Payment processing questions

[fokstrot]

Scenario:

Customer enters billing information for a ticket online. My website validates that the credit card is legit with a $0.01 authorization only. The customer is given a ticket confirmation number which he shows at the venue along with his name and pays the owner for it at the venue.

If the customer does not show up to the venue at all and never cancels the ticket, will I be able to do a capture for $50 with the billing information he entered when buying the ticket online from me?

Goal:

The goal is not to charge customers when they book tickets online, but to take their billing information as insurance in case they do not show up to the venue and pay the owner.

Perhaps there is a better, more logical process to accomplish the goal and I am hoping some of the experts on the forum can comment.

[RaynorC1emen7]

Either use CIM, or instead of doing a $.01 authorization only, do the full amount authorization only because you can not capture more then what you authorize. It is not a charge until you capture the amount. authorization only would put a hold on the credit and that it.

[fokstrot]

Authorization only for an amount of $0.01 is out of the option then.

Doing a full amount authorization only would count as a transaction and that would mean paying a certain amount + % of the amount - in most cases just for verifying that the card is valid. Is that right that whether it is an authorize or a capture, the transaction fee from Authorize.net and merchant service aplies?

CIM is a service that I am planning to use and I thought that the monthly price was reasonable for storing the customer's information and allowing the validation of cards, but now that the Authorization only for $0.01 is not an option, I am not firm on how what works. What is the difference between using CIM or doing the full amount authorization?

I would like to use authorize.net to store customer billing information and validate credit cards on a daily basis and the CIM seems like a good pay-per-month service that allows me to do this. I would also like to insure myself to be able to charge the customer's credit card in case they do not pay for the ticket at the venue, but I wouldn't like to pay a transaction fee for tickets which haven't been charged through Authorize.net.

The following two scenarios are what I was thinking of, but can it work that way:

Let's say the Authorize.net transaction fee is $0.08. Customer A wants to buy a $30 ticket, he enters his billing info, my website verifies the credit card is valid and reserves the right to charge $30, but does not charge it. The customer goes to the venue and pays the owner $30. (In this scenario, I would expect to pay a monthly fee for validating cards such as CIM $20/month, but not a transaction fee because the costs per day for thousands tickets).

If Customer B wants to buy a $30 ticket, enters his billing info, my website verifies the credit card is valid and reserves the right to charge $30, but does not charge it. In the end, the customer never cancels the ticket, never shows up to the venue on the date of the ticket and never pays the owner for the ticket. (In this scenario, I would expect to pay a transaction fee to Authorize.net for charging Customer B's credit card).

[RaynorC1emen7 · Accepted solution]

Doing a full amount authorization only would count as a transaction and that would mean paying a certain amount + % of the amount - in most cases just for verifying that the card is valid. Is that right that whether it is an authorize or a capture, the transaction fee from Authorize.net and merchant service aplies?

a $.01 auth_only is also a transaction, there will be fee for that.

CIM is a service that I am planning to use and I thought that the monthly price was reasonable for storing the customer's information and allowing the validation of cards, but now that the Authorization only for $0.01 is not an option, I am not firm on how what works. What is the difference between using CIM or doing the full amount authorization?

When you save a payment profile in CIM, tell it to do a live validation. That would do the $.01 auth_only(fee) to valid the Credit card before saving the payment profile, then when you ready to charge the full amount or the noshow charge, just use the saved payment profile id to create transaction.

I would also like to insure myself to be able to charge the customer's credit card in case they do not pay for the ticket at the venue, but I wouldn't like to pay a transaction fee for tickets which haven't been charged through Authorize.net.

Answer on the first paragraph

The 2 scenarios is the same answer on first paragraph.

[fokstrot]

Those are useful answers. So the solution is to go with CIM.

Scenario in steps:

1) Customer enters billing information.

2) Billing information gets saved in a payment profile in CIM.

3) Credit card is checked for validity. If it passes, the ticket confirmation number is given to the customer and my website is charged a transaction fee + a % of $0.01. That's fine then.

My question:

a) Did I understand right that I can at any time use the customer billing information in CIM to initiate a full amount charge - without needing any input from the customer (given that the written terms and conditions are agreed upon at the time of the original ticket purchase)?

[RaynorC1emen7]

scenario sound right.

a)yes, as long as the customer accept the terms and conditions.