Orders sometimes NOT Showing using Authorize.net

I usually don't have any problems with CC processing (using Authorize.net as my payment gateway), but there are times when customers get billed and I never find out about it until they send me flaming e-mails about how I charged them $XXX but never shipped out their orders.

I never shipped out their orders or knew they were billed because THEIR ORDERS NEVER SHOWED UP IN MY ADMIN PANEL.

And today, a customer made a purchase using Authorize.Net (after failing with PayPal) and I never knew about it until he e-mailed me asking if his payment went through because he never received a confirmation e-mail or anything. Nothing showed up in my admin panel, but when I went to check my Authorize.Net account, there was over $800 in payment from him. Like I said, this is not the first time something like this happened. Had my customer not e-mailed me, I never would have known about his order. His order never showed up in my admin panel and I don't even know what it is that he purchased.

Now, I did look through older posts, but none really answered this question. I contacted Authorize.Net via LiveChat and here's what they said.

If the information is not showing in your shopping cart, I would suggest contacting your shopping cart provider to troubleshoot this error.
This is not an error from Authorize.Net.
...the shopping cart is not updating on it's side.

Why is that?
Using version 1.3.9h, by the way and had my website since May 2011.

When did this problem "suddenly" start?
When was the last time you reconciled your bank deposit receipts with your online store, to ensure you were balanced?
Which Authnet payment module is your store using? (there are 3 in Admin->Modules->Payment), and why?
Further, please click Reply below and answer all the questions in the Posting Tips section on that page when you answer these questions I've asked.

Thanks for getting back to me, DrByte. My answers are in red.

When did this problem "suddenly" start? Never said this was a "sudden" problem. Occurred thrice: November 10, 2011; January 7, 2012; March 25, 2012
When was the last time you reconciled your bank deposit receipts with your online store, to ensure you were balanced? This morning
Which Authnet payment module is your store using? (there are 3 in Admin->Modules->Payment), Authorize.net (SIM) and why? Web designers installed ZenCart for me and selected this module. Don't know their reason behind it.
Further, please click Reply below and answer all the questions in the Posting Tips section on that page when you answer these questions I've asked.

Have you already posted about this issue? NO. If so, DO NOT POST a duplicate. Instead, reply to your existing post, with MORE information.
What version of Zen Cart are you using? Zen Cart 1.3.9h
Has your site been upgraded? No. When? From what version(s)?
If you've upgraded, HOW did you upgrade? N/A (official upgrade procedure or an automated script from your hosting company?)
What addons have you installed? Ultimate Cross Sell Settings When? January 25, 2012HOW did you install it? (upload via FTP and run zc_install, or a one-click install from your hosting company? (one-click installs are NOT recommended)) Web Designer installed this. No idea what they did as they never disclose anything to us, but most likely upload via FTP.
In what ways is your site customized or different from a brand new uncustomized install? Photo Gallery, Ultimate Cross Sell Module
If you're encountering display/layout problems, post your site URL* so it can be seen in action.
If you're encountering problems that could be related to your server or hosting company, include the name of your hosting company (not their URL). Doubt it's a hosting problem, but here it is anyway: AV Web Designs (via GoDaddy)
HAVE YOU LOOKED IN THE FAQ AREA for answers to your question? Yes. (ie: a search for your error message or what you want to edit/change, etc)
Have you searched the FORUM for your error message or for answers to the question you're asking? Yes.
WHEN did the problem "start"? November 2011 (unless there are other earlier mysterious transactions I am not aware of) How does that compare with other events of your hosting company N/A, changes you've made to your site files/addons N/A, or your admin settings, etc? Customers' orders do not show up in admin panel despite payment being made successfully.
If this is your first store, have you tested all aspects of transactions before going live? Yes
Also read the "Before You Post" and "Forum Do's and Don'ts" to be sure you provide at least the basics of information in your post. The more detail you supply, the more likely you'll get a usable answer. If you don't give enough information then you'll likely just get a reply asking for more info, or worse, no reply at all.

As with any off-site payment module (such as Authnet SIM), anytime you send the customer someplace-else and expect them to come back again when done, if anything goes wrong in the midst of that, the normal "completion" won't happen.
Sounds like that's what's happened to you.

