Articles about Payments

Sometimes an order needs to be refunded. It happens quite rarely, as the most of the daily-deal site customers are happy with their coupons and enjoy the discounted service offered. But from time to time customers claim they cannot use the coupon for some reason and ask for refund.

Of course, it is always possible to issue a refund via payment system. But what happens to the coupon?

Recently we have made it possible for site owners to refund an order in Getsocio admin section. When an order is refunded, it will destroy the coupons, void the payment transaction and also will adjust the Getsocio fee, so you don't have to pay the commission for refunded orders.

Of course, it is up to the site owner to decide should they refund each particular order. Having a payment/refund policy posted on your site is a good idea too.

Recently we have added support of PayPal Website Payments Pro (WPP) payment method to Getsocio.

Unlike PayPal's "Express checkout", WPP mode allows to receive card payments directly on your daily-deal site, without sending your buyers to PayPal page.

On the downside, WPP is only available for sellers in USA, UK and Canada. Merchants from all other countries can only use "Express Checkout" to accept payments with PayPal.

On a daily-deal site there is no simple answer. It depends.

• If the deal is not tipped yet:
  • Funds are "reserved" on the card. This step ensures that there is enough funds on the card for the purchase, and "locks" them, so the buyer cannot spend them elsewhere before the deal ends.
  • Then, after the deal is tipped, the purchase is finalized and funds are transferred from the buyer's card to the daily-deal site owner's account.
  • And if the deal expires (never gets tipped), the purchase is canceled and the funds are "unlocked" on the buyer's card.
• And if the deal is already tipped, the purchase happens in one step – the funds are transferred from the buyer's card immediately.