Obtaining Transaction Lists Based on Updates

[fivable]

Hello,

A client of ours is interested in using transaction data from Authorize.net (specifically "Settlement Amount" field) to retroactively update their database.

To clarify, we are saving an amount in our records for certain transactions based on the amount we expect and the success of the transaction, but certain events can effectively change these amounts, such as voiding a transaction.

There are a few ways we can think to accomplish this, the least desirable of which would include some manual work. What we'd really like to do is programmatically get a list of transactions that have been updated after a certain time frame (we still need to update the field if it changes whether the original transaction was a week ago or a month ago making the time of update the relevant factor here), and then update each relevant transaction in our database.

Looking through the API reference I cannot find any transaction list related endpoint that allows this kind of functionality. We'd be thrilled if there was a way to do this unbeknownst to us, but if there is not hopefully somebody can use their expertise to point us in the direction of an alternative approach to accomplish our goal, as we cannot think of a way to leverage the endpoints available in the way we need to.

Thanks, 
Fivable

[mmcguire]

You can do this with 2 api calls in sequence. Once a transaction is settled the settlement amount will not change.

getSettledBatchList
https://developer.authorize.net/api/reference/#transaction-reporting-get-settled-batch-list

Get a list of batches, then use a single batch to retreive transaction information - which includes the settlement amount.

getTransactionListRequest
https://developer.authorize.net/api/reference/#transaction-reporting-get-transaction-list

[fivable]

Hi mmcguire,

I appreciate the response, and those are some of the endpoints I found when looking through your documentation. This might actually solve my problem, but with one caveat. I was under the impression that even once a transaction was "settled" the settlement amount could be changed in the event of a refund. If this isn't the case, could you explain to me what happens when a refund occurs to reflect this?

So the issue really remains whether or not I can retrieve transactions based on the time they were last updated. If they will never be updated after settlement (at all) then this may be a good option for us, but if the records might be further changed, it does us very little good.

Thanks again,

Fivable

[Renaissance · Accepted solution]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll say that Webhooks notifications would solve your issue perfectly, if I’m understanding you the way I think I am. You can enroll in whatever events you want and will receive notifications for each. So refunds are in there, etc.

After setting up your endpoint(s) your role in the process is to write scripts for whatever action you need to occur when the event happens, which sounds like a mere updating of the settlement amounts. When you say database, I am not 100% sure if you mean a database on your web server or some sort of desktop application you use to track things. The process I describe would require a dB on your web server, which you could then export to csv or another format and import into any desktop app you have.
It would likely be worth your time, as every bit of this would happen on autopilot once you set it up. Each individual transaction would be updated each time an event occurs. Click on my name to see my various posts on this topic if you wish, in addition to checking out the references on the website.

[fivable]

Thanks Renaissance. Although I will have to do some additional things for retroactively updating some of our records, I believe webhooks would have been the way to correctly deal with this originally and ongoing.

[Renaissance]

You are welcome. Out of curiosity what product are you using and what programming language do you use to implement? I am on my second php based integration of Accept Hosted. I’m looking to broaden my scope into other languages so that I can help people in my business who may have existing applications as opposed to building something from scratch as for my first two clients.

[fivable]

We solely use PHP for the time being so I'm afraid I wouldn't have anything interesting to tell you about other languages.

[Renaissance]

I was just curious. Not looking for technical details. Just trying to get a feel for what people are doing. Php is practical. It has not the best reputation among some people with a diverse programming background, but it gets the job done. Python seems to be the hot thing right now. All of our jobs/businesses are out the window in the next 10 to 20 years if we don’t stay ahead of the pack, but that’s a conversation for another forum.