Protx Setup Query

[mattpark]

Hi Team,

 

Just making the switch from the modernbill, and loving life wit WHMCS so far...!

 

Trying to plumb in our protx direct however am running in to some trouble.

 

Every transaction I try to run through pings back the following:

 

VPSProtocol => 2.22

Status => INVALID

StatusDetail => 3069 : The PaymentSystem is not supported on the account. The following values were used, cardtype was VISA, accounttype was C, currency was GBP, vendor was VENDORNAME.

 

 

Having had a quick chat with protx, the gent on the end of the line suggested it was because of us passing the account type as "C" for continuous authority, and our account was not enabled for that. He enabled it while I was on the phone, however I continue to get the same messages, regardless of card type used.

 

Has anyone else come across this issue?

 

Our merchant account is held with Bank of Scotland.

 

I think it has something to do with "Vendor ID of Continuous Authority Merchant Account used for Recurring Payments". In modern bill I don't think continuous authority was used, hence why we are only having this issue now.

 

Is there a method to flick the module in to "e-commerce" mode, or something, so that all payments are process like the initial payment?

 

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Matt

[mattpark]

Just to keep this thread up to date with how im getting on, Matt from WHMCS comments in my current ticket:

 

Hi Matthew,

 

We could modify the protx module for you to not send the C as the account type if that's what you require but the reason it's on by default is because on recurring payments the CVV number can't be sent as it can never be stored so in most cases the C is required to have ProtX accept it.

 

Regards,

 

Matt

[mattpark]

And my response to him:

 

Hi Matt,

 

Many thanks for the quick response! I’d have been waiting for weeks with modernbill support. Very impressed 

 

Bank of Scotland won’t give us continuous authority on our merchant number, and apparently not many people do get it as it is considered high risk (I hear tesco got turned down for CA)... I wonder if any WHMCS customer is using Protx and BOS via CA? Hmm....

 

Either which way, we can’t get continuous authority, so we’ll have to pass the account type as “E”.

 

I have lifted the Protx protocol specifics for account type for your reference:

 

AccountType, Alphanumeric, 1 character

E = Use the e-commerce merchant account. (default)

C = Use the continuous authority merchant account (if present).

M = Use the mail order, telephone order account (if present).

This optional flag is used to tell the VSP System which merchant account to use for this transaction in situations where more than one type of merchant account is set up for your Protx vendor account. If omitted, the system will use E, then M then C by default.

 

What are the knock on effects of this do you think? Can we just not use the REPEAT function to process the recurring payments... i’m right in thinking we don’t need to pass CVV etc to protx again after the initial payment?

 

Quoting Protex’s integration docs:

 

“REPEAT or REPEATDEFERRED a transaction. Any authorised transaction can be used as the basis for a REPEAT. A REPEAT transaction simply uses the card that was used in the original authorised transaction, and charges it again with the Amount specified in the REPEAT. The REPEAT amount can be any amount. It does not have to match the value of the original transaction.”

 

Repeat can be found on page 12 of the following document - http://www.protx.com/downloads/docs/VSPServerandDirectSharedProtocols.pdf

[othellotech]

Bank of Scotland won’t give us continuous authority on our merchant number, and apparently not many people do get it as it is considered high risk

It's easier to get CA than permission to do D/Debits !

 

(I hear tesco got turned down for CA)

You hear wrong Tesco have done CA through *Royal* Bank of Scotland for several years - they bank with RBS not BOS

 

Either which way, we can’t get continuous authority, so we’ll have to pass the account type as “E”.

You'll have to pass the clients payment as an E or M depending on your merchant type, and make them come back each month and enter the details again - i.e.not use the offline or subscription "models"

 

A protx "repeat" is their own custom method to get around the fact that many companies that chose protx for processing wouldnt qualify for continuous authority processing.

 

Protx have PCI-D2 (clearance to retain the CVV code) which is needed to get the transaction to go through, so yes a 2nd "version" of the protx module using "repeats" might fix the issue.

 

As would applying for a mail-order CNP merchant account, as once you pass the PCI compliance you can keep the cvv details, but you'd have to take the orders by phone, fax or post for that.

[mattpark]

Thanks for the response!

 

I have asked Matt to develop a Protx module which will utilise the "repeat" function on priority development.

 

Should be available for others in coming versions.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt