BY MARCI GAGNON

The complexity of multiple vendors , the associated logins , and receiving one daily deposit for a group of transactions leaves energy marketers with the challenging task of trying to match which payment is reflected in what deposit .

While processing a credit card transaction at the point of a sale seems simple enough , getting a complete picture of what exactly has happened can be confusing as well as time-consuming .

According to Qualpay ’ s CPO Penny Townsend , the undertaking of processing credit card purchases and making sure that the money ends up in the right place , at the right time , and the revenue is accurately recognized in the general ledger — is much more involved than it would first appear .

Most payment transactions involve multiple intermediaries ranging from software solutions to financial partners , just to process one transaction regardless of whether selling only online or through other channels such as in-store or over the phone . For instance , when a marketer accepts a credit card for an online purchase , it usually takes at least five different vendors to conduct and complete the entire transaction :

• The software or portal vendor supplies the online website .

• The payment gateway acts to facilitate transactions between the front-end e-commerce platform and the processor .

• The processor establishes a connection with the various credit card networks , settles each transaction and then forwards the proceeds to the acquiring bank then , ultimately , to the merchants account . The processor is , you might say , the “ man behind the curtain .”

• Visa , MasterCard , Discover are example card brand networks , providing the framework , rules and network that govern their member banks use to coordinate the entire process .

• Issuing bank — The bank that issues credit cards and provides credit to buyers

• The acquiring bank ( also known as the merchant acquirer ), approves merchants to accept a credit card payment from their customers and fund the transaction .

• The marketer ’ s bank , where the deposit account is held .

Like most marketers , if your company offers budget plans , mobile , or in-person payments , additional vendors may be involved to support purchases . Most of these vendors are in the background and marketers may not know they exist . The main takeaway here is that there are a lot of moving parts within a single credit card transaction . Each vendor involved in the payment handles a piece of the transaction . But no vendor has an overall view that encompasses the entire transaction process from beginning to end .

An issue that typically arises is that the numbers in these various vendor reports may not match one another - figuring out precisely how they don ' t match and why isn ' t easy . For instance , the Payment Gateway provides a report of all sales , regardless of success or failure . In contrast , the Processor may only present to your successful transactions , followed by the Acquiring Bank , who in turn , may only show you the totals for a given settlement day . Now layer on that each of these players has different cutoff times for reporting and vendors may have different naming conventions for the same transaction field . When Marketers sell through multiple channels , they very likely have separate processing accounts to handle , say , their online transactions from those conducted in-store . The result is often much confusion and a lot of time spent on separating and organizing all these reports . The only guaranteed information is the payment amount , along with the invoice number . So how do you know what batches have been paid , and which payments are included ?

The good news is that in recent years , payment companies have developed integrated platforms to simplify reporting and make it easy to reconcile and follow your money . Having access to an integrated payments reporting platform that tracks payments from the initial sale , all the way to cash , as well as from cash to each of the transactions that composed the deposit to a businesses ' bank account can make a massive difference in the day-to-day running of a business . If your company is having reconciliation challenges contact your payment partner and ask if they offer an integrated platform , it could help with reporting , reduce the number of vendors and save your company money . l FON

Marci Gagnon is vice president of strategic alliances for Qualpay , which provides processing solutions to fuel delivery and service businesses . For additional information contact Marci Gagnon at marci @ qualpay . com or visit https :// www . qualpay . com / industry / utility-and-energy .

34 FEBRUARY 2021 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www . fueloilnews . com