ST2K Frequently Asked Questions
General
Q: Why am I still getting a ‘Test Success Page’ even though my account is live?
A: You will need to modify your success page so it no longer says ‘Test Success Page’. If you are using Callback and if you wish to display your own pages, not our default success.html/failure.html pages, you will need to ensure pipe is set to ‘Yes’.
Q: Why is no money being paid into my bank account? I put my website ‘Live’ a week ago.
A: Have you advised SecureTrading to switch your account live? You will need to email Support with your user name and request to switch your account live.
Please ensure that you have already provided them with your Internet Merchant ID.
Q: Why am I getting ‘Auth Code Test’ even though my website went live days ago.
A: Your account is in test mode. You will need to email Support with your user name and ask them to switch your account live.
Please ensure that you have already provided them with your Internet Merchant ID.
Q: Can I take multi-currency on my site?
A: You can, but you will need to contact your Acquiring Bank to setup any additional currencies. You will also need to let Support know of any new Internet Merchant ID’s.
Q: What formats do you process currencies in?
A: We use base values in currency ie, no decimal places. To clarify, along with the relevant currency codes, you should send the values in the format of the examples below
- £100.00 would be 10000 and £100.50 would be 10050
- $100.00 would be 10000 and $125.25 would be 12525
For those currencies that have only single units, such as Japanese Yen (JPY), then for ¥1, you would send 1. ¥4050 needs to be sent as 4050 - if you pass it as 405000, then you will process ¥405000
Q: When I pass a payment for $50.00 (or €50.00) I get "Invalid Merchant Configuration". Why?
A: You don’t have a Merchant ID for processing USD or EUR. In order to accept these currencies (or any other) you will need to contact your Acquiring Bank for additional Merchant IDs.
Q: What shopping carts can I use with SecureTrading?
A: SecureTrading's payment products have been successfully integrated with a number of shopping carts and can be configured to work with our payment system. You can see a list of these here. Some shopping carts need special instructions or configuration files to work with SecureTrading payment system. These can be downloaded here.
Q: Why are payments in Actinic still showing as pending?
A: You will need to use the Actinic template files as they link directly back to Actinic, these files are available from SecureTrading support.
You will need to modify these files to look like your website and upload them in the File Manager area of MyST. You will also need to ensure you have been provided with a Secret Key for using Actinic with SecureTrading. If you do not have this Key you will need to contact Support so they can generate one for you.
TopMyST
Q: Can I allow individual access to the MyST area i.e. each user with their own login details?
A: Unfortunately not. At present, we can only issue one set of login details which would be used by anyone requiring access. However, we are able to enable ‘Read-only’ access. This type of access would not allow for transaction editing, only transaction viewing.
Q: I’ve forgotten my password, what do I do?
A: You would need to email our Support team in order to reset the password.
Q: When trying to upload a file called ‘Image2.gif’ using the upload manager, I receive an error message. Why am I receiving this?
A: Images that are required to be uploaded should be renamed to lowercase letters.
Q: The transaction search criteria is limited to 31 days. How do I search for older transactions with this imposed search restriction?
A: We have limited the search to optimise our service levels for all our merchants. You can search for any 31 day period within the last 18 months.
Q: Can I see a demonstration of the MyST account management tool?
A: Yes, please visit our YouTube channel here or view the demonstration here.
TopPayment Pages
Q. How do I switch to alternative payment sites in the event of an outage?
A. We have created two alternative payment page URLs to allow merchants to submit payment requests should our primary site (https://securetrading.net/) be unavailable. They are:
- https://pay2.securetrading.net/authorize/form.cgi
- https://pay3.securetrading.net/authorize/form.cgi
All payment system functionality is available through these alternative sites and MyST is also available. However, the following functionality is not available:
- File manager
- Password changing
Any file uploaded or passwords changed may take up to two hours to become available on pay2.securetrading.net and pay3.securetrading.net.
