Skipjack Merchant Services Guide

Transcription

1 Skipjack Merchant Services Guide

2 COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Skipjack Financial Services and Skipjack Transaction Network are registered trademarks of the Bradley-Madison Company. It is the policy of Skipjack Financial Services to change and improve specifications as new technology, industry standards, and user needs evolve. The Company therefore, reserves the right to change the directions and specifications contained in this document without prior notice. To maintain the quality of our publications, we need your comments on the accuracy, clarity, organization, and value of this document. Address correspondence to: Skipjack Financial Services 2230 Park Ave Cincinnati, Ohio Attn: Customer Service Manager Copyright 2007 By Skipjack Financial Services Cincinnati, Ohio U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Printed in U.S.A. Confidential Property of Skipjack Financial Services

3 CONFIDENTIALITY AND USAGE The information contained in this document (and any attachments) is confidential information provided by Skipjack Financial Services and the Skipjack Transaction Network. This document is intended only for use by customers, partners and others approved by Skipjack Transaction Network. Any dissemination, distribution or copying of this document by others is prohibited. REVISION RECORD Date Version Description February 14, Re-release of Skipjack Merchant User Guide, including document reformatting and description of new features. Document is available in Word and PDF formats. July 11, Added section on password policy December 30, Deleted an erroneous statement related to VPOS security. January 27, Added additional information on International AVS and manual/force settlement features. February 7, Separated the Merchant main user guide and the Merchant Reporting Guide. January 25, Updated contact section, clarified authorization expiration, and removed blank pages. March 5, Updated screen shots and inserted new data

4 Index INDEX... 4 OVERVIEW... 5 INTRODUCTION...5 GETTING STARTED WITH SKIPJACK TRANSACTION NETWORK... 6 THE PROCESS...6 HOW DOES SKIPJACK TRANSACTION NETWORK WORK?...7 WHAT IS AN INTERNET PAYMENT GATEWAY?...8 HOW A TRANSACTION IS PROCESSED...8 ROLES IN THE TRANSACTION PROCESS...9 ACCOUNT PREFERENCES VENDOR INFORMATION...13 AVS Settings...24 MANAGING USERS...28 New User...29 Edit User...30 Delete User...32 Freeze User...32 Thaw User...33 USING THE INTERACTIVE REGISTER ACCOUNT SUMMARY FEATURES...34 Batch Settlements...35 View Statement...38 View Transaction Register...38 Settling Transactions...39 Transaction Detail...41 Summary of Transaction States and Operations...43 Freeze a Transaction...44 Thaw a Transaction...46 Delete a Transaction...48 Crediting a Transaction...49 View Pending Transactions...57 Recurring Payments Response Notifications...79 INTEGRATION GUIDE...80 TESTING A NEW MERCHANT ACCOUNT...81 VIRTUAL POINT OF SALE (VPOS) APPENDIX I

5 Introduction Overview Thank you for choosing Skipjack 1 Transaction Network for your payment processing needs. Skipjack Transaction Network is the most advanced payment processor available, used by thousands of merchants across North America as well as some of the leading financial institutions. This Merchant Guide will help you get the most from the Skipjack service. It is designed for the merchant to help them understand the various features of the service, but is also valuable for anyone that will be training merchants as well (such as resellers or developers) 2. It is important that you read this guide prior to using the Skipjack Transaction Network. It contains a great deal of valuable information that will help save you time and improve you and your customers experience with your payment application. A good time to read this is during the time that your developer is integrating Skipjack to your application. At a minimum, we recommend that you read the Getting Started section, the Quick Guide (contained in a separate document) and Setting Account Preferences prior to using the service. If there are any elements of the Quick Guide that are not clear to you, simply refer to the appropriate section of the Detailed Guide for more information. If at any time you are not clear about a specific feature, or have any difficulties throughout the process of setting up or using your account, please contact us at any time using the contact information shown in Appendix III. Thank you again for trusting your payments to Skipjack Transaction Network, and best of luck with your business! 1 Skipjack is a registered trademark of Bradley-Madison Company 2 Please note that the screen captures used in this guide are based on the Microsoft Windows XP Professional operating system. Depending upon your operating system, your screens may look slightly different

