Credit Card Authorization
It is the client's responsibility to choose an option from those below and contact a processor or aggregator to set up a merchant account. We encourage clients to first advise the Arts Management Sales Team of their choice, as we have contact information for each option that can be used to seamlessly and quickly set up the proper type of account for use with Theatre Manager.
Definitions
There is often confusion between the purpose of a bank, a processor, and an aggregator, and understanding the difference helps make sense of the authorization options available to you.
- Bank: A bank is where the money ends up at the end of the day. If somebody gives you money in any form (cash, check, credit card), you write up deposit slips and take it to the building at the corner on the main street. Banks are bricks-and-mortar companies with charters to write loans, put your money in a safe, etc.
- Processor: A processor is not a bank. Processors are only in the business of authorizing credit cards on behalf of a bank and hold on to the money while it is electronically in transit to your bank. When you do your daily credit card batch settlement, the money in transit is transferred directly to your bank. In North America, there are about 15 major processors such as Paymentech, Nova, 1st Data, Visanet, FMDS, Vital, TSYS, etc. Some banks prefer working with some processors - but generally most processors can get your money to any bank.
- Aggregator: there are numerous (meaning hundreds) of aggregators that will process your card for you. All those aggregators use one of the 15 processing companies. Think of the aggregator as being like an insurance broker... they shop for the best deal with a processor. The processor is the actual company that does the credit card processing for the aggregator.
- Merchant Account: you set up an account with one of the processors or aggregators, who then assigns to you a merchant number. The merchant number accompanies transactions submitted to the processor and identifies (1) who should get the money, ie. you, and (2) which bank account the money gets deposited to.
Processors provide the infrastructure to authorize cards and then deposit YOUR funds in ANY bank.
Paymentech Orbital™ Authorize.net™ Moneris™ Elavon™
These options for credit card authorization allow the venue to connect directly to one of the major processors in the world - and avoid installing middleware like PCCharge. Theatre Manager talks directly to the processor over a secure https connection who talks to your bank and places money in it at the end of the day. These online processors are able to manage multiple authorizations at once, making for a faster and smoother buying experience both for direct Theatre Manager users and for patrons buying online.
PCCharge™
This option requires that a middleware credit card server called PCCharge be installed on Windows machine behind the DMZ. A venue needs to set up a merchant account with one of the 15 +/- supported processors (Paymentech, Elavon and Moneris are three of them). Installation is done using the standard PCCharge™ installers following the PCCharge™ Secure Implementation Guide.
System Flow
With either type solution, the money always gets to your bank account. You enter or swipe the card information into Theatre Manager and it sends all the correct information to the appropriate service provider. The primary difference is that with the middleware PCCharge™, there are a few more potential points of failure in the communication chain - a TCP error at any point can cause Theatre Manager and the bank to see different things. It's not too critical as the difference is made obvious in the end of day process, and you can then go off and find (and correct) it. But it takes time. The following illustrates the difference in flow of the authorization. In any case, a merchant has to maintain a PCI-compliant office setup.
Advantages and Disadvantages
| Pro | Con | |
| Paymentech, Authorize.net, Moneris, Elavon |
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| PCCharge |
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