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ShopSite Payment FAQs

Here is a list of questions about receiving payment for orders placed in your ShopSite store.

What kinds of payment can I accept in my store (credit cards, checks, etc.)?

Your store can accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and Diner’s Club/Carte Blanche credit cards either through a real-time payment gateway or with manual processing. You can also accept credit cards through PayPal, along with other PayPal payment methods. If you use Authorize.Net as your payment processor, you can accept eChecks. You can accept Purchase Orders, C.O.D. and checks, all of which require manual processing. You can even define two manually-processed payment methods for which you can configure the fields that you need.

Which transaction processing services can I use for online credit card processing?

ShopSite 7.0 supports Authorize.Net, NPC VirtualPay, Paymentech Orbital, Cardservice International/LinkPoint, Optimal Payments, Lynk Systems, and VeriSign. Not all services are available on all operating systems and in all products.

How does PayPal payment processing work?

When a customer selects PayPal as their payment method and clicks Submit This Order, ShopSite passes the order information to PayPal and redirects the customer’s browser to PayPal so that the customer can complete the payment. (The order information includes the total price, your PayPal e-mail addresss, and the address information filled in by the customer.) When the customer completes payment -- which may take more than a week with some payment methods -- PayPal will notify your store and the order will appear in the list of orders. You will not see the order in the back office until the customer completes the PayPal payment.

How does manual payment processing work?

To manually process credit cards, you must have a merchant account with a payment processing company. You must view the orders in the ShopSite back office and then either call in the payment information by telephone or use your POS machine to authorize and capture funds.

How does eCheck payment work?

When a customer selects to pay by eCheck, the billing screen will have fields for them to enter a bank routing number and checking account number. Authorize.Net will withdraw the funds from that account electronically and deposit them in your account. This service is only available if you are using Authorize.Net as your payment processor.

I already have a POS machine. Can I use it to process payments from my ShopSite store?

Yes, you can configure ShopSite for manual payment processing, then view your orders and authorize/capture funds with your POS machine.

How do the generic payment options work?

You can define the names of the generic payment options and the field names that you need to gather the information required to process a payment. When you view an order, you’ll be able to see the values entered by the customer and you can take whatever action is necessary to process the payment.

How do I change the names of the generic payment options?

You can define the names and the associated fields for the generic payment options in the Preferences > Store Text > Checkout screen.

How do I issue a credit for a returned product?

You must log into your merchant account with your payment processor to issue credits and chargebacks.

When is a customer’s credit card actually charged?

By default, ShopSite authorizes a transaction when an order is placed, which means that ShopSite verifies that there are enough funds in the account and then puts a hold for the amount needed to pay for the order. When you click the Bill Orders button, ShopSite then captures the funds, which starts the process of transferring the funds from the customer’s account to your merchant account. You can change the settings for some payment processors so that funds are authorized and captured when an order is placed, which may be a good idea if you have a ShopSite Pro store selling digital download products. (Note that authorizing and capturing funds are done through your payment processor, not directly by ShopSite.)

Can I use a different credit card processor besides those built-in to ShopSite?

You can use any payment processor for manual processing. Only the payment processors built-in to ShopSite can be used for real-time processing.

What happens to the credit card information when a customer clicks the "Submit Order" button?

When a customer clicks the "Submit Order" button, ShopSite sends the order information to the store’s payment processor for verification and authorization. ShopSite then stores the order information -- including credit card information -- in an encrypted file. When you view an order, ShopSite decrypts the file and displays the information to you. When you delete an order, the information is removed.

Can customers print orders and then mail them to me?

There is generally no need for a customer to print an order and mail it in, although you could use one of the generic payment methods for this. Once an order has been placed, you can view the order from the ShopSite back office. If a customer mailed in a copy of the order along with payment, you could use the order number to match it with the orders in the back office.

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ShopSite Help and Resource Center
February 13, 2004
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