6 Getting Started with Skipjack Transaction Network The Process There are several steps that must be completed prior to accepting payments through your web application. Please read through the following section to make sure that you understand the process and will be ready to launch when your developer has completed their integration. Step 1: Apply for a Merchant Account You must have a merchant account prior to using the Skipjack Transaction Network. The merchant account enables you to accept payments and settle them to your bank account. You can obtain a merchant account either through a bank, or through one of many merchant account providers. If you wish to use the services of a merchant account provider, we have relationships with several leading companies. Contact us for more information. Step 2: Integrate Skipjack to Your Web Application Typically, this step is completed by your web development partner. If you are using a shopping cart application, Skipjack may already be integrated (Skipjack is integrated to many leading shopping cart applications. Please advise your web development partner that you wish to use Skipjack as your payment gateway). If there is some degree of customization that is required, your web development partner may need to do some additional programming. Skipjack provides developers with all of the tools that they require to perform even the most complex application integration. In addition, a development environment is made available to them so that testing can be done prior to launch. You should work closely with your web development partner to determine the look and feel of your application, as well as all of the messages that are being communicated to your customers at the various stages of their purchasing cycle. Step 3: Configure Your Skipjack Settings This step involves adjusting specific Skipjack settings to suit your particular requirements. This includes vendor information, transaction expiration time, settlement time, response messages, web page response messages, Address Verification Service (AVS) settings and more. Some of these settings will be made by your development partner (Skipjack personnel can make modifications to them for you if you so desire) and some of them can be set by you. These settings are discussed in detail starting on page 11 of this Guide. Step 4: Test Your Application Your application will be developed using a Skipjack development account. Once the application has been completed, and all the setting from your development account have been migrated to a live production account (meaning that it s ready for launch) it is important that you test it with a live credit card(s). Enter some small transaction amount and check to see that (a) the transaction is authorized, (b) you receive the correct responses (if you have enabled them), (c) you are satisfied with the messages contained in the s and on the web response pages, (d) the merchant name and transaction amount correctly appear on the credit card statement (you can call the issuing bank for the card(s) tested and ask for these details after the authorization has taken place), (e) the transaction settles to your bank account in the right time frame (you must manually settle the transaction if you have manual settlement enabled). If your testing does not give you the results you expect, contact your web development partner. Step 5: Launch At this point, you are ready to make your web application available to your customers, and to start enjoying the many benefits of accepting real payment through Skipjack. A flow diagram of the complete process is shown below 3 : 3 Please note that testing should be completed by the merchant once the application is live

7 Figure 1: Skipjack Launch Process How does Skipjack Transaction Network Work? Merchants using Skipjack Transaction Network technology can automatically accept, authorize and settle credit card payments on their website (or any Internet-connected application), 24 hours a day with the strongest encryption protocol in the industry. Businesses can instantly access their transaction history and choose from a host of options on how to view and interact with any single transaction or group of transactions. A typical transaction: a consumer selects items to purchase at a merchant s website. The purchase information is sent securely to Skipjack Transaction Network. Using a network (the Skipjack Transaction Network ) that includes multiple authorization servers that accept authorization requests from merchant web sites or third-party applications, the authorization request is processed through back-end processors and an appropriate response is returned to the merchant and its customer. Settlement is also performed on all accepted authorizations, either in a single-session mode or a batch mode. Single-session mode means that settlement for each accepted authorization occurs immediately after receipt of an accepted authorization response. Batch mode means that all accepted authorization responses are queued for settlement on a pre-determined periodic basis. In most cases, the batch-settlement period is every 24 hours. The Skipjack Transaction Network also allows a merchant to query the status of any and all transactions via a secured web browser. By logging into the Skipjack Transaction Network, a Merchant can see a transaction register listing all transactions in a specified period, all transaction detail, and all of its customer information, with the exception of credit card numbers. A merchant can also create, print and download customized reports via the same interface. These enhanced reporting capabilities enable merchants, merchant acquirers and financial institutions to better monitor and regulate specific business behaviors at all levels

8 What is an Internet Payment Gateway? An Internet payment gateway is a secure channel by which credit card payments are shuttled from the customer to the processor for authorization. Through Skipjack Transaction Network, not only is the channel secured with the strongest encryption protocol in the industry, it also makes available to the merchant a myriad of reporting features that monitor and regulate specific business behaviors at multiple levels. How a Transaction is Processed When a transaction is submitted to Skipjack for processing, a complex series of events occurs that involves many participants. A simplified flow diagram is shown below: Authorization Figure 2: Transaction Process The steps that a transaction takes during the authorization phase are as follows: 1. Customer submits payment information securely (SSL encrypted) through a web application (shopping cart order form, virtual point of sale interface, web enabled wireless phone, etc.) to a web server. 2. The web server securely posts payment information to the Skipjack transaction servers. 3. Skipjack validates the payment details (e.g. credit card #, required fields) and, if valid, formats and routes the transaction to the Acquiring Bank s processor (e.g. TSYS, Nova, FDMS, Global, First Tennessee, etc.). If the payment details are not valid, a declined response is sent back to the customer. 4. The Acquiring Bank s processor passes the transaction to the Credit Card Interchange system. 5. The Credit Card Interchange system sends a request to the Issuing Bank s database. 6. The Card Issuer approves or declines the transaction, places a hold on funds in the requested amount, and passes the appropriate result/authorization codes back through the Credit Card Interchange system

