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Consumers interact with merchant websites, storefronts and access information. When a consumer places an order, the information is transferred to Subscribe, a charge is calculated and then a payment Transaction or a subscription (for recurring billing) is created accordingly. Transactions can be one-time purchases or recurring purchases that are automatically generated by a Subscribe subscription. Subscribe Transactions represent requests for funds sent to a payment provider and they encapsulate data about the financial transaction processed through Subscribe. If the first payment attempt failed, another attempt may take place according to the billing retry logic defined for you. Essentially, a transaction is an attempt to capture a payment for a charge of a specific amount. The purchase flow may vary according to the purchase type, payment method used, and the payment provider.

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Payment Method Impact

The payment method defined for the Transaction impacts the immediacy of the charge and receipt of the payment. Credit card subscriptions and purchases are immediate and therefore the transaction and its payment can be created at (nearly) the same time. Purchases that use less immediate payment methods such as Direct Debit, ACH/ECP, or digital wallets may take longer to process. Subscribe completes the Transaction once a successful payment validation is received from the payment provider. Transactions for the Merchant Accepted Payment payment method are created when the payment is recorded in the system but not directly charged by the system. For this payment type, you can define cash flow rules on what debt should be covered. Payment method flows: Credit card payments are usually performed as a two-step process:​
  1. Authorization validating the customer card in real-time with the payment provider and making sure funds are available to be held for the current purchase.
  2. Payment capture happens as an offline batch process, transferring the funds from the cardholder’s bank to the merchant’s bank.
Direct Debit, ECP, and ACH payments are usually performed via multiple day processes:
  1. Customer signs up or indicates agreement to allow fund withdrawal from the bank account
  2. Merchant submits a charge request via Subscribe to the payment provider and then the customer’s bank network. It usually takes 3-7 turnaround days for the initial charge processing.
Wallet payments
  • Most wallet payment require a redirect of the customer to the wallet provider to complete the purchase process (for example, Paypal, AliPay, SOFORT). The wallet provider is the authorizing body for accepting or declining a transaction.

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Payment Flow Example

The following image is an example of a credit card payment flow via Subscribe Subscribe Payment Flow Example
  1. Customer selects the products, price point, frequency and discount
  2. Customer input is sent to Subscribe including vaulting the payment method data. A transaction or charge are generated.
  3. An authorization request is sent to the payment provider or gateway.
  4. The payment provider routes the authorization request to the relevant card association or card network.
  5. The request is transferred to the issuing bank (for credit cards, direct debit, ECP/ACH), or wallet issuers. The issuing bank authorizes or declines the transaction authorization request and sends a response.
  6. Response is sent to the payment provider.
  7. The payment provider returns the response to Subscribe.​
  8. Subscribe moves the Transaction to the relevant status and returns the response to the merchant and to the customer.​
  9. Payment capture sent. The issuing bank approves the transfer of money to the acquiring bank and credits the merchant’s account.
Parent topic:Subscribe Payment Support