[wildman]

11. Disallow overpayment of sale to credit card. This feature now only allowed as debit cash back.
Can this be overridden in settings? We sometimes take a payment for a non stock item, that is not processed through retail edge.
Example a customer buys 2 pair of pants, and wants to order one that is in a size or color we do not carry. They wish to pay in full for the items. we process the credit card for the full amount, which shows on their receipt as cash back, but we note that it is for the non stocked item.
If this is not a selectable setting, can we update without applying this feature?

[RetailEdge Moderator]

I am not sure there is a work around for you on this. We were told that this feature violates the credit card brands terms and conditions. This is something (cash back) that is really reserved for debit cards. It is probably designed to prevent fraud and have people just cashing out and disappearing.

There have been a number of rule changes and I suspect there will continue to be. One other change that was made (which is actually a good thing) it that Visa and MasterCard are requiring that we allow partial approvals of cards. This is designed to handle all those Visa/MC Gift cards. So now if you process a gift card (or any card that might have a limit) for more than the limit, RetailEdge will place the allowed amount in the payment screen and ask you for more.

We are just following the rules as we need to. Maybe you could create a separate Department Sku for these non-stock items in a separate department and the sell these items to make the total work. And just exclude this department when you run sales reports so that you don't double count the sales. Just a thought.

11. Disallow overpayment of sale to credit card. This feature now only allowed as debit cash back.
Can this be overridden in settings? We sometimes take a payment for a non stock item, that is not processed through retail edge.
Example a customer buys 2 pair of pants, and wants to order one that is in a size or color we do not carry. They wish to pay in full for the items. we process the credit card for the full amount, which shows on their receipt as cash back, but we note that it is for the non stocked item.
If this is not a selectable setting, can we update without applying this feature?

[wildman]

So as long as we do not update we can continue to process sales the same as we have been. With Mercury there is also the Virtual Terminal that allows us to process cards in any amount. Is there going to be changes here as well? What about retailers that use a stand alone terminal and have to punch in the amount of the sale and swipe the card, How does the bank know if the sale is for a item that has not been delivered to the customer?

[RetailEdge Moderator]

Yes. I don't think that the virtual terminal is going to have a change, simply because this utility has no concept of overpaying and giving out change, although the same card brand terms apply. Same for a terminal. The problem we have is that there are some conditions we have to deal with in the program that require that we balance the total amount of the sale with the amount on the card or handle multiple cards. We do have the concept of change back just because of the nature of the program and so we need to deal with (or in this case trap for) the potential of overpaying a credit card.

So as long as we do not update we can continue to process sales the same as we have been. With Mercury there is also the Virtual Terminal that allows us to process cards in any amount. Is there going to be changes here as well? What about retailers that use a stand alone terminal and have to punch in the amount of the sale and swipe the card, How does the bank know if the sale is for a item that has not been delivered to the customer?

[RetailEdge Moderator]

Here's more on the issue (for those who really care)

The information you need is on page 422 of the Visa/MC rules—you cannot authorize for over the purchase amount—that means no cash back. If you do, it is a misuse of the auth network.

Misuse of Authorization Fee - Introduced, October 2009.
The Misuse of Authorization Fee applies to Credit Card authorizations that are not followed by a matching settled transaction (or in the case of a cancelled or timed out authorization, not properly reversed).
1. This fee is applied if a merchant obtains an authorization and doesn't use it.
2. Settlement must occur within 10 days of authorization for all merchant categories, with the exception of Travel and Entertainment (T&E) merchant categories, which must finalize transactions within 20 days of authorization.
3. This penalty fee was implemented to reduce the occurrence of authorizations that are approved but never settled as these can adversely impact a cardholder’s open-to-buy, leading to additional declines.
4. A $1 (one dollar) status check transaction may be used within limited markets: automated fuel dispenser and select lodging merchants.

Zero Floor Limit Fee - Introduced, October 2009.
The Zero Floor Limit applies to settled transactions that cannot be matched to a previously approved or partially-approved authorization.
1. It applies to settlement transactions submitted without a proper authorization
2. It does not matter if that authorization is in error, or purposely made up.