9 7. The Credit Card Interchange system sends the results of the transaction back to the Acquiring Bank s processor. 8. The Acquiring Bank s processor sends the result of the transaction to Skipjack. 9. Skipjack sends the results through the AVS filters, stores the results and transmits them back to the web application (it may also send , display web response page and trigger back-end URL). 10. The web application interprets the results and displays the appropriate message to the customer. Settlement The steps that a transaction takes during the settlement phase are as follows: 1. Skipjack transmits batches of transactions to the Acquiring Bank s processor. 2. The Acquiring Bank s processor sends the transaction batches to the Credit Card Interchange system. 3. The Credit Card Interchange system sends the transaction details to the appropriate Issuing Bank s database for verification. 4. The Issuing Bank verifies the transactions, passes the results through the Credit Card Interchange system. It then transmits the appropriate amount of funds to the Interchange system. 5. The Interchange system sends the transaction results to the Acquiring Bank s processor, and the appropriate funds to the Acquiring Bank. The Acquiring Bank passes the funds (less any fees) to the Merchant s bank account. 6. The Acquiring Bank s processor sends transaction results to Skipjack. 7. Skipjack stores the settlement results. Note: the acquiring bank, acquiring bank s processor and merchant bank can be the same entity. Roles in the Transaction Process There are a variety of participants involved in the process of developing, deploying and maintaining any payment application. The key players and their roles are described below: Participant Role Developer (Reseller) 4 Integrates application to Skipjack Trains merchant on application Skipjack Authorized Reseller Configures merchant account in Skipjack Bills merchant Trains merchant on Skipjack Merchant Obtains merchant account Communicates needs to Developer Manages storefront Manages transactions Customer (Cardholder) Inputs payment information to the application Skipjack Performs initial credit card validation Formats and routes payment information to processor (e.g. TSYS, Global, Nova, FDMS, First Tennessee) Performs AVS checking Securely stores payment information Provides applications to manage transactions and perform reporting Provides technical support to developers and merchants Processor Formats and routes payment information to appropriate credit card processing network Routes messages back to Skipjack 4 The Developer and Reseller may be the same entity (i.e. the above refers to roles not necessarily individual entities)

10 Credit Card Associations Set and enforce rules governing their transaction cards Conduct clearing and settlement processing Merchant Bank 5 Provides merchant bank account Acquiring Bank Accepts and processes merchant sales drafts Levies fees to the merchant for handling each transaction Issuing Bank Issue the card to the approved cardholder Receive and pay for transactions from Visa and/or MasterCard transactions Send bills to and collect payment from the cardholder Table 1: Roles in the Transaction Process Logging in to Skipjack Merchant Services To begin using the Merchant Features of Skipjack Merchant Services, point your browser to To login to Merchant Services, enter your login serial number, username and password in the login form (shown below) and select Merchant Services. Click submit to enter merchant services. Sample: Serial No: Username: Password: Scottva9 Vttocss2 Figure 3: Skipjack Merchant Services Login Skipjack s password policy complies with VISA s Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP). All passwords must comply with the following rules: 1. Passwords must be between eight (8) and twelve (12) characters long. 5 The merchant bank, acquiring bank and processor can be the same entity

11 2. Passwords must contain characters from three (3) of the following classes: Description Example English upper case letters A, B, C,... Z English lower case letters a, b, c,... z Westernized Arabic numerals 0, 1, 2,... 9 Symbols!@#$%^&*()? 3. Passwords may not contain your user name or any part of your full name. 4. Passwords will be changed every 60 days. 5. You may not change your password less than 30 days apart. 6. A two-year history of your passwords will be maintained no duplicates will be accepted. 7. Actions will be logged based on username. You should give your password to no one, including Skipjack personnel. 8. In case a password is forgotten, you may utilize the Retrieve Password steps in the left-hand column of the Secure Login Page. If your Secret Question reads Instant Secret Question, contact Skipjack Support at After a successful login, you are presented with the Account Summary screen shown below:

12 Figure 4: Account Summary Screen The Account Summary screen is the primary interface to all of your administrative tools. The Account Summary screen is divided into three key areas. At the top of the screen, you will notice administrative tools for accessing account preferences, creating sales reports, managing user access privileges and assistance in using the Merchant Services. In the middle of the screen, the account details are displayed. At the bottom of the screen are buttons to manage the transactional data and account details. These areas are discussed in more detail on the following pages

13 Vendor Information Account Preferences When the Preferences option is selected, by default, the Vendor Information screen will initially appear as shown in Figure 5 below: Figure 5: Vendor Preferences Screen - Top Portion The Vendor Information screen will display all of the contact information for your organization. Please verify that the content is correct. If there is incorrect data, contact our support staff to update your account information. The toll free number for Skipjack Transaction Network is Press option #1 to access the customer support department. Don t be alarmed if the Tax Rate and Tax Shipping information is incorrect. The Tax Rate and Tax Shipping features only apply to merchants that are currently using the Skipjack Shopping Cart. The Skipjack Shopping Cart is no longer offered but is still supported for those merchants using the product

