Credit Card Declines

Managing Credit Card Declines in Multipub

Overview

When processing recurring billing in Multipub, you may choose to use either Automatic Renewals or Installment Billing.  There are different characteristics to these two approaches, depending on your sales and accounting requirements.

With both approaches, the recurring billing may trigger credit card charges which may occasionally decline.  To help manage these declined credit cards, Multipub has developed a new approach for re-trying credit cards as well as information for receiving updates to credit card information for subscribers.

Additionally, some credit card processors offer the ability to update the credit card information in cases where the subscriber has been issued a new card from the same provider, but has a different card number of expiration date than what is on file in Multipub.

Automatic Renewals

When an order is entered and paid with a credit card, a credit card profile is created in Multipub.  This profile does not contain the full credit card number, just the last 4 digits of the card as well as the token information from the processor.  If the order is marked for automatic renewal, the credit card profile that is saved can be used for future charges.

For automatic renewals, the credit card charges are automatically generated either through posting labels or thru running revenue recognition.  If there are multiple credit card profiles on file, the system will select the active profile.  If there are multiple active profiles, the system uses the most recent profile.  Then, the credit cards are authorized using Batch Authorize.  But if the credit card is declined, the order is marked as a status 18, failed Automatic Renewal Charge.

Retries – Automatic Renewals

Multipub now contains the ability to re-try credit cards.  The number of times a charge is re-tried can be specified in the system settings.  The methodology is as follows:

  1. Declined credit cards will be moved to a single batch designated to hold declined credit cards. This batch is named REVRETRY
  2. This batch will be processed daily.
    1. Credit cards that are authorized will be moved to an automatic renewal LB batch to be posted.
    2. Credit cards that are declined will remain on the REVRETRY batch.
  3. The maximum number of times a credit card will be re-tried before becoming status 18 and the interval between tries will be determined by a system policy.
  4. Once the card has been run through the maximum number of times it will become a status 18.

Installment Billing

Installment Billing credit card charges work similar to Automatic Renewals.  When an order is entered and paid with a credit card, a credit card profile is created in Multipub.  This profile does not contain the full credit card number, just the last 4 digits of the card as well as the token information from the processor.  If the order is marked for installment billing, the credit card is charged with the initial charge, and then the credit card profile is saved and is available for future installment charges.

For Installment Billing, the subsequent charges are generated by running the Installment Bills program.  If there are multiple profiles on file, the system will select the active profile.  If there are multiple active profiles, the system uses the most recent profile.  Then, the credit cards are authorized using Batch Authorize.  But if the credit card is declined, it moves to the retry batch and will retry until the maximum number of retries has occurred.  Then the transaction is moved to the Declined Card (DC) batch.

Retries – Installment Billing

Multipub now contains the ability to re-try credit cards.  The number of times a charge is re-tried can be specified in the system settings.  The methodology is as follows:

  1. Declined credit cards will be moved to a single batch designated to hold declined credit cards. This batch is named REVRETRY.
  2. This batch will be processed daily.
    1. Credit cards that are authorized will be moved to batch to be posted.
    2. Credit cards that are declined will move to the DC batch when the system has stopped the re-try attempts.
    3. The user should review the transactions on the DC Batch and determine how to manage them, such as calling the customer to get an updated credit card or removing the credit card information altogether so that it becomes a bill-me order.
  3. The maximum number of times a credit card will be re-tried will be determined by a system policy.
  4. Once the card has been run through the maximum number of times it will move to the DC batch.

Credit Card Update Service

Many credit card processors offer an Account Updater Service to update the credit card information that Multipub has on file for a subscriber.  Some processors will run the credit card through their updater service when a charge is submitted, some processors allow you to run all your credit cards through the updater service as a separate process (typically done monthly prior to processing any recurring credit card charges.)

Each processor works differently, so you should check with your processor to see the options that are available to you.

Mult-e-commerce & File Imports

Automatic Renewals and Installment Billing are both available for transactions that come from the Mult-e-commerce API’s and from file imports – if the credit card is authorized prior to creating the order in Multipub.

If web transactions are authorized at the website, the type check, last four digits of the credit card number, expiration date, approval code, and Unique Identifier are sent from the web.  This Unique Identifier can be used for future refunds, automatic renewals, and installment bills.

The real-time authorization option is not available with the web import program. Although batch authorization is available for these transaction types, it is discouraged as the credit card numbers may not be encrypted.  Multipub recommends that the cards be pre-authorized on the website and the authorization information sent to Multipub as part of the import file.