What is Batch Upload?

Batch Upload is a feature offered by Authorize.net that allows merchants to upload multiple transactions at once instead of manually entering each transaction one by one. This feature can be a significant time-saver for businesses that process a large number of transactions. Batch upload can be used to process both charge and refund transactions based on the format and information provided in the file. See the information below on using Batch Upload and the attached guide.

1. Configuring and Using Batch Upload

To use the Batch Upload service, you need to prepare a file containing all the transactions you want to process. This file should be in a CSV or TXT format.

To customize your batch upload format, please follow these steps:

1. Log into the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Upload Transactions in the left menu.
3. Click View Upload Transaction File Settings.
4. Choose your Upload Processing Information settings:
   • Email Customer a receipt when the transaction is processed - Indicate whether the payment gateway should send receipt e-mail confirmations to customers for transactions submitted via uploaded transaction file. Select Yes or No from the Email Customer drop-down list. If set to Yes, the payment gateway will use the customer e-mail address provided with the transaction. If set to No, an e-mail will not be sent.
   • Apply AVS Filter - Indicate whether the Address Verification Service (AVS) filter should be applied to transactions submitted via upload. Select Yes or No from the Apply AVS Filter drop-down list. If set to Yes, the AVS rules will be applied to all transactions submitted via upload file. Transactions that fail the AVS validation will not be sent for settlement. If set to No, the AVS filter will not be applied to transactions submitted via upload.
   • Apply Card Code Filter - Indicate whether to apply Card Code Verification (CCV) to transactions submitted via upload. Select Yes or No from the Apply Card Code Filter drop-down list. If set to Yes, CCV will be applied to all transactions submitted via upload. Transactions that fail CCV will not be sent for settlement. If set to No, CCV will not be applied to transactions submitted via upload.
   • Default Field Separator tells us which character separates each piece of data in the upload file, marking where one field ends and the next begins. From the Default Field Separator drop-down list, select the default field separator, or delimiting character that will be used to separate transaction fields in upload files from your account. If you would like to use a custom field separator, leave the drop-down list empty and enter the desired character in the text field.
   • Field Encapsulation Character tells us whether there is a character that encloses the field on both sides, in order to avoid issues where the Default Field Separator might appear in one of the fields, such as when a comma is both the Default Field Separator and a common character in addresses. From the Default Encapsulation Character drop-down list, select the default field encapsulation character that will be used to enclose transaction fields in upload files from your account. OR, if you would like to use a custom field encapsulation character, leave the drop-down list empty and enter the desired character in the text field.
   • Field Inclusion and Order - Select which fields you would like to exclude. You may also re-order the fields here, if the software generating the file for batch uploading has its own format requirements. From the Default Encapsulation Character drop-down list, select the default field encapsulation character that will be used to enclose transaction fields in upload files from your account. OR, if you would like to use a custom field encapsulation character, leave the drop-down list empty and enter the desired character in the text field.
5. Click Submit to save your settings.

2. Prepare your file:

Create a file of transactions to upload to the system by exporting transactions from another program (such as a database or spreadsheet program like Excel) or a program can be written to construct the file. The file must be in a .txt or .csv(comma delimited) format.

When constructing a file of transactions to upload, fields that have no information for a particular transaction (for example, credit card number for an eCheck transaction) should still be represented with the delimiting characters (with no characters in between the delimiter). For example, if three fields need to be included because of the way a comma delimited file format is configured, but information is only available for the first and third fields, a transaction using the default file format would be assembled like this:

field1,,field3

Note: Excel may round credit card numbers, causing invalid credit card number errors. If the credit card numbers in the batch file are rounded off and you are using Excel to assemble a batch upload file, please designate the column as containing text:

• Right click in the credit card number column before importing
• Select "Format Cells"
• Choose Text

When the file is assembled and stored on your local machine, it can be given any file name and extension that is meaningful to you.

3. Upload your file:

1. Log into the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Upload Transactions in the left menu.
3. Click Upload a New Transaction File.
4. In the pop up window click Choose File.
5. Navigate to and select the file to upload and click Open.
6. Verify you see the file listed in the pop up window.
7. Click Upload File to start processing the upload.

4. Upload and track your file status:

To find status information for batch files that have been uploaded to our system look in the Upload Transactions section of your Merchant Interface. To obtain status information on a specific uploaded file, click View Status of Uploaded Transaction Files. The status screen will display:

• The system's internal file ID for the file
• The date and time that the file was uploaded
• The number of transactions in the file
• The current status of each of the four phases of processing (File Upload, Data Formatting, Transaction Processing, and Receipt e-mailing)
• The elapsed time of the processing of the file

Using Batch Upload to submit refund (credit) transactions:

To successfully submit a credit transaction to the payment gateway using the Upload Transaction File feature, the following conditions apply:

• Credits must include the Transaction ID of the original transaction the credit is being issued against. Transaction IDs can be located by viewing the transaction details or by downloading the transaction.
• Credits require the full or last four digits of the credit card number; or for eCheck credits, the bank account number and ABA routing number (accepted formats are: the full number with no spaces; the last four digits only; or the masked number, like XXXX4455).
• Credits can only be issued within 180 days of the date and time the original transaction successfully settled on the payment gateway. ALL credits submitted after the 180-day period will be rejected.
• Credits cannot be submitted against transactions that failed, were declined, or were submitted as Authorization-Only transactions.
• The sum total of the credits issued cannot exceed the amount of the original transaction.

To configure Transaction Batch Upload Settings to issue credits:

• Log into the Merchant Interface.
• Click Account from the main toolbar.
• Select Upload Transaction File Format.
• Select or verify that the Transaction ID field is included as part of the batch upload file.
• Click Submit.

Note: Minimum requirements to upload Credits are:

• Original Transaction ID
• Credit Card or eCheck Bank Account/ABA Routing number
• Dollar Amount
• Transaction Type (Credit)

Troubleshooting Batch Upload

For troubleshooting a batch upload, follow these steps:

1. Ensure the field order and field separator in your settings match those used for the batch upload.
2. Confirm you accept all card types that are being uploaded.
3. Make sure you have a field separator between each transaction.

Note: Use a carriage return to indicate a new transaction. This is one of the few non-printable characters allowed in a batch upload file. Any non-printable characters other than the following will cause an error when attempting to upload your file:

• Backspaces
• Tabs
• Newlines

The transaction formats are:

• "CC" for credit cards
• "ACH" for eCheck
• "NA" for normal transactions
• "AO" for authorization-only transactions

Once the format is correctly configured, submit fields in the order designated in your transaction batch upload settings.

What will cause upload files to fail

When constructing the data in your file, ensure that you do not include any non-printable characters. The following are the only four non-printable characters which are allowed in an upload file:

• Tabs
• Carriage Returns
• Backspaces
• Newlines

Avoid including any of the below:

• Executable extensions
• SQLi - Such as < or > characters
• XSS

Error Messages:

• "Unable to connect to application or service. Please close this window and resubmit your request." This error occurs when an issue with the scan that validates your file has run into an error. Retrying your upload will typically be successful.
• "An error has occurred. This can be due to the inclusion of non-printable characters in any of the field values, as well as the “<” or “>” characters, OR your file format does not match your Upload Transaction File Settings configuration. Please close this window, update the file as needed and resubmit your request.” This error occurs when there is malformed or prohibited characters within the file. Retrying the file will not be successful until the file has been corrected by removing these characters.