Virtual terminal

The “Virtual terminal” allows you to manually process payments on behalf of customers.

Required user roles

Basic user, Site admin, Site user, Site user 2, Transaction admin, Transaction admin 2, Virtual terminal user, Virtual terminal user 2

How to access

Select “Transactions” from the left and then “Virtual terminal“.

Screenshot of Virtual terminal (Click to expand)

In order to use the “Virtual terminal” you will need a MOTO (Mail Order Telephone Order) merchant id. If you do not have one and would like to make use of this facility, please contact our Support Team.

Process a payment

Fill in the form with the customer’s payment, billing and delivery details and press the “Process” button in the bottom-right of the page. We will process a transaction with the details provided.

If you intend to re-use credentials in a future payment, you will need to set the Credentials on file value to “1 – Credentials stored for re-use”.

This field can be found under the “Transaction details” heading.
This is mandated by Visa and Mastercard.

Any re-authorisations processed using this transaction as the parent must also pass through Credentials on file value “2”.

Click here to learn more about Credentials on File.

Following this, you will then be presented with details of the processed request as confirmation:

Transaction reference – Each transaction processed is identified on our system by its unique transaction reference. This can be found at the top of the page (e.g. “3-9-4985422”).
Result – A notification will be shown, stating whether the transaction was authorised successfully or if there was an error.
Summary – There is a brightly-coloured box that summarises the key aspects of the transaction. It contains the current status (e.g. “Pending settlement transaction”), the amount and currency, as well as the card number and payment method used.
Transaction details – This section displays all additional transaction information, presented below the summary box.

IIN lookup

The IIN (Issuer Identification Number) is taken from the first 6-9 numbers of a card and can be used to identify basic information about the card. The IIN lookup functionality allows users to enter the IIN (or an entire card number) into the Virtual terminal and retrieve this information.

The IIN lookup service enables telephone order sales assistants to check the origin of a customer’s payment card and determine whether it attracts a premium interchange rate. This is especially important where the card product may be a commercial card or a consumer premium product card issued outside of the EU or EEA region. Our system will assist you determining if the card is subject to a higher level of interchange. Where a higher level of interchange is sought, the telephone order sales assistant will be able to add the level of interchange as an additional service fee.

Refer to the following resources for further info on interchange rates: VISA Mastercard

Important: Card issuers regularly update the IIN ranges, affecting the information that is returned by this service. We regularly update our records, but cannot guarantee to return the most recent details in all cases.

Processing the lookup

You can enter the following data into the Card number field:

Entire unmasked card number.
Masked card number (providing the IIN is not masked).
The first 6-9 numbers of a card.

Press the magnifying glass button next to the card number to submit the IIN lookup request.

Upon entering a valid IIN or card number, if the information is available to be returned, you will be presented with the following information:

Card brand – The name of the payment method.
Payment type description – The English description of the payment method
Bin category – Type of card identified (e.g. consumer or commercial card)
Issuer name
Issuer country

Field specification

If you would like to learn more about the fields submitted on this page, please refer to this field specification.

"Transaction details"

Field	Description
Site reference	The unique site reference through which the transaction will be processed.
Operator username	This is pre-filled with your MyST username (this cannot be modified).
Request	The type of request: AUTH (Authorisation) – Process a new transaction using the payment details entered. ACCOUNTCHECK – Processes an account check request. No funds are debited from the customer’s account, but checks are performed on the customer’s billing address and security code.
Order reference	You can assign a custom reference for the transaction for your own records.
Settle due date	Date the transaction will be submitted for settlement. If no date is set, this defaults to using today’s date, meaning settlement will be attempted within 24 hours.
Settle status	The settle status value the transaction will be set to immediately following processing the transaction. Click here to learn more about the settle status.
Account	The account used to process the transaction: ECOM – E-commerce MOTO – Mail Order Telephone Order
Credentials on file	Indicates whether payment credentials will be stored for future requests: 0 – Credentials not to be re-used. 1 – Credentials stored for re-use. If you intend to re-use credentials in a future payment, you will need to set the Credentials on file value to “1 – Credentials stored for re-use”. Click here to learn more about Credentials on File.

"Payment details"

Field	Description
Authorised amount	Transaction amount to be authorised (e.g. “10.99” or “10,99”).
Currency	The currency of the payment (e.g. “GBP”).
Payment type	The payment type used to process the payment (e.g. “VISA”).
Card number	The customer’s card number. Click the magnifying glass after typing a card number to perform a look-up for known details about this card.
Expiry date	Expiry date found on the front of the customer’s card.
Security code	The card’s security code (this is typically 3 digits found on the signature strip on the back of the card – for American Express cards, the security code is 4 digits on the front card).

"Billing details"

Field	Description
Title	The billing prefix name (e.g. “Mr, Miss, Dr”).
First name	The billing first name.
Middle name	The billing middle name(s) or initial(s).
Last name	The billing last name.
Email	The billing email address. Maximum length of 255 (maximum of 64 characters before the ”@” symbol).
Telephone	The billing telephone number. Valid characters: Numbers 0-9 Spaces Special characters: + – ( )
House name/no.	The house number or first line on the billing address.
Street	The street on the billing address.
Town	The town on the billing address.
County	The county on the billing address. For US addresses, the state would be entered in this field. Valid formats: Preferred: Two character state code, e.g. “NY”. Full state name, e.g. “New York”.
Country	The country on the billing address. This will need to be in ISO2A format. Click here for a full list of country codes.
Postcode	The postcode or ZIP code on the billing address. This must be a valid postcode/ZIP code for the billing country submitted.

"Delivery details"

Field	Description
Title	The delivery prefix name (e.g. “Mr, Miss, Dr”).
First name	The delivery first name.
Middle name	The delivery middle name(s) or initial(s).
Last name	The delivery last name.
Email	The delivery email address. Maximum length of 255 (maximum of 64 characters before the ”@” symbol).
Telephone	The delivery telephone number. Valid characters: Numbers 0-9 Spaces Special characters: + – ( )
House name/no.	The house number or first line on the delivery address.
Street	The street on the delivery address.
Town	The town on the delivery address.
County	The county on the delivery address. For US addresses, the state would be entered in this field. Valid formats: Preferred: Two character state code, e.g. “NY”. Full state name, e.g. “New York”.
Country	The country on the delivery address. This will need to be in ISO2A format. Click here for a full list of country codes.
Postcode	The postcode or ZIP code on the delivery address. This must be a valid postcode/ZIP code for the delivery country submitted.

Further reading on this topic