Credit Card Processing -- A Typical Day
A typical day of processing credit card transactions generally consists of 7 simple steps.
You can print out or copy this page for use as a daily checklist.
1. Open a new batch by processing your first credit card transaction of the day.
2. Process whatever transactions you have for that particular day.
3. After you have completed processing transactions for the day, it is time to prepare for
closure/settlement of your batch. Using PCCharge, view or print out your Credit Card
Detail report for the day. Set the Result: to Approved. Make sure that you look at the
report for the appropriate Merchant #: (the one you used to process the transactions
to be closed/settled). Consult the section Credit Card Detail for instructions on how to
view/use this report (see page 210).
4. Now, examine the report. Does the report look correct? Do the totals look correct?
Does the number of transactions look correct? If the report does not check out, set the
Result: of the Credit Card Detail to All transactions and view or print out a new copy
of the report. You should try to resolve any discrepancies you find before attempting to
close/settle your batch.
5. Once you've resolved any discrepancies you may have found, you are ready for batch
closure/settlement. Is your account set to close/settle your transactions automatically,
or do you need to manually close/settle your transactions? If closure will occur
automatically, you are finished. If you're not sure, contact your merchant service
provider to find out.
6. If you need to close/settle manually, start that process now by clicking the End of Day
icon on your PCCharge toolbar. PCCharge will display the Close or Settle screen
(depending on your processor). Check the totals displayed on this screen and make
sure you're ready to close/settle. Click Ok or Process. PCCharge will contact your
processing company and attempt to close/settle your batch. Consult the section Close
or Settle for more instructions on how to close or settle your batch (see page 179 or
183).
7. If you get back a successful response (like Closed, Success, or Processed), your
batch has been closed/settled and your day of processing credit card transactions is
done. If you get back an error message you'll need to contact Technical Support
and/or your credit card processing company to resolve the issue.
Typically, you should repeat these seven steps each day of processing credit card
transactions.
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