How important is a SECURE server and how do I know if I have one? When you send email and web information across the Internet, is it normally clear text, that is to say anyone whose chose to make the effort to intercept it, may be able to and could read it. (that is a felony violation of federal law, with SEVERE penalties). Assuming someone wanted to take the risk, you could further retard their felonious efforts by encrypting (scrambling) your transmission. When you use the web this can all be done automatically for you when you attach to a secure server. Depending on your browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc) you should see a gold colored padlock on the bottom of the window. What if I don't see a padlock, does that mean it's not secure? Not necessarily.  If a web page uses frames, a secure window may be displayed without adding the secure icon in the status bar.  To determine if the page is secure, right click in the frame next to where you are entering your credit card number and select (left-click) properties from the short-cut menu.  You will see a property page which describes the protocol.  If is says HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy, you can click on the Certificate button and get information about who owns and operates the server from there.  If it says this document doesn't have a certificate, the transaction isn't secure. What is Address Verification Service (AVS) and how do I use it? The Address Verification Service (AVS) is a feature available to merchants that accept credit cards for the purpose of verifying that the cardholder's address and zip code provided at the time of the transaction "match" the actual address as registered with the cardholder's card issuing bank. While a full address would normally be considered to be the Name, Address, City, State, and Zip code for the purposes of mailing, with the AVS system only the Address (number part only) and the five or nine digit zip code are actually verified. Currently, a match or mismatch is simply reported back to the merchant, and does NOT result in a transaction decline. It is intended to help the merchant make an informed decision at the time of purchase whether or not to accept a person's credit card. With so many possible reasons as to why an address and zip code may not match, a merchant is not required to refuse a transaction because the AVS response was a mismatch. With most banks and merchant providers, use of the AVS system is required in order to avoid non-qualified transaction surcharges (typically an additional 1%); accepting a transaction involving an AVS mismatch response may or may not cause a non-qualified transaction surcharge according to your merchant agreement with your bank or merchant provider. Common AVS Response Code Definitions: Y - Exact Match. N - No Match. A - Address Match only. Z - Zip Code Match Only. S - Service Not Supported. U - Address Information Not Available. X - Address Information Not Available. R - Retry - System Unavailable or Timed Out. W - Zip Code OK. E - Error Response for Merchant Service Category Code. G - Country of customer not supported by AVS. Where do I find the AVS response code? The AVS response code can be found in the current batch under the column titled Response Details. Tips to Avoid Chargebacks: 1. Make sure that your company name that appears on the customers billing statement describes the goods or services that were purchased. Contact your processor to verify what is in the Merchant Descriptor field. 2. Make sure that your contact phone number appears on the customers billing statements. You can do this by informing your processor that you'd like your number to be included with your submissions. 3. Submit timely credits once you have determined that credit is due. How can I run a test? Is there a test account? Yes. You can access the test account by pointing your browser to https://secure.iongate.com. Use "testgate" as your login and password. If you are already setup with an IONGATE™ account, simply change the login value in your code from the login we assigned you to "testgate". You may use the following card numbers to run tests. Cards that will be approved: Visa 4111111111111111 MC 5121212121212124 Cards that should be declined: Visa 4123456789012349 Amex 374255312721002 You can use any future date as the expiration date. Be aware, this is a test environment setup for development and testing and as such is subject to occasional downtime. When you are finished testing, make sure that you change your login back to your unique login, otherwise your transactions will be sent to the test account and you will not receive the order. Can I process a credit? Yes. To process a credit, click on the Merchant Web Terminal from the IONGATE™ main menu. This is the same page you use to manually enter a sale transaction. Make sure that you click the button that corresponds to Credit and then fill out the rest of the fields on this page. After clicking submit, you will receive a receipt if the credit is approved. How do I know that I received an order? Once an order has been approved, you will receive an email from IONGATE™ that will notify you of the order. That order will simultaneously be logged into the Current Batch of your IONGATE™ account. We HIGHLY recommend that you check the order in your current batch before shipping. Make sure to check the CVV and AVS responses, to determine if you want to fulfill the order. How long does it take the funds to be deposited into my account? It generally takes between 24 and 48 hours from the time of settlement for the funds to be transfered into your account. What does it mean if a card is declined? There are a host of different reasons for why a card might be declinded. When a card is declined, IONGATE™ sends back different codes to diagnose the problem. All of these codes are included in Table 1.2 in the Technical Reference section. IONGATE™ does not play a role in determining whether a card is approved or declined, it merely acts as a "gateway" between the Merchant and the Merchants Accounts provider. If you have questions regarding why a transaction was declined, please contact your Merchant Account provider. Do I need to fill out every field on the Merchant Web Terminal? Not all fields are required, but it is recommended for record keeping purposes that you do fill out every field. All information that you enter will be stored by IONGATE™ and can be used for future reference if the need arises. The required fields include all credit card and address information. When and how does my Current Batch settle? By default, your account is setup to settle automatically every night at 11:00 pm MST. If you prefer to settle your batch manually, you may select the manual settlement mode in Account Configuration. If you chose to settle manually, be sure to to click the settle batch button once you receive an order. The longer an item sits in your current batch before settlement, the higher your transaction rates will be. What if my customer get a database insert error? Each value that is passed to the gateway has a maximum length associated with it. If you try do pass a value that exceeds the limit, your customer will see this error. The documentation specifies these limits. Can I force a pre-authorized transaction? The IONGATE™ does not allow forced transactions. If you called in the card and got a pre-authorization number, you cannot force this number through the IONGATE™. To run the transaction, you need to get a hold of the cardholders issuing bank and ask them to clear the authorization. Once the authorization is cleared, then you can enter the information in the Merchant Web Terminal.