This section will quickly explain exactly how the Billing Manager processes credit cards through your merchant account. When a new credit card payment is submitted, the script will automatically contact your merchant account, and send over the needed information (ie. credit card and contact info). Your merchant account will then reply with information on the status of the transaction. Next, the Billing Manager parses that reply, and performs the needed action.

There are three different types of transactions which can be submitted to your merchant account:

• CHARGE - This actually charges the credit card for the needed amount. No other action is required.
  
  
• AUTHORIZE - This simply authorizes the credit card, and ensures the funds are available. This does not actually charge the credit card.
  
  
• CREDIT - This will post the needed funds to the credit card. This is used when you refund an order / transaction.

If you authorize a credit card, another request must still be sent to your merchant account before the transaction is complete. The request will tell your merchant account to either, capture the funds and actually charge the credit card, or to void the charge.

This section describes exactly how the Billing Manager handles PayPal transactions. When a new member first joins your program, and selects to send payment by PayPal, the Billing Manager will add a temporary transaction to the database. The new member is then automatically redirected to the PayPal payment page, where they may submit payment.

Once payment has been successfully submitted, the PayPal server will automatically contact the Billing Manager module on your server, and send some needed information regarding the payment. The Billing Manager receives this information, and contacts the PayPal server and validates the payment, to ensure it was not a fraudulent request. Next, the Billing Manager calls up the temporary transaction from the database, and processes the transaction as normal.

If you are using recurring payments (ie. monthly payments), a new PayPal subscription will be automatically created when a member first submits payment. PayPal will then automatically deduct all needed payments from your member's PayPal accounts. Everytime PayPal charges a member's PayPal account for a subscription fee, a request is sent to the Billing Manager module on your server. The Billing Manager picks up that request, and processes it as a normal transaction.

Every night at midnight, the Billing Manager will automatically run on your web server, and process all needed payments which are currently due. If a PayPal payment is over one day old, and has not been received, the Billing Manager will process the payment as a declined transaction. The Billing Manager gives a one day leaneancy on PayPal payments.

From the Transactions->Process Pending Transactions menu of the Admin Control Panel for the Billing Manager, you can process any pending transactions. A pending transaction means, the payment has been submitted by the member, and awaits your approval. Going to the Process Pending Transactions menu will display a screen which looks something like:

The table gives a summary of all pending transactions in your database. To process a transaction, select the needed transaction from the list. There are then three questions which the script asks. The first question if fairly question, and simply asks for the status of the transaction. The second question asks if you would like commission added to the upline. If you select Yes, the script will add the needed Sign Up commission values to the member's upline.

The third and last question asks if you would like to process this transaction through your merchant account. This question is only applicable if you setup a merchant account through First Time Setup. If you select Yes, the script will automatically contact your merchant account, and process the request accordingly. Currently, every credit card transaction has only been authorized, and not charged. Depending wheter you approve or decline the transaction, the script will contact your merchant account and either "capture" the funds and actually charge the credit card, or will void the charge.

If you have declined this transaction, you may also enter a specific reason in the provided text box. This reason will be displayed when you view details on this transaction.

If you approve the transaction, the Billing Manager will automatically perform all needed actions. For example, if a new member joined your program, and you just approved their transaction, the Billing Manager will change automatically change the member's status from Pending to Active, and will add the member to the downlines as needed. If you decline the payment, then the Billing Manager will delete the member from the database. For another example, if a member submits payment to upgrade their membership, and if you approve the order, the Billing Manager will automatically upgrade the membership as needed.

Throughout the Billing Manager, you will be able to view specific details on a transaction. When you view a transaction, the screen is split into four different sections. The first section is titled Member Profile, and simply shows the member's ID#, username, full name, and e-mail address.

The second section is titled Transaction Information, and shows specific details on the transaction. This section looks something like:

The above image is fairly straight forward. The Transaction ID# is comprised of two numbers. The first numbers is four digits long, and represents the member's ID#. The second number is five digits long, and is simply a number which starts at 1, and increments by 1 for every transaction. The next section is titled Payment Information, and looks something like:

This section shows the exact payment method which was used to for this transaction. If a credit card or online check were used for this transaction, the full payment details will be displayed here. This section also displays the Merchant Reference #, which is the ID# your merchant account assigned this transaction. If you ever need to contact your merchant account regarding this transaction, please provide them with the Merchant Ref#.

One thing you should understand is that every transaction only contains a Payment ID#. When viewing a transaction, the Billing Manager simply takes that Payment ID#, and gets the needed payment information from the database. So, if at anytime, that Payment ID was modified, the payment information will be updated for ALL transactions which have been assigned that Payment ID.

The next section is titled Subscription Information and looks something like:

If there is no subscription associated with this transaction, this section will be blank. If there is a subscription associated with this transaction, this section will contain all information on that subscription, such as the next payment date, status of the subscription, payment method, and so on. The payment method shown in this section is used for all subscription payment. Please note, there's a good chance the payment method shown in this section will be the exact same as shown above in the Payment Information section. However, if the member changed their payment information at anytime, then this information may be different.