I'm looking to avoid using SILENT POST as it seems that we can devise an adequate solution by properly timed checks of the subscription status via ARBGetSubscriptionStatusRequest and thereby not have the issues surrounding network outages, temporary app bugs, etc. However, I have a couple of uncertainties:
a) in the case of a "General Error", which occurs when the card on file is expired, what status is returned by ARBGetSubscriptionStatusRequest? Is there an undocumented "error" status in addition to active, expired, suspended, canceled and terminated? It is stated in the documentation that general errors do not result in suspension or termination so I'm confused as to how this is detected.
b) Is chargeback information communicated from the bank to authorize.net such that this can affect the ARB subscription status? If so, how does this work?
Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks!
07-28-2011 05:05 AM
c) I see in the documentation that the status is set to suspended only if the FIRST payment is declined. What is it set to when subsequent payments decline?
07-28-2011 05:24 AM
a) Unfortunately, there is no way to programmatically detect that a card has expired in an ARB subscription. If you have not kept track of the card's expiration date, the only way to find this would be to log into your account.
b) Authorize.Net is completely unaware of chargebacks on your account outside of the eCheck service.
c) Similar to a card expiring, the status of a subscription does not change when a transaction declines. To add on to your understanding of when a subscription suspends, it is whenever the first payment fails after creating the subscription or updating billing information.
07-29-2011 01:57 PM