14 Figure 6: Vendor Information Bottom Portion The default setting for an authorized transaction to expire is seven days. Normally, a transaction is submitted for settlement within 24 hours (daily) of an approved authorization. An idle transaction means either the account is configured for manual settlement or the transaction is in a frozen state. Transaction expiration time is determined by the card issuing bank, and can vary from bank to bank. The number as it is listed in your Skipjack account is not a rule and does not determine when the authorization falls off the cardholder s account, nor does it affect future transactions within Skipjack. The last area within the Vendor Information screen is Access Rights. The default settings are shown in Figure 6 above. The merchant account field is set to VIEW only to eliminate the account from being modified. As mentioned earlier, if the vendor or merchant account information needs modification, contact our customer support team or your Skipjack Authorized Reseller for assistance. The transaction field defaults provide access to the full range of transaction actions. Each vendor has the ability to delete, freeze, thaw, view and credit a transaction

15 Response Files Response files are created to communicate with both the merchant and customer after an order has been placed. The five response methods to consider are: 1. Skipjack-Hosted Customizable Web Response Files (Default) 2. Web Response Files a. Merchant-Hosted b. Skijpack-Hosted VPOS receipt 3. Response Templates 4. Backend Response URL 5. List Skipjack-Hosted Customizable Web Response Files (Default) When a visitor to your site performs a transaction, the service responds with HTML pages that indicate what occurred. You have the option of completely customizing these pages or using the default pages provided. In all cases, the following occurrences have associated Response pages: 1. Thank You For Your Order 2. Invalid Field Entry 3. Invalid Credit Card 4. System Failure These responses are described below: Figure 7: Web Responses When your account was created, default Response Pages were generated. The pages contain your company name, and phone/fax numbers as they are on record within Skipjack Financial

16 Services. As mentioned before, these pages and messages can be fully customized to match the look and feel of your site. In order to make any significant changes to these response pages, a basic understanding of programming in HTML is required. Scroll down through the page and select the Edit button for Thank You For Your Order as shown in the figure below: Figure 8: Response File Controls The HTML response code will be displayed as shown in Figure 10 below (some knowledge of HTML is required in order to modify this page):

17 Figure 9: Thank You For Your Order HTML Response Click on the View button to preview the default Thank You For Your Order response page. The response page is shown in Figure 11 on the following page. Press the Back button in your browser to return to the HTML source screen. After you have made the necessary modifications and previewed your changes in the browser, click on the Save button to commit your changes

18 Figure 10: Thank You For Your Order Page Make sure that you add the appropriate support information to the last section in Figure 11 if you plan to use the default response page. Continue on by examining the remaining three response templates. Merchant-Hosted Web Response Files As shown in Figure 9, you may choose to send your customer to a web page or URL that you design and host. These pages can be static or dynamic 6. An example of a complete URL is as follows: The URL must end in a filename, not a folder or directory. 6 Static pages are fixed in terms of what is displayed, whereas dynamic pages can present real time information to your customers (e.g. approval code, declined reason messages, etc.). Talk to your web development partner to determine to the right type of response page for your needs

19 Figure 11: Web Response URL In order for your changes to be accepted, you need to click the Submit button. Skipjack-Hosted VPOS Receipt If you will only be utilizing the VPOS, there is a Skipjack-Hosted page that you can use as a receipt. In order to utilize these pages, the address should be When a transaction is submitted and approved, the page will display several transaction details as seen below in Figure 13. If the transaction has been declined, you will be notified of that on the response page as well

20 Figure 12: Web Response Page VPOS Receipt Response Templates Continue to scroll down through the Response Files page until you see Response Templates as shown in Figure 12 below:

21 Figure 13: Response Files Response Templates When a customer s transaction has finished processing - successfully or unsuccessfully - the service responds by default with an to the customer and to the merchant. You have the option to completely customize the templates or use the default templates provided (or disable this feature altogether). In all cases, the following occurrences have associated Templates: 1. Success 2. Failure 3. System Failure Select the Edit button to the right of the Success template. The default Success template is presented as shown in Figure 13 below:

22 Example: Success Template Figure 14: Response Files Success Response When you edit the templates you will see tags, which look like this: <ExampleTag>. Use of these tags within your templates retrieves specific transactional data and is subsequently passed in the message that is sent to you and your customer. A complete listing of tags is available in the integration guide / tutorial. Each tag may be used only once. Click on the View button to preview the default Success Response. Press the Back button in your browser to return to the template screen. After you have made the necessary modifications and previewed your changes in the browser, click on the Save button to commit your changes

