Payment Statuses

When a payer completes their payment, there is typically an immediate response from the payment processors (Stripe or PayPal) as to the status of the charges. The system allows the payer to continue onto the confirmation stage, where they may receive a success response as well as access to any items purchased such as tickets, etc.

However, in some cases this straightforward payment process is not synchronous.  Here are some exceptions:

LARGE PAYMENTS:

Although there's not a specific limit, some payments may not be released immediately. Typically these are payments above a certain threshold, e.g., 5K, as well as other factors that the payment processors may deem applicable. When a payment is flagged as such, the BetterUnite system still receives a confirmation on the payment and the user still continues on. However, the actual payment may be in pending status waiting further verification by the payment processor before it is released into your funding account.  

ACH/BANK ACCOUNT PAYMENTS (only available for Stripe for security reasons):

ACH payments are always "asynchronous". Meaning, there is not an immediate success response received for these payments. When the payer submits the payment request with their bank account details, the system, unless immediately problematic, will continue to the payment confirmation page if the bank account details are verified. Since ACH payments are asynchronously processed by the banks, the transaction will typically go into a "processing" status. Depending on how the payer initiated the bank account payment, the status may also be in a "requires_action" status.  Both of these statuses will be displayed with a "P" next to the payment when listed in the payments page.  Also, full details of the status will be provided when you hover over this indicator as well as in the donation detail pop-up window.  At some point, the ACH transaction will be processed and reconciled by the banks, and there will be a final result reported back to BetterUnite of either "succeeded" or "failed".  If a failed status is received, then the payment will be marked as failed with an indicator "F" next to the donation in the list. A full explanation of the failure will appear when you hover over the icon as well as in the donation view pop-up window.  There will also be an alert created on your Dashboard providing the details of the payment and you will be asked to review and then remove this payment from the system. (We don't automatically remove these failed transactions because a review by the administrator may be necessary in case the purchase included tickets or other actions by the payer).  In most cases, a final status of "succeeded" will be returned and the system will update the donation status and the other status indicators will be removed.

Need Additional Help?

We're here to assist you in any way we can. Don't hesitate to reach out to support@betterunite.com

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