Clone Line digital (voip) phone service for your home or business is as low as $4.99/mo.
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Q. I tried to purchase an item online, and my credit card was declined. However, the bank shows that the charge was authorized.
A. The bank verified the card number, and authorized the charge amount, but the merchant gateway declined the charge due to some security reason, such as an incorrect address. In this case, funds are NOT transferred from your account to the merchant. Even though no funds were transferred, the pending authorization may reduce your available credit limit or debit card balance until the transaction expires (usually 1 to 3 days). The merchant cannot remove the pending charge, or issue a refund, since no funds were actually transferred.
Q. How or why did this happen?
A. To understand how this happens, you’ll have to understand how credit card transactions are processed. For full explanation, please read the details below.
1. When a buyer places an order, the credit card transaction goes to the merchant's payment gateway provider such as Authorize.Net, who then submits the payment to the issuing bank's authorization system.
2. The relayed information is then processed by your bank (“issuing bank”). Your bank will either approve or decline the transaction based on customer’s available funds. If transaction is declined by your bank, the transaction stops and there is no pending authorization. The customer’s bank account will show transaction declined, and so does the merchant’s processor.
3. If the transaction is approved by your bank, then the transaction goes through a separate security check by the merchant's payment gateway company, who compares the billing information returned by the issuing bank. If customer's address, zip code, or card code do not match the credit card billing information provided by the issuing bank, the payment gateway may decline the transaction based upon merchant’s fraud security settings. This is the reason why your bank says it was approved, but your merchant says it was declined — they are both right. Your bank approved the transaction, but the payment processor declined the transaction. So again, no funds are transferred.
To conclude, the net result of the transaction is a decline, as the payment processor declined the transaction, even though your bank approved it. This transaction will NOT show up on your final credit card statement, as it was declined by the payment processor, and no money will change hands. Your bank will show this transaction as Pending or Approved, and will temporarily hold (“reserve”) funds or available credit until a specific time elapses, usually between 1 and 5 business days.
If payment authorization was attempted multiple times, then multiple “approved” transactions may show as "pending". This may further reduce your available spending or credit limit. But again, these authorized transactions will eventually timeout, and the balance will again be available.
Q. Why would a payment gateway company do a security check and decline the transaction when the issuing bank already approved the transaction?
A. Credit card fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes as more and more people are buying products and services online. When fraud occurs, the banks get their money back from the merchant and the customers get their money back from the banks (after a bit of paperwork). It is the merchant who will lose money on fraudulent transactions. To protect merchants and buyers, payment gateway providers implement additional security checks to prevent “possible” fraud.
This article is based on content borrowed from Scott Seong and Authorize.Net. See the original article at the link below.
Q. How much does a digital (voip) telephone line cost these days?
A. Clone Line digital phone service starts at just 4.99/mo, including all federal taxes, fees, and 911 service.
Home users can get 911 service, and put a phone in every room.
Business users can share a single, multi line business plan across the entire organization.
- Residential prices, click HERE.
- Business prices, click HERE.
Q. How much does a digital cloud phone system cost?
A. Plans start around $19.99/mo, and can support up to about 50 phones/extensions/users.
Larger plans are available for larger organizations.
For plans and prices, click HERE.
This article brought to you by the staff at CloneLine. It is more affordable than ever to have phone and 911 service for your home or business. No more chasing your cell phone around in an emergency, or sharing your personal mobile number with clients. Home users can link all their in-wall phone jacks with our adapter. Business users can setup multiple extensions at home, office, branch, tele-workers, etc, with no "per user" fees. Visit our menu at top of this page for more information.