23 Backend Response URL The Backend Response URL allows other software applications (such as a secondary database) to automatically receive transaction data on a real-time basis (if you have enabled this feature). It is triggered once a successful authorization has taken place. The specified URL is entered into Skipjack as shown in Figure 14 below. Since the Backend Response URL is likely to be of interest to your application development partner, they may wish to refer to the Integration Guide for information on this feature. Figure 15: Response Files Backend Response URL List When the merchant account is initially set up, a single address is assigned by the merchant and used for receiving ed order confirmations. The List allows the merchant to add additional addresses that wish to receive the order confirmation

24 Figure 16: List Do not enter the original address in this list. Doing so will cancel the confirmation for that address because the mail server senses that the message is a duplicate. To add names to the list, type each address, then hit Enter (i.e. put each address on a separate line). AVS Settings Address Verification Service (AVS) enables merchants to reduce incidences of fraud by ensuring that specific requested address information matches that associated with the cardholder s credit card account. Since AVS settings are set by Skipjack or the Skipjack Authorized Reseller, contact them if you wish modifications to be made to your account. AVS can be used as an additional layer of protection for merchants who wish to verify that the numeric elements of the purchaser s billing address are valid. While not a perfect fraud-screening mechanism, it does give some assurance that a person with fraudulent intent isn't simply generating a list of valid credit card numbers and purchasing product at will. AVS filters can be configured for both US (Domestic) and International cardholders. This gives merchants the flexibility of applying a different degree of rigor to International transactions (i.e. some merchants believe that purchases originating from outside of the US carry a higher degree of fraud risk

25 than others). Note that AVS information is not reliably returned by the issuing banks of international cardholders. Transactions that pass authorization will undergo AVS verification. The results of AVS are available within Merchant Services and the Reporting Tool. However, by default, none of the AVS responses will prevent/filter a transaction from being authorized. If you would like to stop a transaction based on the AVS results, you will need to configure your AVS setting within the account set up. For more information on AVS configuration, please refer to the Skipjack Integration Guide. How AVS works AVS matches the numeric portion of the cardholder's street billing address and the 5 or 9-digit zip code of the cardholder's billing address (this data is a combination of that posted to the Skipjack system by the customer and data sent back by the processor). For example, if a cardholder's billing address is 123 Somewhere Street and the purchaser enters 123 Nowhere Avenue, AVS will find this to be a match since the numeric portion of the billing street address matches. The zip code is also matched against the cardholder's billing address and can return either a 5-digit or 9-digit match. The AVS filters can be configured at account set up time to determine how strictly the various AVS variables must be adhered to in order to result in a successful (or declined) transaction. Currently, AVS is reliably available only for screening transactions from U.S. cardholders. Using AVS Filters within the Skipjack Transaction Network Skipjack provides a set of AVS filters for each merchant account configured in the system. These filters are applied after the transaction information has been presented for an authorization request. If the authorization request is accepted, but fails the AVS filter, then the authorization is declined by Skipjack. The settings are configured by toggling Yes and No for the various filters in the interface shown below:

26 Figure 17: AVS Configuration Screen

27 If a purchaser calls and claims that the card has room for the purchase but he/she is getting declined, then the likely cause is that the merchant has applied an AVS filter. The following table shows a list of AVS filters available within Skipjack: AVS Filter Accept an exact match with nine-digit zip code Accept an exact match with five-digit zip code Accept an address match without zip code Accept a nine-digit zip code match without address Accept a five-digit zip code match without address Accept no address or zip code match Accept when address not available Accept when issuer system not available Accept when service is not supported Accept AVS ignore flag when sent Description Instructs the system to allow transactions that return an exact 9-digit zip code match. Instructs the system to allow transactions that return an exact 5-digit zip code match. Instructs the system to allow a transaction that returns an address match but does not return a zip code match. Instructs the system to allow transactions that return a 9-digit zip code match but does not return an address match. Instructs the system to allow transactions that return a 5-digit zip code match but does not return an address match. Instructs the system to allow transactions that fail address and zip code matches. Instructs the system to allow transactions when the AVS system is unavailable for verification. Instructs the system to allow transactions when the issuer system is not available to make a comparison. In some instances, AVS is not supported. Canada is a country that does not support AVS so the AVS response would indicate that AVS is not supported. This filter instructs the system to allow transactions that return this response. This filter instructs the system to allow transactions that fail the AVS filters set up on the system. A merchant may want to bypass a particular filter on a transaction-by-transaction basis. If the merchant knows the cardholder or simply wishes to accept the transaction, the merchant can submit the transaction with a special flag at the end of the order string variable to indicate that the AVS filters should be ignored for that particular transaction. As long as the authorization request is accepted (the card is good and has room for the purchase) then accept the transaction regardless of the AVS result codes. Table 2: AVS Filters There is a potential customer impact when a transaction is authorized but the transaction is not approved because of the AVS settings. Because the credit card may have had sufficient funds to process the transaction and the AVS runs on a different system than the card approval, the funds are withheld from the credit card just as if the transaction is waiting to be settled. The cardholder will never see the transaction on their statement, but that money will be unavailable to them until the transaction expires (normally within 7 days depending upon their issuing bank). This can be an issue if someone is repeatedly submitting their order through your web order form, knowing that there are sufficient funds on their card and not understanding that they have been rejected because of the AVS settings. By repeatedly submitting the order, the customer essentially freezes the funds from their credit card multiple times, reducing their available credit. This could cause problems for them, particularly if they are trying to purchase a high-priced item

