Setting up Authorize.net as your payment provider

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Learn more about Authorize.net, including checking the service status, understanding what features are supported, setting up your account in Authorize.net, adding a webhook in Authorize.net, setting up Authorize.net in Checkfront, configuring address verification, testing with sandbox mode, configuring receipts, and understanding settlements & refunds.

 

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Which plans include this feature?

Legacy:  Soho, Pro, Plus, Enterprise
New:  Available with the Growth (Subscription) or Managed plans only. 
This payment provider is unavailable to accounts on the Starter or Growth (Per Booking) plan. 
→ Learn more about our new plans or how to change your plan.

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

Manage > Ecommerce Setup > Payment

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin permissions are required to manage Payment Providers.
• The following system Booking Form fields are required: Address, City, State/Province or equivalent, Postal Code/Zip or equivalent, and Country.

 

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Authorize.net is a Payment Provider allowing merchants in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe & Australia to accept credit card payments through their website. 

If you don't currently have an Authorize.net account, sign up here.

 

Visa and Mastercard have announced they are ending support for 3D Secure version 1.0.2 and will require 3D Secure version 2 to accept 3D Secure protected payments. This comes into effect as of October 14th, 2022. As a result, your current payment provider, Authorize.net has announced that they will not be updating their 3DS version to 3DS version 2 and will be ending support for 3DS version 1.  What is 3DS? 3DS is a security protocol that helps prevent fraudulent card-not-present (generally e-commerce) transactions. 3DS is primarily used by major credit card brands in the United Kingdom (UK), European Union (EU), South Africa, and India.   What does this mean for my business? Transactions without 3DS may fail for those Operators with banks in the UK/EU, where 3DS is required to meet Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the Payment Service Directive (PSD2) regulations. For those not utilizing 3DS and not required by regulation to utilize 3DS (e.g. North American Operators), transactions should continue uninterrupted.   What do I have to do? For those that wish to use 3DS, you will need to find an alternative payment provider which supports 3DS version 2, such as Stripe. You can also see alternative providers here. If you wish to utilize Authorize.net without 3DS, disable the 3DS setting in your Merchant account before October 14th, 2022. Review the support article here for instructions on how to change the 3DS setting in the Merchant Interface. If you do not change this setting, you may see unnecessary transaction declines or fee downgrades starting in October 2022. No action is required for those merchants not currently utilizing 3DS, who are not regulated to utilize 3DS, e.g. North American Operators.   When do I have to make the change? You must disable the 3DS function in your Authorize.Net account or find a new payment provider that supports 3DS2 by October 14th, 2022.   What if I don't want to select another provider? To utilize Authorize.net without 3DS, review the support article here for instructions on changing the 3DS setting in the Merchant Interface. Please note that if your region requires 3DS, you cannot continue using Authorize.net as a payment provider. Alternatively, you can set up your account to allow online bookings that accept payment at a later date. If you are interested in this type of "Book Now, Pay Later" configuration, you can learn more here or watch the video on the subject.    Is this change going to impact refunding payments? We don't anticipate any issues with processing refunds without 3DS, but we recommend that you reach out to Authorize.net through your merchant dashboard if you experience any issues with processing refunds once 3DS is disabled.   What if I can't refund payments through Authorize.net? If you cannot refund through Authorize.net, you should be able to issue manual refunds through a new payment provider, which would refund the money from the connected bank account. Then you must align your reporting within Checkfront by refunding using a POS method.   We apologize for any inconvenience this causes, and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

 

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Check the status of Authorize.net services at any time here: https://status.authorize.net/#/dashboard

 

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The following is a list of standard Payment Provider features. Those available with the Authorize.net and Checkfront integration are marked as supported (✓).

