AIM to authorize & CIM to capture?

[olimits7]

Hi,

If I want to use AIM to "authorize only" a transaction, and later use CIM to "capture/settle" this transaction.  What do I need to include regarding any AIM information in the CIM "createCustomerProfileTransactionRequest" call?

Thank you,

olimits7

[olimits7]

After doing more research on this, please let me know if any of the following methods will work?  If so, which one would probably be the best to use?

Option 1:

Use AIM and receive a successful authorization.

Use CIM "createCustomerProfileTransactionRequest" > "profileTransCaptureOnly" > "approvalCode"

Use the AIM approval code I received in the above "approvalCode" field to capture the AIM authorization.

Option 2:

Use AIM and receive a successful authorization.

Use CIM "createCustomerProfileTransactionRequest" > "profileTransPriorAuthCapture" > "transID"

Use the AIM transaction ID I received in the above "transID" field to capture the AIM authorization.

Option 3:

Use AIM and receive a successful authorization.

Use AIM "captureOnlyTransaction" and "authCode"

Use the AIM "authCode" that I saved to my website after performing the authorization to capture the AIM authorization.

Option 4:

Use AIM and receive a successful authorization.

Use AIM "priorAuthCaptureTransaction" and "refTransId"

Use the AIM "refTransID" that I saved to my website after performing the authorization to capture the AIM authorization.

Thank you,

olimits7

[TJPride]

I believe authorizations last for 30 days. So if the period between authorization and capture is less than that, there is no need to use CIM at all. Otherwise, just use CIM by itself with validation mode, which means Authorize.net will internally charge the card for $0.00 or $0.01 and immediately void, saving you the hassle of having to do it yourself.

[olimits7]

Thanks for the quick reply, TJPride! 

1. Ok, I think I will use AIM then since it will definitely be captured within 30 days.  Would I need to use the AIM "captureOnlyTransaction" or  "priorAuthCaptureTransaction" to capture my AIM authorization?

The "captureOnlyTransaction" and "priorAuthCaptureTransaction"  seem very similar to each other so I'm not 100% sure what is the difference between them.  When I read about them in the AIM guide it seems to me that either option could work, but I could definitely be mistaken.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm using AIM when a customer initially signs up for an account and "authorizing" their total "one-time fee+1st membership fee" amount.  And if the authorization is successful at the same time create the customer's CIM profile and paymentprofile with "validationMode=testMode".

The reason I'm using "testMode" is I read a post on here where using "liveMode" validation can cause declines on international credit cards due to the 0.00 and 0.01 amounts when dealing with the exchange rate.  But I don't think I need to validate it anyway since AIM should take care of this part.

2. However, just for my future knowledge if I did want to use CIM would any of the CIM options (option 1 or option 2) I described work to capture the total "one-time fee+1st membership fee" amount that authorized using AIM?

Thanks again!

olimits7

[TJPride · Accepted solution]

In the documentation, it says this for Capture Only:

This transaction type is used to complete a previously authorized transaction that was not originally submitted through the payment gateway or that requires voice authorization.

If you previously authorized the transaction, you would use priorAuthCapture.

All testMode does for validation is perform numerical validation - it's not going to verify that the card data is actually good or that the card belongs to the submitted address or so on.  If you're already verifying with AIM, there's no need to perform any validation, but AIM may also error out on some international cards when running $0.01. You'll have to figure out how to deal with that.

No, you do not capture transactions in CIM that you authorized in AIM, at least as far as I know. But I don't know why that would be a problem, just capture in AIM if you're authorizing in AIM. You can do the initial charge with CIM as well, as long as you don't mind having some profiles hanging around that you aren't doing anything with. There's no limit on Authorize.net's end of things, so there's no real reason why this should be a problem.