28 The best solution to this problem is to correctly interpret the AVS response codes and present the relevant information to the customer to allow them to re-enter the correct order information. For example, if the authorization failed on zip code, you should inform the customer in your response page to check and re-enter the correct zip code. This may prevent them from resubmitting the order multiple times, resulting in the issue described above. Talk to your web development partner about this. Note that, for International cardholders (i.e. non-u.s.), merchants are given the flexibility of tailoring the AVS settings in a different manner from U.S. cardholders. For example, if merchants chose to reject transactions when AVS service was not available, they would potentially reject a large percentage of orders due to the unavailability of AVS in many non-us countries. Merchants are advised to leave these settings at their default values unless they are confident that cardholders in their target international markets are capable of providing the necessary AVS information to make adjustments to these filters useful. All AVS settings must be changed by calling Skipjack support or your authorized reseller. Managing Users Skipjack enables different users within your company to have different access rights. This is useful in instances where you may wish one individual to have a limited range of control over transactions or merchant accounts, while giving another greater or complete control. Access the User Management interface by clicking Manage Users at the top menu of the Interactive Register. The following screen will be displayed: Figure 18: Manage Users Interface

29 The functions that can be performed from this page include: Function New User Edit User Delete User Freeze User Thaw User Description Establish user rights for a new user of the account Edit user rights for an existing user of the account Delete a specific user of the account Prevent a specific user from accessing the account Reinstate access rights to a specific user that was previously frozen) New User To create a new user with specific rights to the account, select New User. The following screen will be displayed: Figure 19: Adding a New User

30 Create a new user by completing the user information, then selecting the desired access rights. Access rights are selected by toggling on or off the appropriate rights using the checkboxes. Once you have selected the appropriate access rights, press Submit to complete the new user setup. The username must be 8-16 characters. Once established, the secret question cannot be reset for a manage user. Once you press Submit, the following page will appear; displaying the user s username and password (the password is automatically generated). You must provide this information to the user, including the temporary password. Every user, regardless of username and password, will utilize the login serial number when logging in. Figure 20: New User Confirmation Logging In When any user logs into Skipjack for the first time, they will use the login serial number associated with the account, the username that was input into the system, and the password that was automatically generated by Skipjack. The user will be requested to change their password the first time that they access the system. Edit User To edit an existing user, select Manage Users from the main menu. You will be presented with a selection screen that appears as follows:

31 Figure 21: Editing Users To edit the user, click the radio button beside the user and click on Edit User. The following screen will appear:

32 Figure 22: Edit User Interface You can make the necessary changes on this screen, including the ability determine whether the user must change their password at next logon, or whether they have their ability to change their password disabled. Delete User To delete a user, simply select the desired user using the radio buttons as described above, then click Delete User. The user will be deleted from the system Freeze User If you wish to lock out a user temporarily from accessing the system without deleting them, you can freeze them. To freeze a user, select them using the radio button, then click on Freeze User

33 Thaw User Thaw User allows you to reinstate access to a user that is in a frozen state. To thaw a user, select them using the radio button and select Thaw User

34 Account Summary Features Using the Interactive Register The Account Summary window displays your Merchant Number and account Status. Figure 23: Account Summary Screen Within the Account Summary screen, the merchant can view their statement, register and pending sales. The View Statement button will display all settled and credited transactions for a desired period of time. The View Register button will display all transactions regardless of the status. And View Pending will display all pending sales and credits for the desired period of time. The default period of time is the current day. The New Account, Edit Account, Delete Account, Freeze Account and Thaw Account buttons are initially deactivated. If your organization wants access rights to these features, please contact our support department or your Skipjack Authorized Reseller to activate these buttons. Additional features include Recurring Payments, Notifications, VPOS, Batch Settlement Preferences. Within Recurring Payments, the merchant can create a new recurring event, delete an existing event and view/edit all scheduled events. notifications enable the merchant to notify all customers with addresses. VPOS launches a virtual point of sale application so that transactions

