This is the third Blog post in our series of posts on Recurring Payments. Previous posts looked at how one can reduce costs with recurring payments and also looked at their limitations. In this post we will look specifically at the Payment Service Providers and the recurring payment solutions they offer. In order to use any of the solutions below to process recurring credit card and debit card transactions you will need an Internet Merchant Account (also known as a Merchant Service Agreement). In order to process direct debits you will need a Direct Debit Originators Identification Number (OIN).

 

 

DataCash

DataCash expose their recurring payment service via their XML interface, so in order to use their service you must be able to send XML transactions to the DataCash Payment Gateway. As a result of this you will have to handle cardholder information on your server when setting up the recurring payment transactions. As we have mentioned previously there are risks involved when handling cardholder information and there is also the requirement for PCI-DSS Compliance. The advantage of this integration method is that you can integrate it directly with an in-house billing system, allowing centralised management from the a single location.   See our introduction to recurring payments Blog post for more details. The three recurring payment services provided by DataCash are outlined here:

Fire and Forget Continuous Authority

The Fire and Forget Continuous Authority (FFCA) Credit and Debit card Service allows you to collect regular recurring payments from any Amex, Visa or MasterCard branded card. The FFCA Direct Debit Service allows you to collect regular recurring payments for any direct debit instructions that you have configured with your DataCash account. The service allows you to schedule the frequency for which to collect the payments: weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. The service also allows you to define the number of payments to be collected or you can configure it so the regular payments will continue indefinitely. The FFCA Service allows you to configure a recurring payments schedule via one XML request and then DataCash manage all of the subsequent transactions. The service allows you to process recurring payments for credit cards, debit cards and direct debits.

Historic Transactions & Capture Method

The Historic Transactions service from DataCash allows you to make recurring transactions against any Visa, Amex or MasterCard branded Card. When DataCash process the first transaction they also store the cardholders details on their system. They then provide an account reference which is used to perform future recurring payment transactions on this customers card. Capture method allows you to specify the method in which you captured the cardholder details so that the transaction can be processed using the appropriate merchant ID.

Endeavour

Endeavour support recurring payments but their website does not give an details on their recurring payment solution. I have emailed them requesting more information. I will update the Blog post when this information is provided.

 

 

 

Realex Payments

The RealEFT service from Realex Payments allows you to process recurring credit card, debit card and direct debit transactions. More information on these can be found in our previous Blog post introducing recurring payments. Direct Debit Payments are supported for AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank. Realex Payments provide three methods for using their RealEFT service:

1. You can integrate the service to your own in-house system using their XML API
2. You can use their RealControl Web Application
3. You can use their Bulk Payments Service

With either of the above methods you will store your customers billing information and card details within the Realex system. A label will be applied to each customer and this will be used in future to raise payments against the customers details. The RealEFT system does not provide a way to schedule future payments, however the overriding advantage for recurring payments is the secure storage of the cardholder information. Realex will store you customers billing information on their own servers so you do not need develop and maintain secure servers and attend to compliance regulations. Their XML API could also be leveraged to integrate with an in-house system to automatically bill your customers at payment interval.

 

 

SagePay

SagePay provide a Recurring Payments Solution through what are called Continuous Authority (CA) transactions. CA is a type of payment transaction where the cardholder grants written permission to a merchant to periodically charge their card. It is typically used for subscription type payments. The SagePay system will allow you to process repeat transactions against an original Internet transaction using a CA Internet Merchant number. SagePay provides support for CA transactions for the following acquirers -

• Allied Irish Bank
• Bank of Scotland
• Barclaycard Merchant Services
• Elavon (Bank of Ireland & Alliance and Leicester Merchant Acquirer)
• HSBC
• Lloyds TSB Cardnet
• Streamline

 
The advantage of CA transactions is you do not need to update the expiry date if the cardholder gets a new card. The initial transaction is processed like a regular online payment transaction and once this is successful then the card will be trusted. As a result, subsequent CA transactions for this card will not require a CVC value or an expiry date. SagePay only support CA for the Visa and MasterCard card schemes so if you are looking for a complete recurring payments solution this is a major limitation. On the positive note Recurring Payments via CA are included as part of the SagePay Go package (€25 per month).

 

 

WorldNet TPS

WorldNet TPS have two recurring payment solutions. NetCollect for collecting recurring payments at irregular intervals and NetSubscribe for collecting fixed amount recurring payments at regular intervals. Both solutions can be used without any integration using the tools provided by WorldNet TPS in their SelfCare application or you can integrate the solutions into your own application using the XML API.

 

NetCollect

The NetCollect service from WorldNet TPS allows you store your customers credit and debit card information securely using their SecureCard system. The system allows you to collect payments from these credit and debit cards on a recurring basis. Using the WorldNet TPS SelfCare system you will enter your customers credit or debit card information. WorldNet TPS will store this information securely and provide you with a SecureCard number that you can use to reference the customer details. Using their Virtual Terminal you can then raise payments using the SecureCard as a reference.

NetSubscriber

The NetSubscriber service from WorldNet TPS provides the same service as the NetCollect package with the addition of the ability to configure subscription payments. Once you have configured your customers details on their SecureCard system you can then configure it for a subscription payment:

 

• Define a schedule for the payment collection (weekly, forthnightly, monthly etc.)
• Define the period (6 months, 12 months, on-going or a fixed number of payments)
• Define the Amount

The NetSubscriber service will then take care of the payment processing based on your configuration.


In our next recurring payments blog post we will look at recurring payment solutions provided by Payment Bureaus.

 

Dave

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Related Blog Posts:

• Limitations with Recurring Payments and Continuous Authority.
• Reduce Costs and Improve Cash Flow With Recurring Payments.