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Multiple account subscription authorizations on declined cards

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Stephen Rhyne

16 Mar, 2011 09:58 PM

Hi,

As always, I love my CG!

Often times when a customer's card is declined for a subscription payment (due to say an AVS mismatch), the invoice amount will get authorized in the customers account. So in other words to the customer the charge goes through but it's really declining. They cannot easily see that the withdrawal is really just a pending authorization and will actually fall off their statement within a few days. I have had many customers get their accounts authorized for 4x their due invoice because each day CG attempts to run the card, authorizes the amount then comes back declined due to AVS mismatch.

Has anyone else found a way to fix this? Is this a setting in Authorize.net I should be tweaking? It's very unprofessional and it's sort of embarrassing to have to explain to customers.

-Stephen Rhyne @srhyne

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Marc Guyer on 17 Mar, 2011 02:40 PM

   

   Hi Stephen -- This is definitely one of those frustrating issues with credit cards -- AVS specifically. We like to be able to override AVS whenever a customer's card has been successfully charged in the past but AuthorizeNet doesn't provide for that capability.

   Are you seeing this often? When? Is it the first invoice? Later on when the customer's billing address changes (after an earlier success)?

   Theoretically the only time this should happen is if the customer's billing address changes mid-stream.

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2. 2 Posted by Stephen Rhyne on 19 Mar, 2011 06:53 PM

   

   Hi Marc,

   Yes, it happens later on when the customer changes his billing zip code. Apparently, I have some major gypsy'esque customers because it happens quite a bit. I just need to build a wickedly easy system for updating billing to mitigate the problem! OR +1 on a white-labeled customer portal !! :)

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Marc Guyer on 21 Mar, 2011 03:04 PM

   

   White-label portal is coming next month. We're in the home stretch on that project.

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4. 4 Posted by Stephen Rhyne on 24 Aug, 2011 08:20 PM

   

   Marc,

   I'm still having this AVS Mismatch leading to multiple authorization problems. I have customers getting "charged" up to 5x times in less then a few days. Obviously this is caused by CG getting back a decline notice so the auto attempt system kicks in.

   I had a pretty lengthy conversation with an authorize rep. They said....

   1. Turning off AVS all together is a bad idea as Merchant monitor this and will up rates.
   2. There is nothing I can do on Auth's portal to tell the bank to expedite a relinquishment of the funds.
   3. Pretty much the only thing I can do is call the bank myself and reference my merchant acc # and the transaction authorization numbers. (ugh!)

   So what can I do to mitigate the authorizations my customers get when this unfortunate thing happens? Is there any way I can set the auto attempt further out or change the frequency?

   Any ideas?

   Thanks Marc. Be well!

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5. Support Staff 5 Posted by Marc Guyer on 24 Aug, 2011 09:08 PM

   

   This is a problem specific to Authorize.net. The AVS settings do not play nice with the CIM. Our ChedddarGateway, for example, enables you to choose whether you want to enforce AVS on every transaction or only on the first transaction. A.net does not. I suggest moving to CheddarGateway.

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6. 6 Posted by Stephen Rhyne on 24 Aug, 2011 09:24 PM

   

   This comment was split into a new private discussion: Multiple account subscription authorizations on declined cards

   Awesome... OK, I probably will. Thanks for the heads up and quick response.

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7. 7 Posted by Stephen Rhyne on 30 Sep, 2011 08:38 PM

   

   Marc, can I use the CG Gateway with my current Merchant account or no? I think Gravity is cool but I might not want to deal with setting up another merchant account. Just considering my options. What's Dustin's number?

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8. 8 Posted by Stephen Rhyne on 30 Sep, 2011 08:42 PM

   

   ah nvmd about the merchant account I see that you CAN use most merchant accounts with the CG gateway. But, I still want Dustin's # ;)

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9. 9 Posted by Stephen Rhyne on 30 Sep, 2011 08:46 PM

   

   One more thing. Are their any hiccups switching from Auth.net to CG gateway or is that process seamless? What are the possible hiccups in switching (moving to blowing up plan)?

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10. Support Staff 10 Posted by Marc Guyer on 30 Sep, 2011 08:49 PM

    

    (626) 393-3583

    >

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11. Stephen Rhyne closed this discussion on 05 Apr, 2012 11:46 PM.