Reconciliation and Status Considerations

Unmatched disbursements exist for various reasons. For example, your organization may have submitted these transactions to the processor from outside of the program, or the automatic reconciliation may not have successfully matched these transactions with their counterparts in the database. An unmatched status may also occur when transactions successfully matched corresponding transactions, but were not automatically reconciled because time zone differences caused transaction date inconsistencies.

In some cases, you may not need to reconcile unmatched disbursements. To manage these disbursements, you can use the Remove from list option on the Unmatched disbursements tab of the Reconcile transactions and disbursements page. You can then mark the unmatched disbursement as Reconciled on the View by disbursement tab.

Blackbaud Merchant Services automatically flags transactions as suspect when they meet specific criteria. Transactions flagged as suspect help avoid costly fees associated with potentially unnecessary transactions. Examples of suspect transactions include a questionable IP address or multiple, identical transactions from the same credit card within a short amount of time. Blackbaud Merchant Services does not disburse funds from a suspect transaction until you approve it.

When a card holder disputes the validity of a transaction with the credit card company (for example, if the credit card used is reported stolen or the card holder does not recognize the transaction), the credit card company issues a chargeback request to Blackbaud Merchant Services. In some cases (for example, when the credit card company determines fraudulent activity), Blackbaud Merchant Services must automatically refund the transaction to the card holder. In other cases, Blackbaud Merchant Services may automatically challenge the chargeback, if your organization has already issued a refund for the disputed transaction. Another type of chargeback that requires your attention may occur when a card holder does not recognize a transaction.

For chargeback requests that cannot be challenged, the status changes from Chargeback pending to Chargeback resolved. After Blackbaud Merchant Services issues a refund, a Chargeback refund transaction is generated and displays on both the View by disbursement and Unmatched disbursements tabs.

When your organization accepts a chargeback request, the status changes from Chargeback pending to Chargeback resolved. After Blackbaud Merchant Services issues a refund, a Chargeback refund transaction is generated and displays on both the View by disbursement and Unmatched disbursements tabs.

When your organization challenges a chargeback request, the status changes from Chargeback pending to Chargeback disputed. Whether the dispute is accepted or rejected, a Chargeback resolved status is applied. For rejected disputes, Blackbaud Merchant Services issues a refund. A Chargeback refund transaction is generated and displays on both the View by disbursement and Unmatched disbursements tabs.

A previously Reconciled transaction may become associated with a Chargeback status. When this occurs, the Chargeback status takes precedence over the Reconciled status and displays as a Chargeback on the View by disbursement tab.

For a credit card transaction processed through Blackbaud Merchant Services, when you edit the payment amount after the credit card is processed, it is important to note that the transaction reconciles with the original payment amount, not the edited payment amount.