Reconciling Credit Card Gateway Statements and Software Reports
There is no simple way to reconcile credit card transactions processed from the software and the amount deposited (by your credit card processor/gateway) into your bank account because:
- Our software reports gross transaction totals. CC Processors/Gateways report the net amount deposited into your bank (less fees withheld). (Deluxe users learn more here: Understanding Deluxe Fees)
- Our software can only report transactions by the date they were initiated (transaction or payment date), however, gateways use other criteria for determining which transactions are included in the "daily" batch report (eg pending status, posting date, etc) so transactions processed in the software on "Jan 30" are unlikely to exactly match the transactions included in your gateway's "Jan 30" Batch report..
- Offset fees collected by the software* will never exactly match the fees withheld by your gateway (*see below for details). (Deluxe users learn more here: Understanding Deluxe Fees)
Given the above - reconciling the software and gateway reports must be done at the transaction level.
How to Reconcile Software and Gateway Reports at the Transaction Level
If your gateway provides an option to review transactions by transaction date - pull a report for the desired (or available) date range from your gateway account. (Deluxe users learn more here: FirstView™ FAQ)
When reconciling at the batch report level, be aware that individual batches may contain transactions that were initiated earlier or later than the batch date.
On your Event site, generate a custom report including all of the credit card transactions that have been occurred via your event site:
- Go to Admin View Reports > View All Payments
- Use the Customize button in the upper right to select the columns you want in your report.
- Use the filters (Credit Card Payments, All Statuses) and check the "show refunds" box.
- If you want to sort by a particular column (eg payment date), click on that column header
- Use the Save as CSV button to export the report to Excel or another spreadsheet. A Print button is also available.
Compare the two reports to verify that transactions initiated in the software were processed by the gateway for the same transaction amount. Remember that you may need to browse earlier or later payment dates to match transactions from a batch report.
*Offset fees collected in the software will not exactly match the fees withheld by your gateway because:
- Some supporters will opt out
- Some gateways charge the flat fee on any transaction attempt (failed, refunds, etc)
- Most gateways retain the original processing fees on refunds, and since the customer receives a full refund, you effectively cover the processing fee on both transactions.
- This is a software feature, NOT a gateway feature so, the fee collected is calculated on the order total while your gateway will assess their fee on the transaction total (purchase total + offset fees).