Using the Virtual Terminal

Taking payments with the virtual terminal is easy, but whenever you're taking payments where your customer isn't present, there's extra risk of fraud involved. That's why it's really important to stay aware when you're taking payments this way and make sure you verify that your customer is who they say they are.

Taking a payment

Enter a unique order number

The unique order number will help you locate the order later if you need to review it, refund it or reissue a receipt. If you don’t enter one we’ll generate one for you.

You can also enter a purchase order number if required.

Note: Optional fields such as this can be removed from appearing in your virtual terminal pages page via the Administration menu.

Enter the order amount

Enter the total amount of the order, or you can enter the subtotal plus and applicable shipping costs and VAT and we’ll do the math for you

Mail order and telephone order payments are classed as non-secure. Your business will be liable for any chargebacks if these payments are found to be fraudulent. If you’re taking large payments or payments for valuables consider sending a payment link instead.

Confirm the transaction type

Select the transaction origin - this will be ‘Mail order’ or ‘Telephone order’ depending on how your customer placed the order.

Select the transaction type as ‘Sale’, when you confirm the transaction this will debit the customer’s card immediately.

Enter the card details

Select the card type.

Enter the Primary Account Number “PAN” (the long card number) and enter it directly into the virtual terminal, never write it down.

Enter the expiry date on their card. This must be entered as MM/YY - for example, November 2022 would be entered as “11/22”

Enter the security code on their card. This is the last 3 digits of the number of the back of the card, usually on the signature strip.

Enter the customer information

The customer ID is a unique identification number you can choose (optional), if you have a customer that buys from your frequently this can help locate payments quickly.

Enter the customer name and address information.

Include your customer’s email address if you wish to send email confirmation of the order (these can be turned on/off via the Administration menu).

If you're taking payments and shipping goods, best practice is to check the response from the card issuer to ensure the address details provided match what is on record for the card. AVS responses can be found on page 32 on the Virtual Terminal user guide.

Enter delivery information

If you’re shipping goods you can capture your customers delivery information here, otherwise skip this section.

Leave a note for your staff or customer

Use the comments box to add any extra details you need for the customer or for your staff. Whatever you include here will be visible on your customer email confirmation if you sent one.

Review and confirm

Review everything you’ve inputted is correct. Go back by clicking the ‘Back’ button or click ‘Submit’ to confirm the order and take payment.

Transaction result

The transaction status will show whether the transaction was approved or declined.

You can click ‘Print Receipt’ at the bottom of the page to print a copy of the order and payment e.g. to include in the box with shipped goods.

Taking payments for product items

Adding items to your product catalogue

1. Head to ‘Customisation’ then ‘Manage your product catalogue’
   
2. Enter your product details
   1. Enter a ‘Product ID’ for the item you want to add to your catalogue.
   2. Enter a product description (this will be visible to your customers on receipts). You can add a more detailed description in a later step if you wish.
   3. Enter the unit price.
3. Add any product variations
   1. Add any product options, such as Size or Colour, then add the choices for each of your product options e.g. S, M, L or Red, White, Blue.

Take payments from your product catalogue

1. Click ‘Select products’ on the virtual terminal homepage.
   1. To take payment for a specific item or items in your product catalogue, click ‘Select products’ on the virtual terminal homepage, and enter the quantity you wish to sell in the ‘Qty’ column.
2. Specify any applicable product options
   1. Select from the dropdown boxes available such as a specific size or colour product. (If you haven’t added any product options or choices you won’t see this step).
3. Click ‘Add item(s)’
   1. Once you’ve added all the relevant items to your order, click ‘POS Main’ to return to the virtual terminal homepage and continue will a standard mail order or telephone order sale.

Pre-authorising a payment on your customer’s card

Pre-authorising a transaction

Follow the steps above for ‘Taking a payment’.

The only difference here is you’ll need to select ‘Authorise Only’ as the Transaction Type rather than ‘Sale’. This will reserve funds on your customer’s card but not completed the transaction yet (you’ll need to complete the transaction later on).

Completing a pre-authorisation

1. Find the pre-authorisation you wish to complete
   1. If you know the customer’s order number, click ‘Completion’ on the right hand side of the virtual terminal homepage.
   2. If you don’t know the customer’s order number, you can also find an order to complete under the ‘Reports’ tab > ‘Transactions’ > and by filtering for the transaction.
2. Confirm the amount to debit form the card
   1. Review the amount you wish to debit, you can amend the pre-authorised amount to a lower value if you need to.
3. Click ‘Submit’
   1. Click ‘Submit’ once you’re happy to proceed.

Void a pre-authorisation

1. Find the pre-authorisation you wish to void
   1. If you know the customer’s order number, click ‘Completion’ on the right hand side of the virtual terminal homepage.
   2. If you don’t know the customer’s order number, you can also find an order to complete under the ‘Reports’ tab > ‘Transactions’ > and by filtering for the transaction.
2. Click the ‘Order # (number)’ to retrieve the transaction.
   1. Select ‘Void’ to immediately void the transaction
   2. Select ‘Void' on the left hand side to void the transaction straight away. If you don’t complete or void a pre-authorisation, the pre-authorised amount will automatically be released back to the customers available funds after the time limit set by the card scheme (e.g. Mastercard, Visa or Discover® Global Network).
      

We’ve created a detailed virtual terminal user guide (PDF) to help explain exactly what you can do in the virtual terminal.