Please visit our new help center at help.thinkreservations.comYou can also access this by clicking the ? button inside ThinkReservations.

Credit on Authorize.net

TABLE OF CONTENTS

If you are using Authorize.net for your Payment Gateway, you will not be able to refund if the transaction is more than 180 days old. This is not a policy that ThinkReservations has control over. If you attempt to issue a refund, you will receive the following error message:


"[54] The referenced transaction does not meet the criteria for issuing a credit."

If you see this error message, you may be able to issue a credit, but you must first enable "Expanded Credit Capabilities" through Authorize.net. Click here for Authorize.net's answer to: What are expanded credit capabilities?

There is no additional charge for this feature. This is not enabled by default because they do not want your staff to be able to credit a card maliciously. There is a higher risk of fraud when issuing blind credits and you also run the risk that the customer may still file a chargeback on the original charge. Please weigh all risks before proceeding. 

Another option if you don't want to enable Expanded Credit Capabilities, would be to mail the customer a check.

If you would like to proceed with Expanded Credit Capabilities, please visit Authorize.net's support center for instructions on how to apply: How do I apply for Expanded Credit Capabilities (ECC)?

After you complete the application for Expanded Credit Capabilities, you will receive notice from Authorize.net if/when your application is approved. This is typically sent to the email address on file in your Authorize.net Profile. You can also confirm that is has been approved and enabled for your account by navigating to your Merchant Profile in Authorize.net: Login to your Authorize.net account → click on ACCOUNT → click on Merchant Profile.

In your Merchant Profile, check the status look for "Expanded Credit Capabilities (ECC)" listed under Additional Services.

Once you have confirmed it is enabled, you can now issue a blind credit within the ThinkReservations system. Please follow these steps to complete the blind credit: 

How to Issue a "Credit" in ThinkReservations with ECC

  1. Open the reservation that you wish to issue a credit on.
  2. Scroll to the Payments section and select the green Payment icon. This will open the Payment modal.
  3. Fill in the information accordingly, making sure you enter the amount as a negative, as shown below:
  4. Click Take Payment.

That completes the credit process and it will then issue a credit in the amount entered onto the card you have selected. The payment will show in the list of payment transactions.


How to issue a Check as a refund method

  1. Open the reservation in question.
  2. Click one of the green Payment buttons.
  3. Change the PAYMENT TYPE to Check
  4. Enter the amount of the check you are sending to your guest in the negative (with a dash in front) in the AMOUNT box.
    For example, if you need to refund $353.15, enter -353.15 in the box.
  5. Enter an optional note in the REFERENCE NUMBER box. We recommend the check number go here.
  6. Click Take Payment. The bill will be updated.
     In the above image, you can see the hyphen to indicate the payment is a negative.

    In the below image, you can see the (highlighted) transaction of the check.


Issuing a Gift Certificate in Place of a Refund

See the above link to learn how to issue a refund in the form of a certificate, to be used like a voucher or credit.


Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions about this.

Authorize.net's 24/7 phone support: (877) 447-3938

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