Transaction life-cycle
This page explains how transactions work behind-the-scenes – what happens once the customer has completed their checkout session.
3-D Secure (SCA)
- 3-D Secure is a protocol designed to reduce fraud and chargebacks during e-commerce transactions.
- Data from the payment session and the customer’s device is shared with the issuer to evaluate the level of risk.
- In most cases, payments are deemed low risk, and will be processed without prompting customers for authentication.
- If considered high risk, customers will be prompted to authenticate their identity before they can continue.
- Following authentication, in the event of a dispute, the issuer will usually take liability for the chargeback.
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Authorisation
- When a payment is processed, this is recorded in our system as an “AUTH” request (short for authorisation).
- The settle status is used to indicate the state of the transaction.
- When a payment has been authorised by the acquiring bank, the settle status will normally be set to “0”.
Pending settlement
- Following a successful authorisation, funds are reserved against the customer’s bank account until settlement.
- During this time, you can perform queries and updates through our Webservices API, or MyST (our online transaction management portal).
- Updates can only be performed when the settle status is “0” or “1”.
Completion
- Settlement typically occurs within 24 hours, but this can vary depending on the banks involved and payment method.
- Once settled, the funds will be transferred to your bank account. This updates the settle status to “100”.
- You can perform refunds by submitting a request using our Webservices API, or MyST (our online transaction management portal).
- For some payment types, the transaction may have status “10”, meaning settlement is in progress but not yet complete.
Handling errors
- If a transaction is cancelled or a failure occurs at any point in the process, the settle status is set to “3”.
- Further actions cannot be performed and the funds will be released back to the customer’s bank account.
- If you look at the error code, you can learn the reason for any unexpected failures.