Verisign PayFlow Link experiences

[JMT]

This is a request for advice or other information about using Verisign PayFlow Link.

I have a couple sites setup using PayFlow Link to allow people to pay for program fees for youth athletic programs. The process is supposed to work like this (very high level):

1) User goes to the online registration area of the web site, fills in the information about the child and then accepts our code of conduct.

2) Once the accept the code of conduct they are presented with a page that allows them to pay by check or by Credit Card (CC). At this time I create a transaction record on the web site including a transaction ID. The transaction is marked "In process".

3) Assuming they select CC then they are passed to the Verisign PayFlow Link website where they enter all of their credit card info. If verisign accepts the card then it does a post back to the site with my transaction id and a verisign transaction id. I change my transaction record status to "Complete" and include the verisign transaction id.

Now to the problems we are having:

a) Users get to verisign and verisign won't accept their card. Eventually the users abandon the transaction and either register again and pay by check or try the CC option again. So we end up with duplicates entries. The duplicates we can deal with because the transaction status is still "in process".

b) Sometimes Verisign will accept the users CC info and return teh post message with a status that says the card was accepted only to turn around and void it 6 seconds later. This void is never sent to me. That means my transaction file says it is compeleted and I have a verisign completion code. We don't know that the transaction was voided until we look at the Verisign reports and then have to manually correlate the void with a supposedly completed transaction.

c) When we try to reconcile the Merchant account with the verisign reports and the transaction files on my site then it becomes very difficult because the merchant account does not include my transaction id or in the case of MasterCard, not even the Verisign transaction number.

So my questions to the community:

I am doing something radically wrong or is the Verisign process not exactly bulletproof?

If there another provider that has a more effective process.

Thanks

[Rich]

Sometimes Verisign will accept the users CC info and return teh post message with a status that says the card was accepted only to turn around and void it 6 seconds later.
Something is very seriously wrong here. I would suggest you speak not only to verisign but also your merchant bank. Verisign has ONLY two options--either decline the transaction or approve the transaction and provide you with an Authorization Code. You need to confirm whether the "transaction id" that versign provides to you is this authorization code or not. Note that according to Card Association rules, once you are provided with an authorization code, the transaction cannot be declined--usually.

The "usually" disclaimer comes into play because there is one instance where the processor is allowed to reverse or void the transaction. This is if they suspect the card was used fraudulently. But if this is why this is happening then it should be noted that fraudulent card usage is going to be reversed regardless of when it happens. The net result is the same whether they do this 6 seconds later or 6 weeks later. On the plus side, the 6-second void sounds like it is saving you the cargeback fee.

When we try to reconcile the Merchant account with the verisign reports and the transaction files on my site then it becomes very difficult because the merchant account does not include my transaction id or in the case of MasterCard, not even the Verisign transaction number.
This is the number two merchant complaint (right behind issues with chargebacks) that I hear--how do I reconcile this undecipherable mess my bank calls a merchant statement?!?

The card associations wail, complain, and moan about how bad cc fraud is (pssst, it doesn't cost THEM a dime) and scold merchant about how you shouldn't store cc information anywhere and then they send you a statement or a chargeback statement where the ONLY tracking information listed is the cc number! geeesh!

There isn't a whole lot you can do about this issue short of shop around for a new merchant account provider. when doing so, I usually recommend merchants ask for both a copy of their contract and a copy of their statement. Some even offer (usually for an extra fee-surprise-it's a bank) an online statement service which allows you to search transactions, etc.

[kitchin]

JMT, are you still having theses problems? One of my clients wants to use this system. :\

[JMT]

Nothing has changed other than we have have learned to work around the known problems. The number of the strange voids is very small relative to the number transactions.

When we first started using PayFlow Link we had the security settings turned up high. By that I mean address verification and CSC were required. The user failure rate was extremely high and the users were not happy. Since we don't sell a product or service we backed those down and now we have very few user problems.

I think if I were doing it over again I would look at anet based on other forum comments. They offer the same functionality. Don't know about prices though.

[kitchin]

Thanks, might have to give it a whirl.