Switching Credit Card Processor - Checklist

Glossary

Merchant Service Provider (MSP) - The company that processes credit card transactions on your behalf.

Payment Gateway - Online service that connects your website to your MSP.

Step 1: Select a Credit Card Processor (Merchant Service Provider)

You can use any MSP (Merchant Service Provider) that is comptabile with the payment gateway Authorize.net. If you wish to use the same MSP that you use in-store, ask your MSP if they are comptabile with Authorize.net.

If you need to obtain a new MSP, ABA's CFO PK Sindwani has negotiated discounted credit card processing rates for ABA members with Gravity Payments.Find more information about Gravity on their website, where you can also signup for their service. You can also email our dedicated representatives at Gravity, Nicole West or Jason Butler. Gravity offers competitive rates, Authorize.net in their service package, and have extensive experience assisting stores who use IndieCommerce or IndieLite.

Step 2: Sign Up for Authorize.Net (Payment Gateway)

If you have signed up with Gravity Payments, or your selected MSP has included Authorize.net in their package, this step is COMPLETED.

Otherwise, visit Authorize.net's pricing plans to learn more and sign up for their service. Constact your MSP and Authorize.net for instructions on how to link these two accounts.

Step 3: Configure Your Authorize.net Fraud Detection Settings

The most current instructions can be found in our Fraud Detection Settings document (attached at the bottom of this page).

You can also follow along with a webinar from our senior manager, Geetha Nathan, by visiting our webinar library. However, please cross-reference the webinar with our written documentation as some features may have changed since the presentation.

Step 4: Generate API Keys

Your API key are found in the Settings section of your Authorize.net dashboard. You will need to submit these API Keys to the secure form on your website which can be found under Store > Configuration > Account Information & Prefrences > Store Authorize.net Information.

API Login ID and Transaction Key

On Authorize.net, click API Credentials & Keys. This will take you to a page where you can generate your credentials. It is easiest to have this screen and your website open in separate tabs so you can copy and paste between them. 

• Your API Login ID is fixed. You will be able to find it on this page if it exists, or generate it if it does not exist. This ID is 8-12 characters long.
• Your Transaction Key will not appear here as it is confidential information. Once it is created, it is only visible at the time at creation. If you do not have your transaction key, or have not yet geneated on, click Generate New Transaction Key. You may need to enter a PIN sent to your email in order to generate a new key. Authorize.net will then ask if you want to disable the old key immediately -- click yes, unless youa re already using Authorize.net with another service. The Trasnaction Key is 16 digits long.

Public Client Key

Back on the settings pae, click Manage Public Client Key. If you have already generated a key, it will appear here. If not, click Generate New Key. Authorize.net will send a PIN to your email. Youw ill bee given the Public Client Key after the PIN is entered. The Transaction Key is 64 digits long.

Step 5: Submit API Keys to Your Website

From your IndieCommerce or IndieLite website, navigate to Store > Configuration > Account Information & Preferencces > Store Authorize.net Info.

Here, you will copy and paste each of your API Keys from Authorize.net into these fields and click Save Settings'. You must enter all three credentials at once because this form will be locked upon click Save. Submitting your API Keys does not intiate the changover. Email us to schedule a time to switchover. If you are a new website and have gone Live, the switchover will take place during your Go Live Training session.

Step 6: Set Authorize.net to Live Mode

Authorize.net is set to Test Mode by default. It must be set to live when we switch you ver. When your account is in Test Mode, each page in the Merchant Interface will display an organge banner stating:

Your account is in TEST MODE - To update click here

To take your account out of Test Mode, please follow these steps on Authorize.net:

1. Click Account from the main toolbar
2. Click Settings in the main menu on the left
3. Click Test Mode under the Security Settings section
4. Drag the toggle to Live. The interface will confirm that the Test Mode settings have been successfully aplied and the account is now in Live Mode.

Step 7: Schedule Your Switch

We are grouping stores into morning and afternoon appoinments. We start the morning group at 9am ET and the afternoon group at 2pm ET. If you are scheduled in the morning group, please have credit cards disabled by the night before the schedule start time. For the afternoon group, please disable credit cards by 11am ET. We will contact you when the process is complete and credit cards are re-enabled. Your website will continue to function, and customers can still checkout with other payment methods if you desire.

Step 8: Mark All Credit Card Orders as Payment Received, Completed, or Canceled

This MUST be done well ahead of the time ofyour switch. This step is for your benefit, as after the Authorize.net changover, existing customer credit card data will no longer be accessible to process the payment. Thus, any credit card orders placed prior to the switch that were not charged will no longer have valid payment information. If you need to process old orders with expired authoriations, simply change the payment method to 'Pay at Store' and complete or cancel as appropriate. If you ahve a large amount of old orders, contact us for assistance.

Step 9: Temporarily Disable Credit Cards as a Payment Option

Prior to your switch you must disable credit cards as a payment option. Navigate to Store > Configuration > Payment Methods, uncheck credit card, and click save. We recommend you put a message on your homepage announcing this to customers. Again, your website will continue to function, and customers can continue shopping using other payment methods.

Step 10: Switch Your Credit Card Processor

On the day of your switch we will use the credentials your stored in our secure form to change you over to your own Authorize.net account. There is no need to be in the store as long as you have access to your website and Authorize.net account via the web. However, please plan to be available in the event we need you, at minimum via email but ideall by phone as well. We do the switchover as quickly as possible, with the goal of completing the switchover within an hour. However, occasionally unexpected issues arise, so we cannot provide a specific time that we will have credit cards re-enabled.

Congratulations! You are now on your own credit card processor!

You are now set up with your very own Authorize.net account and credit card processor. We will send you a confirmation email after the switch that will include helpful information and links about new features available, as well as some changes in existing reports that will be important to note.