Paypal has some new restrictions

I just signe up for my merchant account with paypal yesterday. Today when I logged on I was asked to sign a new agreement.

I scanned it and was concerned with the portion that states that we are restricted from running the credit card until the merchandise ships.

1.1.Deposit Transactions. Merchant agrees that it shall only submit card transactions that directly results from bona fide cardholder transactions with that Merchant. Merchant agrees that it will not submit a transaction until Merchant: (i) obtains an authorisation, (ii) completes the transaction, and either: (iii) ships or provides goods, (iv) performs the purchased service, or (v) obtains the cardholder’s consent for a recurring transaction.

How does this possibly work with a cart. My shipping is sometimes 3-5 days from receipt of an order because items are custom..

How should this be handled? Doesn't the cart run the credit card as soon as the order is placed?

Ladybug

I dunno... On ebay, payment is made instantly, before the items ship, so that's just silly to say that payment can't be made before the item is sent...

Now for example, on our site, we have it set up for people to enter regular cc info, until paypal payments pro is finally integrated. Then when an order is placed, we use the entered info and input it into paypal virtual terminal to run it...

Maybe that is what it is talking about? only using the virtual terminal in "authorization" mode until the item ships?
Or is there a setting in zen cart or paypal that lets you specify authorization mode vs. sale mode? And only running it in authorization mode until you ship, then clicking the thingy that tells it to process it as a sale? Dunno.. sounds like more work to me... Especially when some products are virtual and can be processed immediately, while others, are physical products....

Seems to me, if the customer has entered their CCV number that pretty much confirms that they've authorized it, yes?

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it... lol

If you are worried about it, set your settings to run in "authorization" mode rather than "sale" mode, and then manually click each one as it is shipped...

I was wondering about that. So if I set it to authorization, it will later let me process the card. Cool. I don't like to charge anyone til I ship anyway, thats always been my policy. I was wondering how to do it with paypal.

Can anyone tell me how long an authorization is good for?

:yes:

Ladybug310:

I was wondering about that. So if I set it to authorization, it will later let me process the card. Cool. I don't like to charge anyone til I ship anyway, thats always been my policy. I was wondering how to do it with paypal.

Can anyone tell me how long an authorization is good for?

:yes:

With PayPal, 30 days. Others may differ.
You're best to get that sort of information from your merchant terms of agreement etc.