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Sana Commerce 9.2
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Payments

Choosing the right payment type or payment provider for your business is one of the most important decisions you make when setting up your web store. You can choose a payment gateway that Sana integrates with to accept payments online, or you might want to consider offline payments, such as "on account". There is no limit of how many payment methods you can set up, but availability of different payment types can depend on the customer type (B2C and B2B) and ERP system.

When placing an order in the Sana web store, customers can pay:

  • Full sales order amount online with a credit/debit card through a payment gateway. This payment type is available to B2C and B2B customers, and sales agents. B2C customers always pay with their credit/debit card online through a payment gateway.
  • Full sales order amount on account. This payment type is available only to B2B customers and sales agents. B2C customers cannot pay on account.
  • Partially online based on prepayment % with a credit/debit card through a payment gateway and the remaining amount later. This payment type is available only to B2B customers and sales agents. Prepayments are only supported by Microsoft Dynamics NAV and SAP ECC.

You can select the necessary payment type for your B2B customers in Sana Admin: Setup > Ordering & checkout > Ordering.

For B2C customers there is no option where you can select a payment type as B2C customers always pay with their credit/debit card online through a payment gateway. Therefore, you must install the necessary payment provider and set up the payment methods.

Online payments through a payment gateway

Sana integrates with different payment providers across the world, such as PayPal, Adyen, Authorize.Net, Docdata, WorldPay, etc. Not all payment gateways are available to all countries and currencies. Therefore, you must choose the right payment service provider that suits your business. See the complete list of payment providers that are supported by Sana.

A payment gateway is a payment service provider that processes credit/debit card payments online. Sana integrates payment gateways into its system to provide a way to accept payments from the web store customers online. A payment gateway can be integrated into Sana by installing the payment add-on. You can install one or several payment add-ons.

Payment gateways provide different payment methods that your customers can choose from to pay orders, such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, etc.

Sana supports two scenarios of how your B2B customers and sales agents can pay their orders online:

  • A B2B customer can pay an order while placing it. In this case the payment journal is not created in the ERP system and an accountant should handle this manually.
  • A B2B customer can pay one or multiple outstanding invoices. In this case the payment journal will be automatically created in the ERP system. Online payments of the open invoices from a Sana web store are seamlessly integrated with the sales order processing and cash management modules of the ERP system. This allows to accept credit card payments and have the transactions follow through with the orders to your ERP system. For more information, see "Online Invoice Payments".

There are three main players when it comes to processing credit/debit card transactions:

  • You, the merchant: To accept credit/debit card payments, you need to partner with a bank that will accept payments on your behalf and deposit them on your account.
  • Your customer: When your customers buy some goods in your web store, they pay with their credit or debit card. Money is transferred from the customer's (issuing) bank account to your (merchant) bank account.
  • Payment gateway: A payment gateway acts as an intermediary between your business and banks. When a merchant selects a particular payment gateway, he or she will need to connect it to his or her merchant account. A merchant registers an account with the payment gateway to connect it to the Sana web store.

How online payment transactions are processed

For customers, the entire checkout process takes seconds, but it is important to understand exactly how money moves from your customers to you.

When a customer pays for an order using a credit or a debit card, the payment must be processed before the funds are transferred to your merchant account. Therefore, there is usually a delay between the moment when the customer pays for the order and when the merchant receives the payment. It can take a few days. Credit card payment processing is automatically done on behalf of a merchant by the payment provider.

Here is how the payment transaction occurs:

  1. Your customer buys a product in your web store and pays for an order with a credit or debit card by selecting the appropriate payment method.
  2. When the customer clicks "Pay", he or she is redirected from the web store to the payment service provider page to enter payment information, such as credit/debit card number and CVC.
  3. The payment information goes to the payment gateway, which encrypts the data to keep it private.
  4. The payment provider processes all required interactions with the customer's credit/debit card issuing bank and returns the payment details back to the Sana web store, such as payment status. The customer is redirected back to the web store and can see the order details.
  5. When the transaction is settled by the customer's issuing bank, the merchant will receive funds on his or her bank account.

The actual money transaction is handled by a process called "capturing". When a customer pays the order with his or her credit/debit card, the payment provider checks with the customer's issuing bank whether the credit/debit card is valid. If the card is valid and has enough funds to pay the order, then the customer's issuing bank authorizes the payment. After the payment is authorized, it has to be captured. When a payment is captured, it will be sent to the merchant's bank account. In many cases the capturing is accomplished automatically.

Depending on the payment provider you are using, payment processing can slightly differ. Some payment providers also support delayed capturing of funds until a later time, for example until the order is delivered to the customer.

All payment transactions coming from a Sana web store through the payment service provider can be seen in the administration panel of the payment provider you are using. In most cases, Sana sends the Payment Transaction ID to the PSP, when the customer pays for the order from the web store. Sana automatically generates the Payment Transaction ID which is stored with the sales order in the ERP system. Depending on the PSP you are using to receive credit card payments from your customers, Sana sends either the Payment Transaction ID or the Order ID. The Payment Transaction ID or the Order ID can be used to check the transaction details and payment information in the payment system.

On the screenshot below you can see payment transactions in the PayPal administration panel as an example.

On account payments

Only B2B customers and sales agents can pay their orders on account. B2C customers always pay online with a credit or a debit card through a payment gateway.

