Add a Merchant Account

To process credit card transactions, connect Altru to your Blackbaud Payment Service account and a merchant account with a payment processor and gateway.

1. From Revenue, select Blackbaud Payment Service merchant accounts under Configuration.

2. Select Add.

3. Under Merchant account details, enter a unique name and description to help identify the merchant account.

4. Under Gateway, select which payment gateway to use to process transactions, such as Blackbaud Merchant Services.

5. Under Process mode, select the mode in which to use the merchant account with the selected gateway.

   • Live: Use the merchant account to process live transactions.

   • Test: Use the merchant account to test the connection with the gateway.

   • Demo: Use the merchant account for internal presentations only (and don't send data to the gateway).

6. Under Gateway ID and Password, enter the login credentials provided by the payment gateway for the merchant account. For example, enter your Blackbaud Merchant Services account credentials.

7. Under Currency, select the currency to use with the merchant account and gateway.

8. Under AVS Level, select whether to use the Address Verification Service (AVS) with the merchant account and at what level. For example, you may select to use AVS to process Card Not Present transactions.

   Note: The AVS is fraud protection that verifies customer billing addresses submitted through online payment transactions. With AVS, the gateway issues a transaction to authorize the payment. In response, the gateway receives information about the payment, including whether the street address and Zip Code are correct. Depending on the AVS level selected for the merchant account, the gateway uses this information to determine whether to accept the payment. Altru performs this service only when the selected gateway supports AVS for the country of the transaction. For information about AVS support, contact your gateway.

   • Full: Accept transactions only when both the street address and Zip Code match.

   • Medium: Accept transactions when either the street address or Zip Code match.

   • Light: Deny transactions only when neither the street address nor the Zip Code match. This level may accept transactions when either the street address or Zip Code returns no response, regardless of whether the other criteria matches.

   • None: To perform no address verification, select this option.

9. Under CSC Level, select whether to use Card Security Code (CSC) checks with the merchant account and at what level.

   Note: The CSC check is fraud protection that verifies the card security code, also called the Card Verification Value (CVV2). The CSC appears only on the credit card itself, and not on receipts or statements.

   • None: Perform no CSC check.

   • Full: Decline transactions when the CSC does not match or when the processor does not support CSC checks.

   • Light: Decline transactions only when the CSC does not match.

10. Select whether to use 3DS authentication for Card Not Present transactions.

    Note: The major credit card providers have developed 3DS as the authentication standard for online transactions. Examples of 3DS authentication include Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode. 3DS authentication requires the cardholder to register the credit card through the card issuer’s website and specify credentials used to verify online transactions.

11. To process transactions with the merchant account, the credit card processing process sends a transmission file to the payment gateway by way of the Blackbaud Payment Service. To quickly process the transactions, the gateway divides the transactions from the transmission file into groups, or threads, to process simultaneously. Under Transaction processing wait configuration, set up the length of time a credit card processing process that uses the merchant account waits to check whether its transactions processed successfully. Enter the number of seconds to allow for each transaction in a thread and the number of transactions the gateway includes in a thread. Altru uses these values to calculate the wait time for the credit card processing process.

    • When the process submits less transactions than entered in the Number of transactions per thread field, Altru multiplies the actual number of transactions by the value in the Seconds to process record field.

    • When the process submits more transactions than entered in the Number of transactions per thread field, Altru multiplies the actual number of transactions processed by the value entered in the Seconds to process record field.

      Note: For information about the expected wait time or the number of transactions to include in a thread, consult your payment gateway. To use a default value, enter “0”.

12. Under Credit cards, select which credit cards to accept.

13. Select the payment processor to use to authorize transactions for each selected credit card type.

14. Under Additional fields, enter any additional information necessary to process transactions through the gateway.

15. Select Save.