Forced to go from offline processing to gateway

My customer's store was forced to stop using the Credit Card module and switch to an Authorize.Net gateway.

Has anyone else had this happen?

They say it's because of the Credit Card company's policy (I'm hearing this second hand).

This change is causing problems. First of all, the gateway has added fees, and these days they need to get the most out of a sale.

But also, once the order comes in it's already paid for. This store has frequent sales going on, plus membership discounts that can't be used in conjunction with sales. They have lost the ability to calculate the sale total before running the credit card.

Frankly, managing sales discounts and coupon codes is not a specialty of Zen Cart. There was much more flexibility when it was all done by hand.

Your thoughts...

There's alway more flexibility when every sale is dealt with by hand and treated as a special case. There's also whole load more expense, unless your customer's staff work for free.

Managing sales discounts and coupon codes not a speciality of Zen Cart? Sounds like you're using a different Zen Cart to one my clients use.

Managing sales discounts and coupon codes not a speciality of Zen Cart? Sounds like you're using a different Zen Cart to one my clients use.

I refer you to this post.
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127570

The people handling the offline cc processing are the store owners. And they definitely prefer to do it manually.

The big question is, is it true that credit card companies do not allow use of the Credit Card module of Zen Cart? It's not like we're storing the cc number on a server, only part of it.

Pete

digipete:

I refer you to this post.Your post rather confirms my point. Zen Cart has so many ways of handling sales, discounts and coupons that sometimes they trip over each other. But I much prefer a range of choices, even if I have to choose between them, than carts that lack this range of functionality altogether, or make it a paid add-in.

digipete:

The people handling the offline cc processing are the store owners. And they definitely prefer to do it manually.

The big question is, is it true that credit card companies do not allow use of the Credit Card module of Zen Cart? It's not like we're storing the cc number on a server, only part of it.If that's how your customers prefer to do it manually, that's absolutely fine.

There does seems to be a trend away from manual card processing (fraud levels are higher - by which I mean not those suffered by store owners, but those committed by "store owners"), so the card companies aren't keen. But there's not a single answer to your question as it depends upon the card company, the country in which the store operates and type of agreement in place between the card company and the merchant.

It's not the fact that you're only storing part of the CC number, it's the fact that you have the whole number at all.

I have seen offices where the CC numbers of regular customers are displayed on Post-It notes on monitors.

As a possible customer, I want my CC info totally secured, and if I knew you had the whole number, I wouldn't do business with you, and I don't care at all how 'they prefer to do it'.

If ~ $40 a month is real money to the site owners, they should re-consider their business model.

As a possible customer, I want my CC info totally secured,

We all do. But then again, we have all eaten at a restaurant, then hand our cc to a waiter and watch them walk away with it and assume that they're not running 50 copies of it before they come back.

The problem is, the store is in a bit of a fix, and Zen Cart does not have enough options.

The point of the link I posted is that the Sale Maker feature is useless for us. The store has a membership club which allows a 15% discount - but there's nothing built in for that. And the coupon code system does not allow you to exclude any running sales.

I digress. The big question is: Is it true that cc companies do not allow the use of the basic cc module?

Was the store owners forced to make an unwanted change without cause?

Zen Cart has so many ways of handling sales, discounts and coupons that sometimes they trip over each other.

By the way, I'd love to be wrong here. I'd like to go to the store and say this Zen Cart thing I recommended has add ons and other modules that will automate your discounts and manage your club sales.

I'd be a hero if I could tell them they're better off now, but at this point they're in a real fix.

digipete:

The point of the link I posted is that the Sale Maker feature is useless for us. The store has a membership club which allows a 15% discount - but there's nothing built in for that. And the coupon code system does not allow you to exclude any running sales.

Have you looked at the Group Discounts that are built into Zen Cart?

digipete:

I digress. The big question is: Is it true that cc companies do not allow the use of the basic cc module?Answered in post #4.