Payment Capabilities

Warning: Due to PCI v4 standards effective March 2025, credit and debit card transactions must be processed with the new checkout experience via Blackbaud Payment Services and Blackbaud Merchant Services. This includes processing of recurring payments. See the Checkout FAQ and Update Your Checkout Experience for more information.

Note: Payment Capabilities is restricted to administrators with Merchant Account Self Provisioning permission. Only advanced site administrators can grant this permission. If you don't see this option and feel you should, contact your top site administrator.

To process payments through Luminate Online you must have:

  • A Blackbaud Payment Services account to securely collect and store payment info.

  • A Blackbaud Merchant Services account to send and receive the information.

  • Luminate Online Payment Capabilities settings linking your resources to your Blackbaud Merchant Services account.

About merchant accounts

Both Blackbaud Merchant Services and Luminate Online have settings for merchant accounts. These are two different concepts with the same name. Blackbaud Merchant Services had merchant accounts before being associated with Luminate Online. Likewise, Luminate Online had merchant accounts before being associated with Blackbaud Merchant Services. This has resulted in some confusing terminology. The simplest way to think of this is:

  • A Blackbaud Merchant Services merchant account configuration = a Luminate Online gateway

  • A Luminate Online merchant account = a collection of Luminate Online gateways

Merchant Accounts Differences Summary

Note: When creating resources that accept payments, e.g., donation forms, you must select a merchant account. This is a Luminate Online merchant account, which is a collection of Blackbaud Merchant Services merchant account configurations.

Tip: When using Checkout type gateways, there is no need for multiple merchant accounts or account configurations. A single configuration supports all accepted payment methods and currencies.

Import Blackbaud Merchant Services Merchant Accounts

  1. From Setup, Payment Capabilities, select Payment Services.

  2. Select Import Blackbaud Payment Services.

  3. Enter your Blackbaud Payment Services credentials.

  4. Select Import.

Note: Payment Services imports active Blackbaud Merchant Services accounts that are associated with the Blackbaud Payment Services account and use your supported currency. Changes made to Blackbaud Merchant Services accounts outside of Luminate Online must be re-imported into Luminate Online.

Warning: Due to PCI v4 requirements effective March 2025, for credit and debit card processing you must use a merchant account that supports the new checkout experience. As of October 2024, reimporting existing Blackbaud Merchant Services accounts will add duplicate accounts (name appended with "Checkout") that meet the new requirements to your Luminate Online payment settings. If you do not already have a Blackbaud Merchant Services account, you must create one. See Blackbaud Merchant Services for New Users for more details.

Create Luminate Online Merchant Accounts

Note:  

  1. Under Setup, Product Configuration, Merchant Accounts, select Create Account.

  2. Name the new account.

  3. Select a security category to control permissions.

  4. Enter a tax ID. If left blank, your site's default tax ID will be used.

  5. Select payment gateways.

    You must select at least one gateway continue. You should not select a gateway for every option.

    • Blackbaud Merchant Services Checkout Account - Select a single gateway that supports all payment capabilities configured in your Blackbaud Merchant Services account. This may include:

      • Digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo.

        Note: PayPal and Venmo support single payments. Support for PayPal recurring payments is coming soon. Venmo is only available in the US.

      • Credit and debit cards

        Note: You no longer need to select specific card types. All cards supported by Blackbaud Payment Services and Blackbaud Merchant Services are automatically included.

      • Direct debit from bank accounts

        Note: Currently only US direct debit is supported. Support for Canadian direct debit is coming soon.

        Note: The upcoming 24.5 release includes support for allowing cash and check offline payments toward a donation form associated with checkout.

    • Credit Card Account - This option is not compatible with the new PCI v4 requirements effective March 2025. This option is available to support legacy forms during the transition to the new merchant accounts and checkout experience. This option is not compatible with Checkout type gateways and merchant accounts option which already support credit and debit card transactions. If selected, you will be prompted to also select accepted credit cards.

    • Bank Account - This option is available to support legacy forms during the transition to the new merchant accounts and checkout experience. This option is not compatible with Checkout type gateways and merchant accounts option which already support direct debit transactions.

    • PayPal Account - This option is available to support legacy forms during the transition to the new merchant accounts and checkout experience. This option is not compatible with Checkout type gateways and merchant accounts option which already support Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo transactions.

    • Legacy Blackbaud Checkout Account - This option is not compatible with the new PCI v4 requirements effective March 2025. This option is available to support legacy forms during the transition to the new merchant accounts and checkout experience.

    • Blackbaud Mobile Pay Account - This option is not compatible with the new PCI v4 requirements effective March 2025. This option is available to support legacy forms during the transition to the new merchant accounts and checkout experience.

  6. Select Next.

  7. Select whether this merchant account can process Recurring Transactions.

  8. Select Finish.

Tip: Need to add more than one merchant account? See this Knowledge base article.

Move sustaining gifts

To prevent payments from failing, move any non-Blackbaud Merchant Services credit card sustaining gifts to the new merchant account. See move sustaining gifts.