Payments FAQs

Find answers to common questions about merchant accounts, Payment Gateways, PCI compliance, and testing transactions in Advanced Billing.

Why do I need a merchant account or payment gateway?

A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payment by debit or credit cards. A Payment Gateway facilitates the secure transfer of information between you and your merchant account. These work together to process automated transactions, such as by credit card, and transfer the appropriate funds to your merchant account. Advanced Billing manages and automates this process for your business via our integrations with many Payment Gateways.

What payment gateways does Advanced Billing support?

Advanced Billing supports a number of Payment Gateways in various countries. See the Payment Gateway List.

Do you support payment gateways outside the USA?

Yes, we support a number of Payment Gateways for our merchants in various countries. See the Payment Gateway List.

Does Advanced Billing support collecting foreign currencies?

Depending on the Payment Gateway you've chosen, Advanced Billing supports different currencies. See our documentation on Site Currency for a current list.

Can I use Advanced Billing in another country or currency?

Yes, Advanced Billing supports the ability to collect payment in multiple countries and currencies. Currency and geography are Payment Gateway specific. If your current Payment Gateway does not support a currency or geography, you can use an additional gateway which does, along with our multi-gateway functionality.

Does Advanced Billing store my customers' data and credit cards?

Advanced Billing does not store your customers' credit card information. That information is stored in your Payment Gateway's secure, PCI compliant vault. We work with your gateway so you don't have to worry about managing this sensitive information. Advanced Billing is officially Level 1 PCI compliant, the highest level of compliance for any business. Additionally, our services are hosted in a special facility that focuses on financial transaction security and integrity.

What does it mean to be PCI compliant?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure that companies that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. Cardholder data is any personally identifiable data associated with a cardholder. This could be an account number, expiration date, name, address, social security number, etc. All personally identifiable information associated with the cardholder that is stored, processed, or transmitted is also considered cardholder data.

How is credit card information transmitted securely with Advanced Billing?

Using Advanced Billing public pages

If you use Advanced Billing hosted Public Signup or Self-Service Pages to collect credit card data from your customers, then we take care of security for you. The pages are secured using our SSL certificate.

Using your own secure pages with the Advanced Billing API

If you use our API and create your own pages to collect and display credit card numbers, then you need to be sure the data is always encrypted 1) on its way from your customer's browser to your servers, and 2) from your servers to Advanced Billing.

For any pages you host that collect or display credit card numbers, you must use an SSL certificate. These pages must only be accessed by your customers via https (not http). Advanced Billing API calls are secured with Advanced Billing's SSL certificate. You do not have to do anything extra to make this work.

Do I need the Customer Information Manager, Payment Profile, Data Vault, or TransArmor feature?

No, if you use Maxio Payments, combined with Maxio.js Overview and our Billing API or hosted payment pages.

Yes, if you choose not to use Maxio's optional tools. In order to securely store your customer credit card data in a 100% PCI-compliant environment, Advanced Billing utilizes the gateway's Customer Information Manager, Payment Profile, or Data Vault feature.

When signing up for a gateway, be sure to ask for this to be enabled on your account. For Authorize.net, ask for CIM. For First Data, ask for TransArmor. In most cases, this feature has an additional cost but provides you with the peace of mind that your customer data is stored securely. See Troubleshoot Payment Gateway Configuration Issues if you need help confirming this feature is turned on correctly.

In addition to security, these services give you total ownership of your customer credit card data. Instead of being stored on the Advanced Billing servers, you can communicate directly with your gateway to update, delete, or transfer card data at any time.

It may take a day or two for the vault to become active after it is enabled.

Does Advanced Billing support Level 2/3 transaction data?

Advanced Billing supports sending Level 2 or Level 3 data for credit card transactions processed through Maxio Payments or Stripe. Advanced Billing does not support sending Level 2 or Level 3 data for credit card transactions processed through any other third-party gateway integration.

My customer's card is expired. How did they still get charged?

Sometimes even if a customer's card is expired, they are still charged for their subscription. Advanced Billing attempts to charge the card at renewal time regardless of the expiration date. Many card issuers and payment processors continue to honor a card when it has been used for recurring or frequent transactions with a merchant.

Additionally, some gateways have a card updater service that receives information about new expiration dates for cards on file, and the new date is not always displayed in the Advanced Billing system.

Do I need recurring billing (called ARB at Authorize.net) enabled on my account?

No. Advanced Billing replaces the need for recurring solutions, such as ARB, at the gateway level. We calculate the recurring schedules and perform the transactions without the use of a gateway's recurring features. We provide many features that ARB cannot, such as metered-usage billing, discount coupon codes, reaching out to customers when cards are declined, etc.

Can I run test transactions before I have a gateway account?

Yes. Every Site starts out connected to the Test Gateway, found under Config > Payment Gateways. It lets you test your system using dummy credit card numbers instead of full 16-digit numbers:

• 1 generates a successful outcome, as if the card was charged successfully.
• 2 generates a declined outcome, as if the card was declined for the charge.
• 3 generates a processing-error outcome, as if the transaction failed due to an error rather than a decline.

See Understand the Test Gateway for the complete details.

Can I run test transactions against my gateway?

Yes. To do so, ask your gateway provider for a test account. In the case of Authorize.net, be sure to get a developer account. You can sign up online. Enter the test credentials you are provided into your Advanced Billing test Site settings. Do not use these credentials for an Advanced Billing production Site.

What do I need to run transactions in production?

You need a live gateway to integrate with your Advanced Billing production Site. These credentials differ from your test credentials.

Some gateways don't provide an error if you use production credentials on a test Site within Advanced Billing, so be sure you enter the appropriate credentials into your Site settings.

Authorize.net live accounts have a test mode feature. Avoid using test mode. Register for a developer test account instead.

How do I fix a declined payment?

It's important to understand that Maxio does not control the authorization or decline of payments. Your Payment Gateway makes this decision, which can be based on various factors such as available funds, card status, and fraud prevention measures. Maxio recommends contacting the gateway's support team for a more detailed explanation and guidance. They can provide specific information regarding the decline and help you understand what actions to take next.

See Understand Payment Failures for the steps to take when a customer's card is declined, and Gateway Errors for gateway-specific error code documentation.