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Credit Card Processing: Setup and Operation

The article below covers the following topics:

Processor/Merchant Signup

Before you can start processing credit cards within RouteStar Online, you will need to sign up with one of our approved vendors for credit card processing. 

Once you have completed the signup process with one of our approved vendors you will be provided with API credentials that we will need to complete the setup within RouteStar Online. Please continue to the next step once you have your API credentials.

 

RouteStar Online Setup

To setup credit card processing, login to RouteStar Online and navigate to the system settings.

On the right hand side of the page, click on the "Payments" tab.

 

Fill in the required information using the guide below:

  1. Select the matching payment processor, either Authorize.NET or PaySimple
  2. Change enable web processing to YES if you want to process credit cards from the office version of the program.
  3. Change enable mobile processing to YES if you want to process credit cards from the mobile version of the program.
  4. If you signed up with PaySimple, enter your API credentials here.
  5. If you signed up with Fortis (Authorize.NET), enter your API credentials here.

When everything is entered, scroll to the bottom of the page and press the blue "Save Changes" button.

 

QB Payment Method Setup

QuickBooks Desktop

After pressing save changes above we will need to run a sync of the web connector. You can either run it manually or wait for the next scheduled sync to occur. Once that sync happens please go to QuickBooks and verify you see a new payment method created. It should match the name of the processor you are using.

For example if you signed up with Fortis, you should see a payment method in QB called "Authorize.NET", if you are using PaySimple, you should see a payment method named "PaySimple".

 

QuickBooks Online

You will have to manually create a new payment method in QuickBooks Online before you can start processing credit cards. The name of the payment method MUST MATCH 100% to the options below.

  • If you are using Fortis/Authorize.NET, please create a payment method named: Authorize.NET
  • If you are using PaySimple, please create a payment method named: PaySimple

 

 

Using Credit Cards with Invoices & Payments

From Invoice Details

You can charge a credit card a few ways, to simple charge a credit card for a specific invoice you can open the invoice details and navigate to the payment tab of that invoice.

Once on the payment tab of the invoice, fill out the fields in the recommended order below.

  1. Enter the payment amount.
  2. Change payment date if necessary.
  3. Enter check number or reference number if necessary.
  4. Select the payment method based on which processor you are using. I.E. if using PaySimple, select PaySimple.

You should then get a popup prompting you to fill out the necessary info to charge the customers credit card.

  1. Select existing card on file or leave option "Add New Card" selected to add a new card for this customer.
  2. Fill out the credit card info.
  3. Change option to NO if you DO NOT want to charge the card now. (It can be ran later if you choose not to process it now).
  4. Press Continue to save the card on file with your payment processor and charge the card for the amount entered in the previous step of the payment entry.

You should then see the payment on the payment tab on the lower part of the screen. When the invoice that this payment is tied to is posted to QB the payment will then follow the invoice to QuickBooks on the next sync automatically. 

  1. The RefNumber column will contain the Transaction Id from the processor that you can use to cross-reference the charge if needed.
  2. If you choose not to run the card in the previous step then this is where you can tell the program to run the card at a later date, simply press the purple "Run Now" button when you are ready to charge them.

From the Payment List

To enter a new payment and charge a credit card from the payment list, press the menu dropdown button and select new payment.

Fill out the popup window using the picture below as a guide:

  1. Select the customer you are entering the payment for.
  2. Select the payment method that matches your processor, either PaySimple or Authorize.NET
  3. Either select a saved card on file or press the plus sign button on the right to enter a new card.
  4. Enter the date of the payment.
  5. Optional - select an invoice to apply the payment to.
  6. Enter the payment amount.
  7. Press the blue save button to charge the card and save the payment.

Using Credit Cards with Recurring Payments

To setup recurring credit card charges for your customers, navigate to the Recurring Payment List.

Add each customer to this list that you want the system to charge on some recurring frequency. Use the picture below as a guide.

  1. Select the customer name.
  2. Select the frequency (how often) you want to charge the customer.
  3. Enter the date of the last time you ran their card.
  4. Enter the date the system should next charge their card.
  5. Enter the amount to charge the customer. If you want to have the system dynamically charge them only what they owe, effectively charging them for their current balance, leave this set to $0.00.

After you add the customer to the list, you can use the green plus sign in the "Actions" column on the far right of the page to enter the credit card for each customer. 

                 

Once added, make sure its selected in the "Source" column. This will be how you tell the software which card to use each month.                        

When cards are due to be run you can return to the recurring payment list and then use the menu dropdown to create a new batch.

This will open up a popup and allow you to create the batch and charge the customers cards. Take note if you wanted the system to charge the customers balance to change the option indicated in the picture below.

Once the batch is created, it will take you to the batch review screen where you can then double check everything looks correct before running the customers cards and having the system create payments and send them to QB automatically.

Use the menu dropdown on the batch review page to process the batch or delete it if you notice anything wrong and want to correct it before running them all.

Anything with errors will remain on the batch review screen highlighted in red for you to correct, all the successful charges will drop off the batch review screen and will have their payments created and queued to sync into QB automatically. 

 

Using Credit Cards with the Customer Portal

If you have the customer portal enabled your customers can login and make their own payments. In the software settings on the "Customer Portal" tab, make sure you have Allow and Show Payments set to YES.

When the customers login, they will be presented with an option to make a payment.

They will be able to select a saved card on file or enter a new card for each payment as well as being able to specify which invoices to apply the payment to.

 

Using Credit Cards with the Mobile App

If you enabled the option in the RouteStar Setup to enable mobile processing, the users of the mobile app will be able to process credit cards in the field from either tasks or invoices.

Open a task or invoice and look in the footer section at the bottom. If the option is enabled as mentioned above, you will have a new button for credit card payments. Use the new Credit Card / ACH button only for processing payments via PaySimple/Authorize.NET, use the Cash, Checks & Other button for everything else.

This will open a screen to confirm the customer details and allow the mobile user to either select a saved card on file or enter a new one and charge it right there on the spot.