When uploading files that will be accessed via pay2.securetrading.net all securetrading.net url's embedded in the html must be relative, i.e. the domain portion must be removed. For example "https://securetrading.net/authorize/process.cgi" must be changed to "/authorize/process.cgi". Please ensure that all links in all html pages have been altered.
HTML pages used by securetrading.net, pay2.securetrading.net and pay3.securetrading.net will operate as normal, so long as all links are converted to relative. Further information on relative url's are available from the W3 website here.
When making any changes please ensure that all existing functionality operate as expected:
- merchant emails (success and failure)
- customer emails
- callback (success and failure)
We recommend that all our merchants set their pages up to automatically redirect to the alternative payments sites if the primary site times out. By doing this you will avoid any outages in the unlikely event of any of our ISPs failing.
Q: How can I change the email address that the order confirmations are sent to?
A: The order confirmations (merchantemail.txt) are controlled by the variable “$merchantemail”, which is sent to the form.html page from your site. You or your web developer will need to amend this on your side as we cannot amend your actual website.
The variable $merchantemail will simply equal the address, EG: “merchantemail=my@emailaddress.com”.
Q: What is my Payment Page’s URL?
A: When your payment pages are customised and uploaded, you will configure your website to pass certain information, such as your username, through to the pages. The re-direct to the page is then handled automatically.
Please refer to the Payment Pages Setup Guide for more information.
Q: Why have I received the error “Field $merchant is required”?
A: This is caused when the Site Reference ($merchant field) is empty when submitting information to either the form.cgi or process.cgi.
Additionally, if you are using the Actinic shopping cart, this could mean that your secret key is missing or incorrect.
Q: I am trying to process an AMEX card, but have received the message “(3100) Invalid Merchant Configuration” – why is this?
A: AMEX issue a merchant number separate from your normal merchant number specifically tailored for AMEX payments. If you are receiving this error message, you most likely do not have an AMEX MID on your account.
This message could also be received when you are attempting to process a MOTO (Mail Order Telephone Order) Payment, but do not have an AMEX MOTO Merchant ID.
You will need to contact AMEX to set these up.
Q: I am seeing a question mark (?) on my payment page instead of a currency sign - why is this happening?
A: This is caused when either the encoding on the customers browser is incorrect, or there is an incorrect encoding type passed from your website to the form page.
The encoding type that should be used is Western (ISO-8859-1).
Q: Can I customise the look and feel of my Payment Page?
A: Yes. You are able to customise the look and feel of your Payment Page so it will tie in with your website theme.
Please see the relevant set up guide for further information on how to do this.
Q: Why is an image not displaying?
A: You have not referenced the image correctly within the Payment Page. To display an image, you will need to use $path e.g. <img src="$path/your_image.gif">
TopCallback
Q: My callback is displaying the Securetrading Success & Failure pages, but won't display the pages on my domain.
A: Callback must be piped in order for it to redirect to the merchants domain. In order to do this callback must contain the following at the bottom of the callback text file.
pipe1 yes
Make sure there is a Tab in-between the Pipe1 and the yes NOT a space.
Q: Can I add additional fields of my own to the callback file?
A: Yes you can, if you have added a field to your payment page i.e. $accountid, simply add 'accountid' to the fields section of the callback file.
Q: I get the following message when I callback to my website from SecureTrading. "You are now being redirected to a non-secure Server".
A: This happens when posting information from a secure server to a non secure server. If the page you are posting to is non secure you will need to get a secure certificate for this page. This will prevent this message from appearing again.
Alternatively you can remove the Pipe from callback. This will POST your callback information to your script and redirect the customer to the SecureTrading success or failure page, uploaded in your SecureTrading directory. As your SecureTrading directory is located on a secure server this message will no longer appear.
Q: When I set callbackurl to ‘2’, callback is still using callback.txt and does not do anything with callback2.txt
A: This is because callback2.txt is not a valid file. Callback.txt should contain all your methods. Each method should be numbered. Whichever number is specified in the callbackurl is the method which will be used.
