Payment methods
Payment methods are the means by which payments are made. Payment methods include various brands of credit cards (for example, credit card brand X, credit card brand Y, and so on), electronic checks, gift certificates, and manufacturer's coupons. In WebSphere Commerce, Payment Rules are provided to support the following payment methods. The selection of which payment methods are supported in a store is configurable.
| Payment method | Description |  store
| B2C store | B2B store |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VISA | Credit card | yes | yes | yes |
| AMEX | Credit card | yes | yes | yes |
| MasterCard | Credit card | yes | yes | yes |
| Check | Electronic check/automated clearing house (ACH) transaction | no | yes | yes |
| COD | Cash on delivery | yes | yes | yes |
| BillMeLater | Offline transaction, customer is billed | yes | yes | yes |
| PayLater | Offline transaction, customer provides payment information later (such as when payment method is not available when placing the order and customer supplies the information through some other mechanism, such as by fax) | yes | yes | yes |
| PayByPurchaseOrder |
Use a purchase order number as the payment method. This is similar to a LOC payment method but is more simplified. Available to all stores but used only in WebSphere Commerce - Express starter store. | yes | no | no |
| LOC | Line of credit | no | no | yes |
Note: Orders with a zero total payment amount, such as promotional offers, exchanges, or price adjustments, can be processed without requiring payment information.
Although a gift certificate is a form of payment method, there is no payment plug-in provided by WebSphere Commerce that directly supports gift certificate processing. The WebSphere Commerce Payments, can, however, support the gift certificate payment method if the proper payment plug-in is created. The SimpleOffline plug-in can also be configured to support offline processing of gift certificates.
The payment actions performed during the life cycle of a WebSphere Commerce order are influenced by the configured payment methods. Payment method and refund method choices are configured through the WebSphere Commerce POLICY database table through Payment and ReturnPayment policy types. Available payment methods are defined in a contract as a payment term and condition (PaymentTC) in B2B direct stores.
Properties of the payment method choices are configured through Payment Rules XML files. These properties include the payment method name, priority, ability to be edited, and amount limits. The XML file containing payment method properties (the configuration payment method) is included in a set of XML files or payment configuration. A store is associated with a payment configuration through a payment business policy.
Because more than one payment method can be used to pay for an order (such as a gift certificate for $25 and a credit card for the balance), each payment method has a priority. The priority is used to determine which payment method should be used or consumed first. For example, if a gift certificate has a high priority and the credit card has a medium priority, the gift certificate will be consumed first.
The priority establishes the ranking of the payment methods. When payment instructions are ready to be processed, a sequence order is associated with the payment instructions. Customers cannot set the sequence order of payment methods when shopping at an online store.
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