Overview
The Transaction operation performs a financial transaction based on the configuration (refer to Configuration parameters) of the Payment Terminal Application. Steps of the Transaction operation include the input of card data, cardholder verification, and communication to the payment host. Transaction is a complex operation with a request, notification messages, and a final response.
The screens used to perform a Transaction operation differ based on the type of transaction and the parameter settings of the Payment Terminal Application. Be prepared to receive a status notification each time the Payment Terminal Application displays a screen.
Sensitive payment data
The Payment Terminal Application does not return sensitive payment data in the clear to the point-of-sale (POS). The POS receives data that looks similar to a primary account number (PAN), but upon closer inspection only the first six and last four digits of the card match. The middle digits are modified. The modified PAN data is referred to as "format preserving" and is useful for reporting and administrative purposes.
If you manually enter the card information for a transaction, the Payment Terminal Application returns a masked account number with the expiration date in the clear.
Supported transaction types
The following table lists the supported transaction types and their descriptions.
| Transaction type | Description |
|---|---|
SALE |
Processes a card-present sale by authorizing and capturing funds in a single step. |
AUTHORIZATION |
Places a hold on the cardholder’s account for a specified amount without capturing funds. Used when the payment is completed later, requiring a separate completion step. |
INCREMENTAL_AUTHORIZATION |
Increases the authorized amount of an existing approved authorization when the original amount is insufficient. |
COMPLETION |
Finalizes a previous authorization by capturing the held funds. Required to complete a two-step payment flow where authorization and capture are separate. |
FORCE_SALE |
Captures funds for a transaction that was previously authorized by voice or another offline method. Used when a manual approval code is provided. |
MOTO_SALE |
Processes a card-not-present sale for mail order or telephone order (MOTO) transactions, authorizing and capturing funds in a single step. |
REFUND |
Credits funds back to the cardholder for a previously settled sale. |
STATUS_CHECK |
Performs a zero-dollar authorization to verify the cardholder’s account status and validity without holding funds. |
VOID |
Cancels a previously approved sale, authorization, or refund that is still in the open batch, reversing the transaction before settlement. |
BALANCE_INQUIRY |
Retrieves and displays the available balance on the cardholder’s account. No funds are held or transferred. |
SETTLEMENT |
Manually closes the current batch at the payment host, submitting all transactions for settlement before the scheduled automatic batch time. |
TEST |
Verifies the end-to-end connectivity between the POS, payment terminal, and payment host without any financial impact. Use this transaction type to confirm system readiness at startup or after connectivity interruptions. |