35 can be processed by an operator wherever Internet access is available. Batch Settlement Preferences allow the merchant to view the current account batch settings. The final two features are not enabled by default: Batch File Register and Fraud Settings. Batch File Register enables a merchant to upload text files of transactions as a batch. Fraud settings allow the merchant access to Skipjack s Velocity Fraud Prevention settings. Batch Settlements What is a Batch Settlement? A Batch settlement is a collection of authorized credit card transactions saved for submission at one time, usually each day. The purpose of batching the transactions rather than submitting each transaction for settlement individually is to lower the overall cost to the merchant from their merchant bank (in many cases, merchant banks change for the number of transactions to and from the merchant bank account. If settlements occurred multiple times per day, the merchant bank fees may increase). The default Batch Settlement setting is Daily as shown is Figure 7 below: Figure 24: Batch Settlements

36 The Batch Settlement can be changed to every 7 days, 14 days, 30 days or Manual Settlement. Remember, the funds will not be transferred to your merchant bank account until the transactions are settled. The funds typically transfer within 48 hours of batch settlement submission by Skipjack (this is determined by your bank). Access to the funds is dictated by the frequency with which you choose to submit the batch (e.g. it will be less frequent if changed to something other than daily). A batch settlement only occurs if there is a transaction or group of transactions awaiting settlement. The batch settlement can be set to Manual Settlement. A manual settlement would be desired if the merchant wants to view each transaction before settlement or if the merchant needs time for shipment of the product. Make sure you understand your merchant account provider s requirements regarding settlement versus product shipment. It s against the law to settle a transaction and not ship the product sold within the allowable time frame, typically 72 hours after the settlement date (in Canada, goods must be shipped prior to settling the funds). Note that the timing of batch submission can be specified for both manual and automatic settlement modes by using the drop-down menus. This selects the time that the batch enters the settlement queue in Skipjack. Actual settlement time will vary slightly depending upon the size of the settlement queue. In order to alter these settings, please contact our customer support team or your Skipjack Authorized Reseller

37 Figure 25: View Statement

38 View Statement By selecting the View Statement button on the Account Summary screen, you will be presented with the Account Statement screen as shown in Figure 24. The statement is separated into two sections, Sales and Credits. The statement will display all Sales and all Credits for the date range specified in the From/To fields. By default, the date range is initially set to the current day. If you are interested in the details of an individual transaction, select the customer name for that transaction. Press the Back button in your browser once or twice to return to the Account Summary screen or select Accounts from the administrative tools box at the top of the page. Figure 26 View Register View Transaction Register By selecting the View Register button on the Account Summary screen, you will be presented with the Transaction Register screen as shown in Figure 25. The Transaction Register will display the first 10 transactions for the specified date range regardless of their status. The Transaction Register will allow easy access to all the transactions for the specified date range, even if the number exceeds 10. For example, to access all the transactions for a given date, enter that date in both the From: and To: fields and select the New Register button. If there are

39 multiple pages, you may change the Page of 10 transactions to view more transactions per page. Also, you may scroll through the pages using the <<, <, >, or >> buttons or may type in the page number in the appropriate field. The Transaction Register will display the Auth Code, Date, Time, Customer Name, Amount, and Status for each transaction. The register will also permit a transaction to be Authorized, Settled, Credited and Deleted manually. Toggling on the radio buttons to the left of the transaction(s) and selecting the Submit button can perform these operations. To understand how to credit a transaction, see the section called Issuing a Credit / Return. The Adjusted Amount field will be discussed in this section. The Status column within the register displays the transaction s current state. The available status codes for a transaction are: Pend Auth Approved Settled Pend Credit Declined Pending Authorization Authorized awaiting settlement Authorized and Settled Pending Credit Transaction Failed Very rarely will you see a Pend Auth status. The only time you might see the Pend Auth state is if you are watching the register and see a new transaction enter the system by refreshing the page. The Approved status means the transaction has been authorized and is awaiting settlement. A successful authorization means the credit card has sufficient funds available to cover the amount of the transaction and the card is valid. An authorization takes place for every transaction. As mentioned earlier, transactions are submitted for settlement daily in the form of a Batch. Once the transaction has settled at the processor, the status will changed from Approved to Settled. While a transaction is in the Approved state, the transaction can be Frozen, Thawed, Deleted or made Recurring. A Frozen transaction can not be submitted for settlement (manually or automatically) until it is Thawed. A Frozen transaction will be displayed in RED. A Pend Credit status occurs when a transaction is waiting to be credited through the batch process. Once a credit approval is returned from the batch process, the status will change from Pend Credit to Settled. The settled amount will be displayed with a negative value. A declined transaction can occur when the authorization or settlement process has failed. The failure can be due to many factors such as an invalid credit card, insufficient funds or the AVS response. Check your confirmation to understand why the transaction was declined. Settling Transactions Settlement is the process of sending batches of approvals and credits to the financial network so that funds can be deposited to (or withdrawn from, in the case of credits) the merchant s bank account. The default account setup is Automatic Settlement. With this settlement method, merchants do not need to intervene in order for the funds to settle. Skipjack will automatically batch the necessary transactions at a predetermined time (the default is 1:00AM EST to change this, contact Customer Support). The manual settlement method is used if a significant delay is typical between the receipt of a customer order and the fulfillment of the order. Merchants in manual settlement mode will flag individual transactions for settlement once the product/service is fulfilled. If your company wishes to be configured for Manual Settlement, please contact our support staff or your Skipjack Authorized Reseller