Using the "on account" payment type, B2B customers do not select any payment method. When a B2B customer buys something on account, it is charged to his or her credit account, and the merchant will invoice the customer for it later. How B2B customers pay for bills depends on the agreements they have with a merchant. These can be offline payments outside of your online checkout, such as check, bank transfer, or even cash. Using the "on account" payment type, you can also disable direct online payments for sales orders during checkout and allow your B2B customers to pay their outstanding invoices online with a credit/debit card through a payment gateway.

What is the "Internal (on account)" payment method?

There is the "Internal (on account)" payment method in Sana. This is a system payment method and it has nothing to do with the "on account" payment type which is available to B2B customers and sales agents.

It is used mainly for testing purposes. For example, when you install Sana and if you do not have some payment service provider installed yet, you can use the "Internal (on account)" payment method to test the checkout process for B2C customers. As B2C customers pay online through the payment gateway, you need either to install some payment provider and set up payment methods or you can use the "Internal (on account)" payment method to simulate online payments and test the checkout flow.

You can create the "Internal (on account)" payment method and set up the payment costs just like any other payment method. The only difference from the real online payments that it is not connected to any payment gateway. This payment method is shown to the customers during checkout and they can select it like any other payment method.

If you enable online payments for B2B customers, you can also show the "Internal (on account)" payment method to your B2B customers.

Prepayments

Prepayments are available only to B2B customers and sales agents, and supported by Microsoft Dynamics NAV and SAP ECC.

Using this payment type, B2B customers partially pay their orders online with a credit/debit card through the payment gateway. They pay the prepayment amount out of the order total calculated based on the prepayment % set for the customer in ERP. How B2B customers pay the remaining amount depends on the agreements they have with a merchant.

Payment statuses

A payment goes through different stages. These stages define the status of each payment transaction.

Below you can see the available payment statuses, when the order is paid online in the Sana web store.

Payment status  Description
New When a customer creates an order in the Sana web store and clicks "Pay", the sales order will be created in the ERP system and the customer will be redirected to the payment provider page to enter payment details, such as the credit card number, and to finalize the payment. At this moment the payment status is "New", until the payment is finalized.

If a customer does not finalize the payment on the payment page and closes the Web browser or tab, the sales order will remain in the ERP system with the payment status "New".

In progress Pending confirmation about payment transaction from the payment provider. The payment must be processed before the funds are transferred to the merchant account. Therefore, there is usually a delay between when the customer pays for the order and when the merchant receives the payment.

When the payment transaction is successfully completed and the merchant receives money on his or her account, the payment provider will inform Sana to update payment status of the order.

Paid When Sana receives confirmation from the payment provider that the order has been paid successfully.
Cancelled This payment status can be shown because of different reasons:
  • The payment was cancelled by the customer on the payment provider page.
  • The payment failed due to some reasons, for example because of some error or the customer does not have enough funds on his or her account to cover the cost of the transaction. 

The payment status of the orders that are paid on account by B2B customers and sales agents is always "Paid". That is because using the "on account" payment type, B2B customers do not pay online through a payment gateway while placing an order. The merchant invoices his or her customers later and receives funds based on the agreements between two parties.

The payment statuses of the orders that are paid partially based on the prepayment % of a B2B customer are the same as for the orders that are paid fully online. For example, if 10% prepayment of the total sales order amount is required, and that 10% prepayment has been paid successfully, the payment status will be "Paid". B2B customers pay the remaining amount depending on the agreements they have with a merchant.

Payment confirmation e-mails

Sana sends various payment confirmation e-mails in different scenarios.

E-mail Description
Sales orders
Order confirmation The order confirmation e-mail is sent to the customer when the order has been placed and paid successfully. When the order is paid from the payment provider page and the customer is redirected back to the Sana web store, the order confirmation e-mail will be sent.
Invoices
Invoice payment confirmation The invoice payment confirmation e-mail is sent to the customer when the invoice has been paid successfully. Only B2B customers and sales agents can pay their outstanding invoices from the invoice history which can be accessed from the "My Account" page. They can pay their invoices independently from placing the orders. When the invoice is paid from the payment provider page and the customer is redirected back to the Sana web store, the invoice payment confirmation e-mail will be sent. 
Invoice payment confirmation for shop managers  The invoice payment confirmation e-mail is sent to the web store administrator when the invoice has been paid successfully by the customer. 
Invoice payment partial success This e-mail is sent to the web store administrator, if something has gone wrong with invoice payment. For example, payment transaction has failed, or a customer paid the invoice from a Sana web store, but the payment journal was not created in the ERP system due to the wrong setup of the payment account in ERP. Such situations should be manually checked and handled by the web store administrator.
Unprocessed orders (created in the maintenance mode)
Order payment  The order payment e-mail is sent to the customer when the order has been processed in Sana Admin. In this e-mail the customer can see the order details with actual prices and proceed to the payment page.
Payment confirmation  The payment confirmation e-mail is sent to the customer when the order has been paid successfully. When the order is paid from the payment provider page and the customer is redirected back to the Sana web store, the order confirmation e-mail will be sent. 

For more information, see "Online Invoice Payments" and "Unprocessed Orders".

Payment information in ERP

All sales orders created by the customers in the Sana web store are stored in the ERP system. There you can see all order details including payment information, such as payment method that was selected by the customer to pay the order, payment method status and payment transaction ID.

On the screenshot below you can see payment information of the sales order in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations as an example.

To find payment information in your ERP system, see the related topics:

Sales Order Data in Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Sales Order Data in Microsoft Dynamics AX
Sales Order Data in Microsoft Dynamics GP
Sales Order Data in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Sales Order Data in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
Sales Order Data in SAP Business One
Sales Order Data in SAP ECC