E.g. In this example, using a callbackurl of ‘2’ would POST to https://www.yourscriptaddress2.com without piping to screen and using the fields name, orderref, address and postcode
Method1 POST
url1 https://www.yourscriptaddress.com
fields1 name, orderref, address
pipe1 yes
Method2 POST
url2 https://www.yourscriptaddress2.com
fields2 name, orderref, address, postcode
pipe2 no
Q: How do I know the callback originates from SecureTrading?
A: Most shopping carts will include an ID of some form that will post back with callback and identify that the customer has originated from the merchants site and has been through the SecureTrading process. It is also possible to contact SecureTrading Support to obtain the range of IP’s from which callback will POST, making it possible to identify the origin of the callback.
TopXPay
Q: Is it possible to run concurrent versions of XPay at the same time on the same server?
A: If you wish to run concurrent Xpays’ on the same server you will need to specify a different port in your xpay.ini file for one of them. Both XPays’ will use the same transaction certificate.
Q: Why do I receive "Java.net.BindException: Address in use: JVM_Bind"?
A: Please ensure other applications are not using port 5000. If necessary you can configure XPay to bind to a different port by using xpay.ini.
Q: Why do I receive "Error instantiating XPay Clientjava.lang.Exception: Could not contact a SECURETRADING gateway"?
A: Please ensure that port 80 is available for traffic.
Q: Why have I received the error message ‘(1000) Failed to connect to a payment gatewayjava.io.IOException: Connection to gateway failed’?
A: This error message can be caused by a few things;
Java Version / Type
The version of Java that you are using on your server needs to be 1.4.X (1.4.2 recommended). Also, only the SDK and JRE versions are supported, so XPay will not connect with the GNU version.
Firewall and Port Settings
There are certain ports that need to be open on your firewall in order to allow XPay to connect. Please ensure that port 6666 is open for outgoing TCP traffic to all ip addresses in the domain xpay.securetrading.net.
You can telnet securetrading.net via port 6666 to ensure that it is free. Simply type the following:
telnet xpay.securetrading.net 6666
Invalid Character Encoding
XPay currently only supports us-ascii characters which range from 32 to 127 as stated in the "XPay User Guide" (page 13). If your character is in the ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) range, then you may be able to resolve the issue by using the decimal representation e.g. ß would be ß
Expired / Corrupted Certificate
If none of the above solutions rectify the issue, it could point to a problem with the XPay Certificate you are using. If this has expired or become corrupted, then you will receive the above error.
If this is the case and you require a new certificate, please email Support.
Q: While setting up XPay, I am receiving the below error message: Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:XPay
A: The CLASSPATH has not been set correctly. The XPay API requires the file Xpay.jar to be in a CLASSPATH environment variable. To do this you must set the CLASSPATH (case sensitive) e.g. set CLASSPATH=.;C:\xpay\XPay.jar.
Q: Why am I getting the error message “Missing Transaction Reference” when trying to alter a transaction?
A: This error will occur infrequently, and it occurs when our database has not yet updated when the request was submitted to our system, such as a reversal / settlement request.
We advise waiting 10/15 minutes after the original authorisation before submitting any such changes to a transaction. If you have received this error, no changes will have been made to the transaction.
Q: I am getting the error message “(3100) Error with XML”. What could be the cause of this?
A: This is caused when invalid XML is passed to the XPay Client. This could be as simple as an invalid character, such as "&", is passed through.
For more information, you will need to provide the XML request and the XML response through to Support. Please ensure that all credit card details are removed before emailing the XML over to us.
Q: My account is live using XPay but I want to do some further testing using the test certificate. However, it no longer works and gives the error “3100 Invalid LiveStatus”. How can I test my system?
A: Once your account is Live you can not use the Test Certificate unless we switch your account from live to test mode. If you want to do some further testing please contact Support for a possible solution.
Q: Why do I receive a (5000) Transport Error when processing an AUTH request?