Feature	Supported	More Info
Live Payments	✓	The ability to process payments in real time.
Rebilling	✓	The ability to re-charge using previously provided payment information (tokens). Requires Authorize.net CIM to be enabled for your account.
Refunds	✓	The ability to return a paid amount directly to the original payment method. Authorize.net's default refund period is 180 days from the transaction settled date. Please check with Authorize.net for more information.
Integrated Checkout	✓	Customers remain on the Checkfront domain to input details. These details are sent to the provider to process the transaction without redirecting the Customer.
Redirect Checkout	X	Customers are redirected to the Payment Provider’s domain to input details and process the transaction.
Staff-side Payments	✓	Staff can take payment through the Booking Details page using new payment information.
Terminals	✓	Authorize.net allows you to use Checkfront to accept in-person payments with "triple track" readers that can be used for Staff payments only. Ready, Set, Swipe! Using a Credit Card Reader with Checkfront
Hold Payments	✓	The provider holds the payment for a certain time without charging the card. Authorize.net can hold payments for 30 days.
Test Mode	✓	The ability to process test payments using your Checkfront account and Authorize.net before going live. Referred to as Sandbox Mode in Checkfront.
Multiple Currencies	X	The ability to offer payments in more than one currency. Checkfront does not support accounts with more than one currency. While Authorize.net can handle multiple currencies on their end, we can only send invoices to them in one currency.
PSD2 Compliant	X	Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) compliant, including Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). The Payment Provider is not PSD2 compliant. Learn more about PSD2 here!
3D Secure	X	Authorize.net is ending support for 3D Secure cardholder authentication. Merchants should stop using 3D Secure before October 14, 2022. Review the Authorize.net support article for instructions on changing the 3D Secure setting in the Authorize.net Merchant interface. To continue using 3D Secure, we recommend moving to Stripe as your payment provider.
Can be a secondary Provider?	X	The ability to configure a primary provider for online payments and a secondary provider for Staff-side payments through the Booking Details page. Authorize.net can only be a primary provider.
Additional Payment Methods	X	The following additional payment methods are only supported through Checkfront Payments and Stripe. Alipay iDEAL Apple Pay, Google Pay, and browser-saved cards (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge)
Buy Now, Pay Later powered by Uplift	X	Buy Now, Pay Later powered by Uplift is an additional payment method exclusively supported by Checkfront Payments.
Capture and Send Zip / Postal Code and Address for Address Verification (AVS)	✓	Capture Zip / Postal Code and Address to send to Authorize.net for Address Verification (AVS) to help prevent disputes and fraud.
Google reCAPTCHA	X	Google reCAPTCHA is an add-on which helps protect your business against fraudulent activity. See the Google reCAPTCHA article for the full list of supported payment providers.
Supported Countries	✓	Authorize.net is available to Operators in the following business locations: United States Canada Australia
Supported Currencies	✓	The list of supported currencies can be found in the following article. What currencies does Authorize.net support?
Minimum Transaction Payment Amount	X	The minimum payment amount for Authorize.net (0.00) applies to test and live transactions.

 

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You’ll need your API Login ID and Transaction Key from your Authorize.net account to get started.

To obtain these, login to your Authorize.net account, select the Account tab and navigate to API Login ID and Transaction Key under Security Settings.

 

Copy your API Login ID. To retrieve the API Key, select New Transaction Key and click Submit.

 

You are then prompted to send a secure PIN to your email address. Select Request PIN. Check your email for the secure PIN, put it into the pop-up and then select Verify PIN. You will then be taken to your new Transaction Key. 

Once you have the API Login ID and API Key, head back over to Checkfront.

 

To prevent an issue where the Payment Provider might hang during transaction processing, causing a Customer to submit again and create a double booking, it's possible to add a webhook in Authorize.net, which will notify Checkfront of completed payments.

In your Authorize.net Account menu, click on Webhooks under the Business Settings section.

From there, click on the Add Endpoint button and input the following URL:

https://[checkfront url]/notify/AuthorizeNet/

[checkfront url] should be replaced with your account URL. From there, set the Webhook to send on the following event:

net.authorize.payment.authcapture.created

 

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To enable Authorize.net in Checkfront, log in to your Checkfront account and navigate to the Payment tab (Manage > Ecommerce Setup).

Depending on your locale, you may be presented with a couple of recommended Payment Providers.

Locate the Authorize.net tile and click on it to open the Setup window.

 

In the Add-on Setup modal, fill in your details and click Activate. A description of each field is available before.

 

This is the login ID you obtained in the previous step.

 

This is the Transaction Key you obtained in the previous step.

 

Select whether you would like to Authorize & Capture your transactions or Authorize them only. The answer to this depends on how you operate your payment system. Most businesses will most likely use Authorize & Capture.

• Authorize & Capture This allows you to authorize the payable amount and charge the card immediately for a partial or full payment.