40 When an account is configured for Manual Settlement, Skipjack will process the transactions accordingly. Transactions that are approved will remain in the register with an approved status and asterisks (*) around the customer name(s) to let the merchant know which transactions need to be submitted for settlement. Submitting transactions for settlement is a two-stage process. The first phase is to select ( flag ) the transactions that are to be submitted for settlement. To do this, simply identify the transaction(s) in the register and toggle on the Settle radio button beside the transaction, and click Submit. Skipjack will pop up a Verify Request (confirmation) page. When this page appears, verify the information on the screen is correct. Also, ensure the far-right column, Request Result, says Valid. If it does not, use your browser s back button, fix the issue, and attempt again. Do not select the Settle Immediately box shown on the screen; simply click on Complete Request. When you return to the register and refresh the screen, you will note that the asterisks have disappeared from the transactions (transactions have been flagged for settlement will be displayed in the register without asterisks (*) around the customer name and a status of Approved). Flagging transactions for settlement will not cause them to be submitted for settlement. To do this prior to your normal settlement time, a force settlement command must be sent to Skipjack. This command is typically issued at the end of the day once the merchant has completed their order fulfillment for that day. To issue a force settlement request to Skipjack, settle a transaction in the same manner described above (either an existing transaction that has been flagged for settlement as described above or a newly fulfilled transaction that you want to flag for settlement). When the confirmation page is displayed, check the Settle Immediately box, and click on Complete Request. This will release all of the currently flagged transactions for settlement immediately. It is important to limit the number of batches that are submitted for settlement on a daily basis. The reason for this is that merchant account providers often levy a fee for each batch submitted for settlement. Allowing Skipjack to settle these transactions daily will assist in keeping these batches uniform and in keeping your costs low. However, if you need to force settle batches, logically grouping transactions for settlement will help reduce merchants banking fees

41 Figure 27 Transaction Detail (top portion) Transaction Detail The Transaction Detail can be obtained by selecting the customer name from within the Transaction Register. A sample Transaction Detail screen is shown above in Figure 26. Select the scroll bar on the right side of the screen to display the remaining portion of the transaction

42 As shown in Figure 27, there are six commands available for that transaction: Delete Transaction Freeze Transaction Thaw Transaction Credit Transaction (available only if the transaction is in the settled state) Make Recurring Response These commands will be discussed throughout the rest of the manual. Note that the complete credit card information is not displayed, only the last four digits. Figure 28 Transaction Detail (bottom portion)

43 Summary of Transaction States and Operations Understanding the various states that a transaction can have and the operations that can be performed on them is key to maximizing the value of the Skipjack gateway. The following defines the various states and operations that you may encounter in the Transaction Register: States/Operations Approved Pending Manual Settlement Settled Pending Credit Definition Amount has been authorized by issuing bank (sufficient funds are available) and has passed Skipjack fraud controls. If automatic settlement is enabled, the transaction will be settled at the specified time. If manual settlement is enabled, it will remain in an approved state until submitted for settlement. Displayed in Register: Approved The transaction has been submitted for settlement while the account is in manual settlement mode. Displayed in Register: Approved (with * around the customer name) The transaction amount has been submitted to the financial network so that the funds can be transferred into the merchant s bank account. Displayed in Register: Settled The transaction has had a credit amount applied to it and is awaiting settlement. Displayed in Register: Pend Credit Pending Authorization An existing transaction has been submitted for authorization/approval because an amount higher than the original transaction has been entered or because the transaction has be reauthorized. Displayed in Register: Pend Auth Denied/Failed Authorization Frozen Submitted Operations Settle Authorize Delete Credit Freeze Thaw Make Recurring Nothing Transaction failed authorization by the processor or did not pass AVS. Displayed in Register: Declined Transaction has been frozen to prevent settlement. Displayed in Register: Approved (shown in RED) Occurs when a batch error is experienced during the settlement process. Displayed in Register: Submitted Initiate the funds transfer process for an approved transaction (manual or automatic) or reduce the amount of an Approved transaction. Resubmit an approved transaction for approval for an amount that is higher or lower than the original transaction amount. Delete the transaction (prevent further action from taking place on the transaction) *Does not credit* Issue a credit for the full transaction amount or some lesser amount. Prevent an approved transaction from settling. Restore a frozen transaction to its original approved state. Enable a transaction to be authorized based on a specified frequency, duration and payment amount. No action is taken on a specific transaction. The following chart summarizes the various transactions states, as well as the operations that can be performed when in manual and automatic settlement modes: