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Web Services Overview

  • Payments
  • Reporting
  • Canada
  • Europe & UK
  • United States
  • Legacy

What are Paysafe Web Services?

Web Services are a technology that allows applications to communicate with each other in a platform- and programming language–independent manner. A Web Service is a software interface that describes a collection of operations that can be accessed over the network through standardized XML messaging. It uses protocols based on the XML language to describe an operation to execute or data to exchange with another Web Service. Web Services are built on open standards such as SOAP and WSDL.

Paysafe Web Services offer the following benefits:

  • Merchants can integrate easily with the Web Service API, using their favourite platform and language.
  • Merchants can automate operation and avoid manually keying in information via the Paysafe Web page.
  • Merchants can operate independently of changes and updates to the Paysafe Web site.

Web Services supported for Direct Debit

Paysafe currently supports the following Web Services for Direct Debit:

Operation Description

Charge

Allows you to transfer money from a customer’s bank account to your merchant account. This transaction is completed in real time, though the banking network takes 3–5 days to transfer the funds.

Credit

Allows you to transfer money from your merchant account directly to a customer’s bank account. This transaction is completed in real time, though the banking network takes 3–5 days to transfer the funds.

Update Shipping Info

Allows you to send shipping information, including a tracking number, once you have shipped goods for which you previously processed a charge transaction.

Information Lookup

Allows you to run a report through the API over a date range you specify to return data on Direct Debit charge and credit transactions processed through your merchant account.

Mandate Request

Allows you to create a mandate for a customer’s bank account and lodge it at their bank, which permits you to transfer money from the customer’s bank account to your merchant account. The banking network typically takes 5 days to process the mandate.

Change Status

Allows you to change the status of a charge, credit, or mandate transaction.

Update Mandate

Allows you to update the information contained within an existing mandate.

Availability of Direct Debit operation types is allotted on a merchant-by-merchant basis, since not all merchant banks support all operations. If you have any questions, contact your account manager.

Web Services supported for credit cards

Paysafe currently supports the following Web Services for credit cards:

Operation Description

Authorization

Allows you to confirm that a credit card exists and has sufficient funds to cover a Purchase, but without settling the funds to your merchant account.

Purchase

Both authorizes and settles a requested amount against a credit card.

Verification

Allows you to run an AVS and/or CVD check on a credit card without processing a charge against that card.

Authorization Reversal

Allows you to reverse all or part of an existing authorization, provided no settlements (either full or partial) have been processed against that authorization. This transaction type does not function with purchase transactions, but only with authorizations.

Credit

Allows you to issue a credit for an amount that was previously settled.

Settlement

Allows you to Settle the amount of an existing Authorization, crediting the authorized amount from the credit card to your merchant account.

Stored Data Authorization

Allows you to authorize an amount on a customer’s credit card using customer data that is stored in our database. You provide only a minimum of information, saving you time and effort.

Stored Data Purchase

Allows you to both authorize and settle an amount on a customer’s credit card using customer data that is stored in our database. You provide only a minimum of information, saving you time and effort.

Cancel

Allows you to cancel a Credit, Settlement, Payment, or Independent Credit transaction. You can cancel one of these transactions as long as it is in a Pending state, which typically is before midnight of the day that it is requested. In some cases, you may find older Credit transactions in a Pending state.

Payment

Allows you to credit an amount to a customer’s credit card. The Payment transaction is not associated with a previously existing authorization, so the amount of the transaction is not restricted in this way.

Independent Credit

Allows you to credit an amount to a customer’s credit card. The Independent Credit transaction is not associated with a previously existing authorization, so the amount of the transaction is not restricted in this way.

Information Lookup

Allows you to run a report through the API over a date range you specify to return data on credit card transactions processed through your merchant account.

Enrollment Lookup

Allows you to determine whether a customer’s credit card is enrolled in the 3D Secure program.

NOTE: This operation is supported only for 3D Secure 1.0.2.

Authentication

Allows you to send an Authentication request in order for a cardholder enrolled in 3D Secure to authenticate their card with the Card Issuer before you process an Authorization.

NOTE: This operation is supported only for 3D Secure 1.0.2.

Availability of credit card operation types is allotted on a merchant-by-merchant basis, since not all merchant banks support all operations. If you have any questions, contact your account manager.

Web Services supported for Information Lookup Service

Paysafe currently supports the following Web Service:

Operation Description

Information Lookup Service

Allows you to run a report through the API over a date range you specify to return data on Authorizations, Settlements, Credits, and Chargebacks processed through a merchant account.

System requirements

The SOAP API has been tested with the following client environments:

SOAP Client Programming Environment Operating Environment

Microsoft .NET 1.1 and 2.0 Framework

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP

Apache Axis 1.4

Java (J2SE 1.4.X and higher)

Linux and Microsoft Windows XP, Server 2003

Apache Axis 2.0

Java (J2SE 1.4.X and 1.5.X)

Linux and Microsoft Windows XP, Server 2003

For more information:

•    J2SE or J2EE 1.3.1 or newer (1.4.X recommended) Sun Microsystems, Inc. http://java.sun.com/downloads/index.html

•    Apache Axis 1.4, The Apache Software Foundation http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi/ws/axis/1_4

•    Apache Axis2, 1.2, The Apache Software Foundation  http://ws.apache.org/axis2/1_2/contents.html

•    Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1/2.0 Microsoft Corporation  http://www.microsoft.com/net

Regardless of which SOAP client you adopt, it must support document-style messaging.

Testing Paysafe Web Services

Once you have configured your Web Services–enabled application, please contact our Technical Support team for instructions on how to test your API calls.

Security features 

For some transactions (e.g., Purchase) Paysafe provides additional features to protect the merchant from fraudulent card usage.

•    Address verification system (AVS)

•    Card validation data (CVD)

•    Negative database

•    3D Secure

AVS

Paysafe supports address verification checks (AVS) wherever the issuing bank supports this feature. AVS verifies whether the address supplied by the customer using a card matches the billing address associated with that card at the issuing bank. This makes it more difficult to use the card fraudulently, since in order to use a stolen card someone must also know the billing address associated with it. In addition, if goods are to be shipped, the merchant can require that they be shipped to the billing address associated with the card.

Within Paysafe, each payment method is configured with the acceptable set of AVS return codes. If the bank returns a code that is not acceptable for the payment method, then the request is rejected with an Authorization Failed error. If you get an Authorization Failed error in response to a transaction request, and an Authorization number is returned in the response, then the failure was caused by the AVS check. You can look at the AVS code returned to determine exactly why the AVS check failed. Paysafe returns the following codes, in the avsResponse element, to the merchant application in response to a transaction request, with A, N, and E indicating AVS failure:

Code Letter Explanation

A

Address matches, but zip code does not.

B

AVS not performed for international transaction. Either the postal code has invalid format or address information not provided.

E

AVS not supported for this industry.

M

For international transaction, address and postal code match.

N

No part of the address matches.

Q

Unknown response from issuer/banknet switch.

R

Retry. System unable to process.

S

AVS not supported.

U

Address information is unavailable.

W

Nine-digit zip code matches, but address does not.

X

Exact. Nine-digit zip code and address match.

Y

Yes. Five-digit zip code and address match.

Z

Five-digit zip code matches, but address does not.

When you registered with Paysafe, your account was set up to automatically apply AVS checks. Paysafe accepts only transactions for which the allowable AVS return codes are returned.

AVS has three limitations, which may affect the decisions you make with regard to failed AVS checks:

  • AVS is not always reliable. Bad results can be returned if someone has moved, for instance, or because some people report five-digit zip codes and some report nine-digit zip codes.
  • AVS does only limited support internationally. If you decide, therefore, to ship only to addresses that return good AVS results, you may exclude otherwise valid transactions.
  • AVS is supported by many U.S. issuing banks, but not all. So even if you only serve U.S. customers, you may not always be able to depend on AVS being available.

CVD

The CVD value is a 3- or 4-digit number printed on the credit card, but which is not present on the magnetic strip. Therefore, the value is not printed on receipts or statements, reducing the probability of fraud from imprint information. The CVD feature, intended specifically for transactions where a card is not present, is a requirement of Paysafe. We support the CVD feature wherever the issuing banks do.

When customers enter their card and cardholder information, the CVD value is requested at the same time. One of four indicators flag the status of a CVD request:

  • Not provided – The customer did not provide the CVD value.
  • Provided – The customer provided the CVD value. When this indicator is selected, the CVD value is provided.
  • Illegible – The customer claims the CVD value is illegible.
  • Not present – The customer claims the CVD value is not on the card.

Negative Database

Paysafe administers a negative database that provides additional protection against misuse of cards and inappropriate transaction requests. Card numbers and email addresses are entered into the negative database for the following reasons:

  • A chargeback associated with the card number or email address has occurred.
  • The card number or email address was involved in, or suspected to have been involved in, fraudulent activity.

Your account is configured to automatically implement this security feature, and any transaction request that attempts to use either a card number or email address that is in the negative database will not be processed.

3D Secure

Paysafe supports 3D Secure, an online cardholder authentication program designed to make Internet purchase transactions safer by authenticating a card holder’s identity at the time of purchase, before the merchant submits an authorization request. It is currently supported by several card brands, including Visa (Verified by Visa), MasterCard (SecureCode), and American Express (SafeKey). Authorizations processed using 3D Secure are guaranteed against most common types of chargeback disputes.

Paysafe is compliant to 3DS version 2.1.0.