.

[CnP.Support]

Good day!

Would you please let us know the Order Number of the first name and last initial and the date of the attempt so we can review the transaction.