A: This is due to the fact that our systems are unable to communicate with your acquiring bank. If this is continuous, you will need to contact our Support team.
Q: While setting up XPay, I am receiving the below error message: Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: ?jar
This is caused if you copy the command "java –jar Xpay4.jar" directly from the PDF. Type this command manually.
Top3-D Secure
Q: What is 3-D Secure?
A: 3-D Secure is like a Chip & PIN for online purchases designed to protect the consumer and merchant by asking a secret password and a personal message during the transaction process. Developed by Visa (Verified by Visa) and MasterCard (SecureCode) and used by most retailers, it has rapidly become a widely accepted standard.
Q: Is 3-D Secure mandatory?
A: From the 1st July 2008 MasterCard and Visa are mandating SecureCode/VBV (3-D Secure), preventing Merchants from accepting Maestro (formerly Switch) payments online legitimately after this time. Without 3-D Secure Merchants will be breaking card scheme rules and could be liable to pay heavy fines.
Q: How do I active 3-D Secure on my account?
A: In order to activate 3-D Secure on your account, you will first need to ensure that your Merchant details are loaded in the Visa and Mastercard Directories. Please contact Support regarding this.
You will need to upload 3-D Secure logos onto the page were the customer will enter his/her credit card information (this is mandatory). These should also appear on the home page of the website (not mandatory but considered Good Practice).
Please note: If you use XPay you will need to make some changes on how your XML is generated so you will need to download the documentation from our Support pages.
Q: Are commercial cards covered by 3-D Secure?
A: Commercial cards are covered by the Verified by Visa scheme, however, as of 1st June 2009, MasterCard has reinstated an exclusion of commercial cards from the global interregional merchant-only MasterCard SecureCode liability shift program. However, in all cases regarding questions on liability shifts, we recommend that you speak to your Acquirer. For more information click here or contact your acquiring banks.
TopPaypal
Q: When I click "Checkout with PayPal" button, I am taken straight to the Success page. Why is this happening?
A: This occurs when all of the PayPal template files have not been uploaded to your account. The files that are needed are:
| form.html | success.html | failure.html |
| form1.html | success1.html | failure1.html |
| form2.html | success2.html | failure2.html |
| customeremail.txt | merchantemail.txt | failureemail.txt |
| customeremail1.txt | merchantemail1.txt | callback.txt |
| callback-f.txt |
Please refer to the PayPal Setup Guide – Payment Pages for more information. If you don’t have these already you will need to contact the Support team.
Q: I have uploaded the PayPal template files using the upload manager, and have made a test payment. Why do I immediately see the failure page?
A: This could be down to an incorrectly setup PayPal business account. Make sure that you have correctly followed the setup guide as outlined in the ‘Setting up your PayPal’ section of the SecureTrading PayPal Guides.
Q: What sort of fraud prevention is done on PayPal transactions?
A: With PayPal transactions SecureTrading do not send the details to the banks for AVS/CVV2 checking. This step is done by PayPal themselves who use their own in-house fraud prevention systems that will screen the transaction for any indication of fraud.
Q: Can I refund PayPal payments through MyST
A: No, unfortunately not.
TopSubscriptions
Q:Can I process subscriptions/recurring transactions on my merchant account?
A: You will need to apply for a recurring merchant number from your acquiring bank. Once you have been issued with the recurring merchant number, email Support. The number will then be added to your account and the integration details required to setup subscriptions with SecureTrading.
Q: I have just recently created a subscription for one of my customers, yet when I do a search for the subscription it does not appear in the view. Why is this?
A: This could be down to the date the search was made. For subscription searches you will need to search for a date in the future when the first payment will be taken within the subscription.
Q: I’ve made an error when creating a new subscription, can I modify the subscription if I am using the SecureTrading Payment Pages?
A: With SecureTrading Payment Pages you are unable to edit the subscription. You will be required to cancel the incorrect subscription and create a new subscription with the correct details.
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