This article serves as a reference for each type of transaction, the statues you can expect to see during processing, and the lifecycle of each unique transaction type.
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Transaction Statuses
Each transaction will go through different statues before being completed, failed, or refunded. See the table below for information on each status and notes that may apply for a better experience.
Status | Description | Notes |
Approved | The beginning status for Sale, Auth, Reverse Auth, or eCheck Sale transactions indicating that the transaction request was authorized by the processing bank. | An Approved transaction will not show as pending. |
Pending | The beginning status for Capture, Refund or eCheck Refund of a transaction which was previously authorized or captured. | |
Captured | Status for a Sale, Capture, Refund, eCheck Sale or eCheck Refund of a transaction which has been submitted for funding after the daily batch has been closed. | An authorized transaction must have a subsequent transaction type 3/Capture Transaction submitted to place it in the current daily batch. |
Settled | A captured transaction that has been settled and the funds posted to the FBO. | |
Failed | A transaction that was declined or for some other reason was not approved or captured - failed transactions will not be settled. | |
Returned | An eCheck transaction that has been returned. | |
Amount Fields
When processing a transaction, the fields below are important to review as each amount can have different implications for the transaction status and what will be funded to the merchant’s account.
Field | Description |
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Total | The amount originally requested for the transaction - it will not change if the transaction was only partially approved. |
Approved | The actual amount captured in the batch. For example, if a client performs a Sale for $15 and it is only partially approved for $10, the amount would show as $10. |
Refunded | The amount successfully refunded from a sale. |
Life Cycle Flow Chart
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A transaction request of '1/Sale Transaction', '2/Auth Transaction', and '7/eCheck Sale Transaction' will initiate the transaction lifecycle process.
Transaction Life Cycles
Sale Transaction Life Cycle (Type 1)
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A transaction is initiated with a credit card sale and is automatically added to the current daily batch. The total will display the amount that was initially requested. During this step, the Sale transaction goes into an Approved status where it can either be reversed or cancelled.
The approved amount is posted to the batch - it does not always match the total transaction amount, like in instances of partial approval. If the transaction is reversed, the approved amount will decrease by the amount of the reversal. In the event of a full reversal, the transaction will not be captured. Once the daily batch has closed, the sale transaction status will change from Approved to Captured. After a sale transaction is Captured or Settled, it can only be Refunded.
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Auth Transaction Life Cycle (Type 2)
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An auth transaction will hold funds on the customer’s card until a separate capture transaction is submitted. The approved amount will be the amount processed, meaning the amount held on the customer’s account.
During this step, the auth transaction moves into an Approved status. If the auth is reversed, the original auth amount approved will decrease. If you want to capture the remaining amount, the original capture (if submitted) would need to be cancelled, and a new capture for the correct amount submitted.
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Keep in mind, an auth transaction only holds funds in the cardholder’s account. The transaction will post to the batch after a capture transaction is submitted. The auth amount is what is held until the subsequent transaction (capture) is submitted. |
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Capture Transaction Life Cycle (Type 3)
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A capture transaction is tied to an auth transaction and will have it’s own lifecycle (similar to a sale). Once an auth has had a capture transaction submitted, it is moved to the batch that day. After a capture transaction is submitted, the total amount represents what was requested for the transaction. This can be higher or lower than the original auth amount.
During this step, the transaction status changes to Pending.
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A capture transaction that is greater than the original Auth approved may be flagged by Risk to investigate the discrepancy. |
Once a transaction is in Captured or Settled status, a refund transaction can be submitted.
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Reverse Transaction Life Cycle (Type 4)
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A reverse transaction can only be applied to an auth or a sale transaction in the Approved status. When batch is a closed Sale and eCheck Sale, it will move to Captured status and a reverse transaction can no longer be issued. For Auth, when the associated transaction is Captured it cannot be reversed. At this point, a refund transaction must be submitted to credit the cardholder.
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The term reverse is used interchangeably with “Void”, where “Void” is simply a full reversal of the entire transaction amount. |
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Refund Transaction Life Cycle (Type 5)
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A refund can apply to both a sale or capture with a Captured or Settled status, which occurs after the daily batch closes. When a Refund is submitted it will appear as Pending. At this time a pending entry is created and this amount is removed from the client Available Balance. After the daily batch closes, the Refund transaction status will change from Pending to Settled.
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eCheck Sale Transaction Life Cycle (Type 7)
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An eCheck sale transaction is automatically added to the current daily batch. The total amount will always be the approved amount. If the amount needs to be changed then the entire eCheck sale transaction will need to be cancelled and resubmitted.
During this step, the status changes to Approved. After the daily batch closes, the eCheck sale transaction status will change from Approved to Captured. Once Captured or Settled, the eCheck sale transaction can only be Refunded.
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eCheck Refund Transaction Life Cycle (Type 8)
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An eCheck Refund transaction can be applied to an eCheck Sale transaction with a Captured or Settled status following the daily batch close. | Note |
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A Refunded Sale, Capture or eCheck Sale transaction doesn’t change the status - it will populate the refunded amount field with the amount that has been successfully refunded. |
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Processing Times
Batch Close: 9:30 PM EST - the transaction will typically be updated to “Captured” (Sale) or “Approved” (Auth/eCheck) status by 10:00 PM EST.
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