It doesn’t mean much… and surely does not imply that your credit card will be immediately processed. Real time credit card processing is used when a site is automatically connected to a payment gateway.
Aren’t all websites connected? No. Many websites lack the technology needed for such integration. Some lack a payment page altogether and use mail, phone or fax orders to close the transaction. Others collect the info on their “Payment Page”, yet if such is not automatically connected to a payment gateway the end result is the same – manual submission of these transactions to a payment gateway through a virtual terminal.
And those that are automatically connected – do they process credit card transactions on-line in real-time? Some do and some don’t yet the more sophisticated ones usually wouldn’t. What they do is perform an on-line real-time authorization check with the issuing bank. Should such fail they return in real-time to the buyer and suggest rechecking the billing address or the use of another card.
Why don’t they immediately process the card? For numerous reasons: to begin with, according to Visa and MasterCard regulations, when physical goods are purchased, they are not entitled to charge a credit card until items are actually shipped to the buyer. Some still do… yet the more respectable sites would follow the instructions and charge the card only upon shipping, using the shipping event as a trigger, sending a notification to the shopper that his card was charged, stating all order information including shipping tracking code.
Even if digital goods are purchased, in today’s world, due to the nasty implications of chargebacks, the real-time authorization check is usually not enough and most merchants (either in-house or outsource) use other fraud checks prior to actually charging a card.
A transaction may pass through on flying colors and should it reflect a digital purchase can be processed in real time, yet in many cases, it is not a clear cut and requires a human eye and a decision maker to clear a transaction for processing. This is why, usually when purchasing on-line you receive (on the “thank you page”) a notification stating that your transaction is “in process”. It does not mean that you’ve purchased the item nor that your card’s been charged – item may not be on stock or you might still fail their fraud checks.
Gidi Argov, Founder and CEO
www.CreditCardProcessing-r-us.com
Tags: Credit Card Processing, real-time credit card processing
Stumbled on your website from Google Search as i was looking to know something about credit cards in details. Read the whole article on your site and i must say that me and my husband loved reading your post. So i thought of sharing a tip to all your users: For the lowest discount rates for transactions at a point of sale location, try to avoid typing in the credit cards numbers manually, but rather swipe the credit card with your terminal. A swiped credit card is typically given a lower discount rate per transaction. We bookmarked your website. Thanks alot – Steffi
I only want to tell you thank you! for all the great info found on your site, even helped me with my work recently
keep it up!
Gidi, I love the site and your blog.
I check site updates and blog posts on a daily basis and think it’s about time for a new post…
If you have a chance, can you clarify on MasterCard SecureCode? Thanks! CreditCardProcessing-r-us.com rocks!
Jeff.
Thanks for the very informative post. I have saved the website!
hello mate, I really like your site! What theme is it? I might have to hire you to design my site!, haha.
Thanks for This Nice Read! I found freecredit-report.net is a great site to check my credit report and see my score 4 nothing. Has Anyone else used them?
Hello! I just wanted to mention that I really love your blog.
Credit Card Processing Blog ROCKS!
WOW! I was sure that real time credit card processing on a web site means something entirely different! The fact that actual processing is not always live (or rarely live) is new to me. It actually means that there’s lots you can do in between. Finalize fraud checks, make sure you locate the product you are supposed to ship, prior to making the actual charge, etc. etc. NICE. This brings much more room for credit card processing on a web site, even to businesses that have delivery barriers. Good inputs, Thanks!
Hello I just received a popup from my firewall when I opened your blog do you know how come this occured? Could it possibly from your ads or something? Thanks, really odd i hope it was harmless?
Hi Ezequiel,
http://www.CreditCardProcessing-r-us.com uses Google Analytics. If you set your browser to alert for any attempt to run a script on your machine (exactly what Google Analytics does – to monitor traffic on the website), you probably receive the following (or similar) alert: “To help protect your security, your browser might restrict a webpage from running scripts or ActiveX controls that could access your computer. Click here for options…”
You can either ignore the popup, and continue viewing our site. Doing that will not allow Google Analytics to monitor the pages you looked at (We can leave with that…
), or you can “Allow Blocked Content” and enable Google Analytics to monitor your site visit (your call…).
Either way, You are SAFE
CCPrUs Support Group.
This is exactly what happens to me! Lots of my purchases are “in process” for a couple of days, and then either nothing happens or I get an email with a “sorry no can do” kind of an excuse… Is it something that I’m doing wrong, that gets a lot of my purchases fail a fraud check? Can that be the reason? Or is it pure bad luck?
I was looking for “real time credit card processing” and got to this post.
Wasn’t originally looking for an explanation… yet no doubt, I now understand it much better!!!
I also followed up with your site and got the solution I was after – Thanks!
Nice post and blog! After reading a couple of your posts, I wish you consider adding videos to your blog posts.
Though I love reading your articles, I’m more of a visual learner and make the best when videos are included.
Think about it…
I’ll be returning for more posts one way or another…
I noticed this “real-time credit card processing” with plenty of credit card processing providers, yet never seriously thought about what does it actually mean (well, until now…)
This is the second time I have visited your website and I’m Diggin it!
I added your site to my rss reader and already looking forward to see more posts!
Just starting my business and planning to accept credit cards using my iPhone –
Any input you can provide on using an iPhone to accept credit cards will be appreciated!
Thanks, Lewis.
Lewis – thanks for asking!
You should find everything you need on
iPhone credit card processing.
Funny, real time credit card processing is somewhat different than it sounds!
This might explain a purchase I tried (and failed) making a couple of weeks ago –
Though I got a “thank you” page, my card was never charged (and I never got the gadget I ordered…).
It probably passed the initial phase of authorization, yet for some reason, was not approved later on.
What could it be that made them reject my card?
Hi Winston – Numerous reasons…
Though this sure deserves a standalone post,
here are some potential reasons why:
Did your billing address and shipping address match?
Was it a cross border transaction?
Was it a relatively expensive item?
Did you provide a valid phone number and were you available for a call?
What was the time of day (or night…) you made the online purchase?
All these and many more, set your risk profile –
They sure decided the risk of selling you the item was greater than the potential profit in making the sale.
Thanks for spending the time to describe the terminlogy towards the newbies!
I’m reading your posts on a regular basis (wish there were more…!) and starting to get the hang of it.
I now feel I actually know a little about credit card processing and started to pass on the info to family and friends.
Thanks!
Funny! Would never have guessed. So does this mean that I can state on my site that I’ve got: “real-time credit card processing” even though I don’t? i.e. – If I can collect credit card details on site, on a payment page form, and do the actual credit card processing later (even manually – keying in the transactions in a VT) would anyone know it wasn’t done on real-time? And does it make any difference?
Is it doable? – YES
I strongly suggest:
1. Don’t state things you don’t have to…
2. Implement PCI compliance PRIOR to collecting credit card data.
Credit can be a great thing and a bad thing. I think credit all over is abused, buy the user, and the credit companies. The interest rates are too high and something has to be done about that. There are so many ways that we can improve the credit situation on all ends.
Hi Gidi,
May I use some of the information here in this entry if I provide a link back to your site?
Thanks! Tana Ortelli.
Hi Tana, with pleasure! Gidi.