I suggest you contact your Authnet account rep and have them turn on the setting that emails you whenever you receive payments.

Also, if your customer from today is willing to help you figure out "what actually" happened, maybe they can explain to you what error messages were on the screen after they entered their payment details and were supposed to be returned to your store.

You might also consider switching to the AIM module, since it never sends the customer away to take payment; instead it does it all directly on your own site. Requires your site to have an SSL certificate for security though (and you should have one anyway if you're serious about ecommerce and protecting your customers' data).

Hi, DrByte.

Fortunately, I do have e-mails come in from Authorize.net when payments are made. (That's one of the ways I knew that my customer was billed.) It just didn't come up on my admin panel. :dontgetit

I'll try switching to AIM and definitely contact the customer for details. Two questions:

1. Does switching to Authorize.net AIM change anything in my site (besides keeping my customers within my own site during payment)?

2. Do I have to tell Authorize.net and/or my web designers that I changed payment modules in my site? I'm not sure if switching from SIM to AIM will be something that my web designers will have to arrange other stuff around or not.....

Sorry about the petty questions - I'm so new to all this! Thanks!

AIM puts credit-card fields on your payment page. That shouldn't require any special rearrangement by your designer. But as soon as you enable it you'll be able to see the effect by starting checkout and going to the page where you select which payment method you intend to use.

The only technical change for your site is the need to add an SSL certificate if you don't already have one.

Ref: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=373

I do indeed have SSL certificates on my website so that shouldn't be a problem. I'll meet with my web designers today and find out what I can. I tested a credit card order on my site just now using the original SIM method I had installed and it never took me someplace else. I was expecting Step 2 (or even Step 3) to lead me elsewhere, but my entire checkout process was done *within *the site. Is this something I should be concerend about?

I thought you said you were switching to AIM?

Yes, I was going to switch to AIM but wanted to test the SIM settings first so I could have a fresher memory of the differences between the two. Contrary to my expectations, I was never taken out of my site during the 3-step checkout process so I'll be leaving it at SIM.

I did talk to my web designers yesterday and although we didn't come up with concrete answers, we did learn a few things (and it doesn't have anything to do with the payment module). It seems to be something with API communication and session time-outs. If anyone encounters the same problems as I did, I'll (hopefully) have further updates on the reason behind the order no-shows by posting up the findings on this thread - if it isn't closed, that is.

Thanks for your help, DrByte!

You're not listening to me.

By continuing to use SIM, you're not going to get around the problem of orders not completing properly (customers charged but no order in your store), which is the first thing you posted about.
If you switch to AIM, you'll be using a whole different means of sending the payment transaction, and if the payment is successful the order will be saved; if it fails then the customer will see an error about it on-screen.

Okay, don't get angry, please! I'm just trying to figure out and understand what's going on instead of making changes without knowing what I'm doing first.

I understand that AIM and SIM use different means of payment processing.
I understand that successful payments will be saved.
And I understand that failed payments will receive an error message on the screen (which is currently what is happening on my site).
The problem is that some *successful *payments do not show on my orders page.

Here is my website is you want to try it out: https://www.FalseEyelashesSite.com
I already tried putting in incorrect information and making failed payments. Every time, I successfully received error messages. Maybe you can get a better understanding of why successful credit card payments are sometimes not showing up in my admin page? The website is still in SIM mode...

An intermittent ("sometimes") problem such as you've described is very difficult to reproduce on-demand. From my experience, your problem is most likely a glitch in the process whereby your customer is transferred to authorize.net and back again (ya, I know you said you don't see that happen, but it does, even in your "onsite" SIM mode). Since it doesn't happen "all the time", it seems to be simply related to the technology being used.
Switching to AIM will give you no visible difference to the customer (since you're already using "onsite" SIM mode), but will open a direct communication channel to authorize.net when payment is requested, and keep it open until the payment is authorized, and then give control back to your store ... all without any redirects or browser trickery that SIM must do. In that regard it's more reliable and less susceptible to the problems you've been complaining about.