Can someone tell me whether or not it is a Visa/Mastercard regulation that credit cards cannot be charged until an item has been shipped?

The 2checkout staff are implying that this new policy of theirs (that credit cards won't be charged until after you ship an item) is a regulation, but when asked directly about it, they won't put it in writing with a yes or no. Instead they delete the question from their forums.

I am just curious if this is actually a regulation of Visa/Mastercard. And why are 2checkout so hesitant to avoid answering this question?


Here is something I wrote on their board:



Posted by 2checkout staff:
Transactions will be "authorized only" until you "ship" the item. Once you check off that an item is shipped, the order will be finalized, and the sale will be credited to your 2checkout.com account. By regulation of Visa & MasterCard, these authorizations can only be "up to" 7 days in length.


My reply:
It wasn't clear if it is a Visa/Mastercard regulation that a credit card cant be charged until an item is shipped. You mention it is a Visa/Mastercard regulation that an authorization can only remain for 7 days. Could you clarify if it is indeed a Visa/Mastercard regulation that a credit card cannot be charged until an item is shipped, or if this is an internal 2checkout policy.


Reply by 2checkout staff:
3. How the following can not be clear as to whether or not it is a Visa/ MC regulation is beyond me. Any more posts asking questions on this topic will simply be deleted.

Transactions will be "authorized only" until you "ship" the item. Once you check off that an item is shipped, the order will be finalized, and the sale will be credited to your 2checkout.com account. By regulation of Visa & MasterCard, these authorizations can only be "up to" 7 days in length.


[One reply to this is deleted by 2checkout staff. My second reply is below.]


My Reply:
Instead of deleting my posts, can you just answer my question with a yes or no? Is it a Visa/Mastercard regulation that credit cards cannot be charged until an item is shipped?

Thank you for your reply.

I doubt this is a Visa/MC regulation however the best way to find out would be to contact Visa/MC (http://www.usa.visa.com/business/merchants/index.html?it=h1_/index.html) and ask them. There may be different rules for merchants that 'act as merchants for other merchants' so be sure to explain you are asking about that type of situation rather than as a private account holder.

My Reply:
Instead of deleting my posts, can you just answer my question with a yes or no? Is it a Visa/Mastercard regulation that credit cards cannot be charged until an item is shipped?

Thank you for your reply.


This last reply was also deleted by 2checkout staff.

Funny how they have a "support forum" where support questions are deleted without being answered. And this is after I have 5 accounts with them, and have processed around $60,000 through them.

It isn't worth the trouble dealing with such people. I will get a merchant account. 2checkout is very unprofessional. Especially their "support" team.

Its bad enough that their payments are sent late, that trouble tickets disappear with no answer, and that their servers are repeatedly down. Now we have to deal with arrogant idiots as support staff. Forget about that. I would rather take the trouble to process orders through a merchant account.

I just logged into my 2Checkout account and saw this on my Sales page:

Please Note: You do not have to mark an order as shipped to be paid for it

After December 1st the policy is changing and you will need to mark items as shipped. Before marking an item as shipped the credit card will not be charged.

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you meant the policy was already in place. Thanks for pointing that out to me!

I would rather take the trouble to process orders through a merchant account.

Directly because of the hastles with 2c of late, I've started looking into UK merchant accounts and services, and it doesn't look to be as much trouble as I suspected, at least for the processing. The benefits of direct control, true integration of payment processing with my site, low transaction charges, and direct transfer of funds to ones own bank account should all amount to a saving of money, time, and reduced stress!

My bank sent me a list of 17 software vendors who are authorised to process transactions to a merchant account, and I fired off emails to all 17 asking for details by email, basically as I've better things to do than browse through 17 different web sites, although I didn't exactly say that. This is their first test to see who responds and in what manner etc.

Within an hour or so I had two replies - it was the end of the day on Friday and I spoke to the first respondant. He called me but I had to call back as, guess what, I was dealing with a 2checkout problem. How ironic.

They process orders for Ford, ticket agencies and other high volume clients, as well as smaller ones. I discussed their technology and it seems sound. Their web site isn't great but stresses their support commitment and I got that feeling talking to them. And hey, I really was actually talking to someone. What a novelty, and not being far (well nowhere is far in the UK), I could drive and see them too if I wanted.

The protocol between their servers and my site is via http requests, making it nice and simple, and their charge is just 400 pounds for the first year and 300 after that, with a limit of 200 transactions per month in that price band. Other charges are just for the merchant account, and are negotiable etc. They also said that they had a good relationship with one of the banks, and that if I had troubles getting a merchant account with my bank then they could possibly help out.

Whether I go with this first contact or not I don't know yet, but the http oriented protocol is ideal for my needs and a minor coding change. I'm excited and it should be a liberating experience and a weight off my mind if I do get a merchant account authorised and setup!

Page 5 of the following link.
upper right hand box

http://usa.visa.com/media/business/ecomm_merch_guide.pdf

Now why couldn't Wadsworth (2checkout staff) have given a similar answer, instead of avoiding a direct answer and implying the question was too stupid to answer? I just wanted to know something, so I posted a question in your forums. In reply Wadsworth chooses to not answer the question, and just deletes any further request for clarification.

This shows how pathetic 2checkout support is when I have to come to WHT to get an honest answer to a question from them.

And for posting this thread here my forum account at 2checkout forums was deleted. :) Hahaha. These people need to work on their public relations.

By the way, I had posted over 130 messages on their board (more than any non staff), most just being helpful to other users.

Now any message that had been written by me is from "Guest", but you can still search for messages based on my name and they come up. :)

Why not just delete all my messages as well?