• Authorize Only This type of transaction creates an authorization with the card-issuing bank that holds the funds until you wish to capture them manually. An authorization is valid for 30 days until the transaction is captured or voided. If the authorization exceeds 30 days with no merchant action, its status will change to Expired, which means the transaction is no longer available for settlement.

 

Authorize.net CIM is a service that allows you to store sensitive customer information, in this case, credit card details, as a token for later use.

You can take a deposit at the time of booking and then charge the final balance later without needing to obtain the card details again.

Signed up for this service with Authorize.net? Then, check the Enable Rebilling box to enable this feature within Checkfront.

 

Learn more about Authorize.net's CIM service that supports rebilling: Authorize.Net CIM

 

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Billing Address and Postal / Zip code are captured and sent to Authorize.net, where Address Verification (AVS) checks are applied to help protect against disputes and fraud.

This is true for Customer-facing (Payment page) and Staff-side (add payment form) payments.

 

Ensure that your Booking Form (Manage > Layout > Booking Form tab) includes the Address and Postal / Zip code fields and that the fields are marked as required. The Payment page's Billing Address and Postal / Zip code fields are prefilled with the value entered in the corresponding Booking fields. The Staff-side Add Payment form includes these fields by default - no additional configuration is required.

 

Learn more about Address Verification (AVS) with Authorize.net: How do I use Address Verification Service (AVS)? What settings should I configure?

 

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It’s highly recommended that you do an end-to-end test of your checkout before putting your site live. To do so, follow the setup instructions above and check Enable Sandbox Mode. You must also put your Authorize.net account in TEST mode.

 

To do this, return to your Authorize.net account and go to the Account menu. Look for the Security Settings section and click on the Test Mode link.

 

On the next page, flick the switch over to Test.

 

You will now see a confirmation above that the account is in Test Mode.

Once the payment module is enabled, remember to enable payment processing on the Payment page (Manage > Ecommerce) in your Checkfront dashboard.

 

Create a transaction as a Customer would and check to see that it shows up in your Checkfront account as paid. The transaction should also appear within your Authorize.net account. If you don’t have a website to test on yet, use the hosted booking page, e.g., https://yourcompany.checkfront.com/reserve/

 

You can use the following test credit card numbers when testing your Authorize.net checkout:

Visa: 4007000000027
Amex: 370000000000002
Maestro: 6759649826438453

You can use any CVC code and an expiry date in the future. Remember to take your account out of sandbox mode when finished.

 

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Upon payment, Checkfront sends the Customer to a booking receipt page. You should, therefore, NOT supply a custom receipt page within Authorize.net. You should use the Default Receipt URL and the Default Relay Response URL to ensure the booking is completed.

 

Checkfront can be configured (and is by default) to send Customers and Administrators email receipts. This provides more information on the booking that Authorize.net can supply. Turning off email receipts within Authorize.net is generally recommended so your Customers don’t get multiple receipts simultaneously.

 

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Transactions over 120 days Old If a transaction is 120 days or older, then Authorize.net will not allow it to be refunded. A new transaction will have to be paid to your Guest for the refund amount through your Authorize.net dashboard, and a POS refund will need to be added to the booking in Checkfront.

 

Authorize.net does batch settlements to your account daily. When a payment is processed, it goes to the status of Captured. At the end of the day, all transactions are posted and changed to the status of Settled.

 

You can see unsettled transactions by logging into your Authorize.net account and clicking Unsettled Transactions in the left-hand sidebar.

Unsettled Transactions cannot be partially refunded, they can only be voided, so they don’t settle. If you wish to make a partial refund, you must wait until the next day, when the transaction has been settled. In the Unsettled Transactions section, you can check if a transaction is unsettled in your Authorize.net account.

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Listed here are common errors you may come across when using Authorize.net:

Error 35: An error occurred during processing. Call Merchant Service Provider. This error occurs when attempting to use a method that is not yet enabled to be an accepted method in your Authorize.net merchant account. Error 87: Transactions of this market type cannot be processed on this system. Market Type in their Auth account is Retail. This error may happen when processing a live or test payment in Checkfront. To resolve it, the Market Type needs to be set in Authorize.net to work with Checkfront. Error E0007: User authentication failed due to invalid authentication values. This error occurs when the incorrect credentials are entered for your Authorize.net account. Re-enter your credentials withing the Add-on Setup modal (Manage > E-Commerce Setup > Payment > Authorize.net), then click Update.