Email received from authorize.net updates MasterCard partial authorization requirement. “In late March, we sent an e-mail regarding MasterCard and Discover’s modifications to the rules concerning the processing of debit, pre-paid and gift cards for merchants located in the United States.

Recently MasterCard and Discover relaxed the requirements for e-commerce merchants so that support for partial authorizations and balance responses are no longer required, but recommended best practices. All retail and mobile merchants, however, must still support the requirements.

Additionally, all merchants are still required to support authorization reversals for any non-settled authorizations. The deadline for all Authorize.Net merchants to support the requirements is still June 30, 2011.

IMPORTANT: Although no longer a requirement for e-commerce merchants, Authorize.Net intends to support partial authorizations and balance responses for all merchants. We highly recommend that your merchants provide support for these features as they can help decrease declined transactions and potentially increase sales.

You can review the timeline of when we expect support for each processor in our Partial Authorization FAQs at < http://www.authorize.net/support/pafaqs#when>http://www.authorize.net/support/pafaqs#when.

We have also updated our FAQs to reflect the latest changes. If your merchants have questions, please refer them to the FAQs at http://www.authorize.net/support/pafaqs/ for additional information, including integration updates, value-adding services and more.”

Can I use a single merchant account if I have more than one ecommerce site? By regulation, you must have a different merchant account for each domain name.  The domain name, not the company name, must appear on consumer credit card statements. This is a field entered on the merchant application.  The main purpose is to reduce consumer confusion and thus reduce chargebacks.

What if you have single page checkouts on the same domain name?

For example, the merchant may sell something with a one page checkout. One page is mydomain.com/product1. Another is mydomain.com/product2. They do not link to a single shopping cart checkout for some internal reason. You could possibly use one merchant account for both web pages, provided it’s the same company and shares the same federal tax ID. In some cases the merchant may want to set up a separate terminal identification (TID) to assist in the reconciliation process. Each TID would have it’s own totals, but all the data appears on one merchant statement, under one merchant account. To set up TID’s, contact your merchant processor.

Non-profit organizations sometimes have this with fundraising on their web sites. The non-profit has multiple events and donor options each with a simple one page checkout specific to that event or donation. Provided the rules are met above, you can probably use one merchant account. Always check with your processor for confirmation of your situation.

related articles

internet merchant account requirements

S. 3386: Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act targets two ecommerce problems. One problem is sending consumer card data to third parties after the sale, for the purpose of an additional sale from another company, typically for a recurring billing item. The second issue addresses opting out of recurring billing purchases made online. This article addresses the second part.

Excerpt from Text of S. 3386: Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act

(c) Limitations on Use of Negative Option Feature in Internet-Based Sales Transactions- It shall be unlawful for any person to charge or attempt to charge any consumer for any goods or services sold in a transaction effected on the Internet through a negative option feature, unless–

END EXCERPT

In my opinion, some form of this legislation is likely to be approved and merchants should prepare for it.

Here’s an example of a common business recurring billing charge:

Thank you for your payment. Here is your receipt as requested for YOURDOMAIN.com.

Please note that a payment made by credit card will show as paid to  ISP HOST COMPANY on your credit card statement.
Billing Address

YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS
Payment Information
Total Payment Amount: $8.57

Payment Method: MasterCard - CC#5XXXXXXXXXXX1234
Payment Date: 6/10/2010 Paid Through: 7/10/2010.
Plan Fee - 6/10/2010 to 7/10/2010 - $7.95
Domain [mydomain.com]
Account Billing can be accessed from www.isphost.com
Click on “Billing Admin” from the “Customer Admin/Billing” menu.

If you have any questions regarding this receipt or have billing questions in general, please send an email to service@isphostingcompany.com.

ISP HOST COMPANY

1234 holiday lane.
Anywhere USA AZ 12345
1-888*123-1234

If legislation is approved:

The biller will need to notify the customer 10 days in advance instead of just sending a receipt for the purchase. This means TWO emails will need to be generated. One before the sale and one after with the receipt.

Additionally, some language changes may be needed to be perfectly clear:

BILLING CYCLE: MONTHLY
BILLING DATE: 10th of month
CANCELLATION: To cancel your service, please login to your account or call 888*888*8888.
Account Billing can be accessed from www.isphost.com
Click on “Billing Admin” from the “Customer Admin/Billing” menu.

If you have any questions regarding this receipt or have billing questions in general, please send an email to customerservice@isphostingcompany.com.

Article reference:

Rockefeller Introduces Bill to Ban Misleading Internet Sales Practices Uncovered By E-Commerce Investigation

Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act