Any indication that a transaction has been returned?

[esfisher]

I have implmented echecks using your api in a clients website, it works fine other than for checks that are returned/chargeback.

I have not been able to find out how to get a list of them using the api. I'm coding this in PHP and using CIM to create the transactions.

I've tried all the functions including the getTransactionDetails function and passing it the transid but the status it returns is settledSuccessfully, with no indication that the check has been returned. Maybe I'm missing something in the results returned from the functions that indicate that it's been returned/chargedback.

I just need some way to know that the echeck transaction needs to be reprocessed.

Thanks

[stymiee]

Don't quote me on this but I don't think this is something you can get via the API. I haven't used the reporting API or echecks extensively but from my understanding of how things work I don't believe this information would be made available to you through Authnet via either of these APIs. If I am incorrect hopefully someone will make us aware of it here.

[esfisher]

Is there a reason they would not allow this? It seems like it would be extremely useful if you wanted to apply NSF charges to an account or keep accurate records in your software.

[stymiee]

I don't believe this is an Authorize.Net limitation but a bank limitation. Just like banks don't report chargebacks to Authorize.Net they don't report returned returned checks to them. It's simply not necessary for Authorize.Net to process payments.

[esfisher]

But if the banks are not reporting this to Authorize.net, why does the transaction show up in the 'Returns' section of my Authorize.net account? How does Authorize.net know it has been returned?

[stymiee]

If the return was processed through Authorize.Net as a CREDIT then they will show the transaction in your transaction history. 

[esfisher]

No credit is issued. The transaction is settled, but then a few days later we are notified via email that certain transactions were returned. For example, a transaction that settled on Dec 13th was returned on Dec 19th. The transaction still appears as 'settled', but the 'Returns Report' indicates that it did not go through. We can view it by running a 'Returns Report', which lists the original transaction id, but nothing in the original transaction reflects the return.

The issue is that the data exists in Authorize.net but we are unable to pull it into our application. As it stands, our program automates a heck of a lot for out clients, but they still have to go through this proceedure of manually checking their returns (or getting the email that lists returns) and taking the approprate action in our application. We would like to automate this one last piece for them, which should be a simple matter given that the data is there on the Authorize.net site, but I can't find any information on how to pull it.

I know you've stated that you haven't worked with the echeck portion extensively, but any insight you can bring would be appreciated.

[stymiee]

Ok, there must be things going on behind the scenes with echecks that I am unaware of. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for us.

[TJPride]

First time I've heard anyone ask about this particular issue. Does anything come through on silent post? I would think that there should be -some- way to get at returns, but maybe Authorize.net just hasn't built that yet.

[esfisher]

No, nothing on the silent post. In the mean time, we've added a way for our clients to copy-paste in an authorize.net transaction id and our application will do what it needs to do for the check returns. It's annoying though, when they are dealing with over $30k in check transactions (many of our clients are Park Districts).