[thelist] ecommerce: implementing back orders

[Hassan Schroeder]

Kathy Long wrote:
> Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do with back orders when a
> merchant uses online payment processing?
>
>  The problem is the credit card number isn't stored at the online
> merchant admin so that when a backordered item arrives and is shipped,
> the merchant can't charge the account for that amount unless he calls
> the customer for his cc number.
>
> I suppose the shopping cart can be written to encrypt and store the
> credit card number, as well, so the vendor has it on hand from his
> site, but that is not as secure. Or does someone know of a payment
> processor that allows for backorders and allows the merchant to charge
> partial orders as they are shipped within a certain time period?

I haven't looked into partial orders per se', but...

The two parts of CC processing are authorization (valid card with
sufficient available credit) and settlement, also referred to as
"capture" (the actual payment transfer).

My processor's API allows me to submit an authorization-only request
which returns a transaction ID. I then have 30 days to submit the
settlement request using that transaction ID.

Off the top of my head, if I had to deal with backorders I'd submit
each unavailable item individually for authorization-only, and send
the settlement request when it shipped. Means storing a transaction
ID for each backordered item rather than the CC -- much better :-)

HTH!
--
Hassan Schroeder ----------------------------- hassan at webtuitive.com
Webtuitive Design ===  (+1) 408-938-0567   === http://webtuitive.com

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