The payment processing world has had many changes over the past few years and now a new round of changes has even further complicated the landscape. Recently most of the processors have implemented a road-block for running independent credits because of security fraud concerns. Here at CerTek we are trying to keep up and have implemented some significant changes to improve this and some other issues around the whole process.
There are three basic types of Payment Processing:
- No-Touch Payment Processing (the latest and what we are transitioning everyone to)
This is the CHIP READER or EMV. - Integrated with SWIPE
This is the basic Magnetic Card Reader - Stand-Alone Terminal
Not Integrated with Artisan
This article is focused on No-Touch and is grouped by the various activities and transaction types.
A Normal Sale
This is the most common and basic case. Items are entered on the sale and then the full amount of the sale is paid for with one Payment Card.
- Enter the Items on the Sale
- Move to the Payments Screen (do one of the following)
- Touch or Click the Finalize Button
- Press F10
- Press the Enter key (while at the bottom of the sale)
- Enter the Amount Tendered (do one of the following)
- Press Enter to accept the total due (if Artisan is set to do so)
- Click or Touch a Quick Cash Button
- Type in an Exact Amount of the Amount Given and press Enter
- Choose a Payment Button (do one of the following)
- Touch or Click “Credit Card” or “Debit Card”. Artisan will choose the correct brand such as Visa or MC automatically.
- Press the Numeric Key (in the black circle) associated with “Credit Card” or “Debit Card”.
- Use the Arrow Keys to move to the “Credit Card” or “Debit Card” and press Enter
- Process the Payment (depending on your payment processing)
- The PIN Pad Device will prompt for payment
- Swipe the Card into the Artisan Screen (this method is obsolete)
- Artisan will automatically complete and save the sale when the full payment is achieved.
- Print the Receipt (do one of the following)
- The receipt automatically prints
- Choose the form to print (or no receipt)
- The transaction is complete.
For a long time it has been unnecessary to choose a specific card brand. Artisan uses the card prefix to determine the brand, not what you choose on the menu. In many cases we have removed the VISA, MC, DISCOVER, and AMEX from your payment menu and just use the built-in generic “Credit Card” or “Debit Card”. This will save significant staff time. Tip: If you accept DEBIT transactions (most do) you can ask your customer if it is DEBIT or CREDIT and then choose the appropriate payment type. You should NOT ask your customer what card brand.
A Normal Sale w/Multiple Payments
Don’t be afraid of this option. Artisan is ready to make this easy! Items are entered on the sale and then the full amount of the sale is paid for with two or more payments. There is no limit on the number of payments you can make on one sale.
Our Example: Two Payment Cards and Cash
- Enter the Items on the Sale
- Move to the Payments Screen (do one of the following)
- Touch or Click the Finalize Button
- Press F10
- Press the Enter key (while at the bottom of the sale)
- PAYMENT 1: Type in an Exact Amount to be processed from the 1st card and press Enter.
- Choose a Payment Button (do one of the following)
- Touch or Click “Credit Card” or “Debit Card”. Artisan will choose the correct brand such as Visa or MC automatically.
- Press the Numeric Key (in the black circle) associated with “Credit Card” or “Debit Card”.
- Use the Arrow Keys to move to the “Credit Card” or “Debit Card” and press Enter
- Process the Payment (depending on your payment processing)
- The PIN Pad Device will prompt for payment
- Swipe the Card into the Artisan Screen (this method is obsolete)
- PAYMENT 2: Type in an Exact Amount to be processed from the 2nd card and press Enter
- Process just like above.
- PAYMENT 3 CASH: Artisan will show the remaining balance on the sale. (Do one of the following.)
- Type in the exact amount of cash the customers gives, press Enter and select CASH
- Use the Quick Cash Buttons to represent the bills you are given. You can use the same button more than once.
- Change Due: The reason for using cash last, is so that it can give you proper change due. It’s best to enter what the customer gives you, so Artisan know the amount of the change.
- Print the Receipt (do one of the following)
- The receipt automatically prints
- Choose the form to print (or no receipt)
- The transaction is complete.
A Orphaned Payment from a Sale
It’s supposed to be very rare, but it can happen due to a power outage, Artisan error, user intervention, or other anomaly that your sale was not saved and the payment was saved but not attached to a specific sale. There is an easy way to recover from such an event.
If you are forced to void a transaction that you can not save you will get this message:
The easiest option is to Discard Changes to the [NEW] sale and orphan the payment.
Either if you Discarded Changes or if Artisan was forced closed:
When you start a new sale you will get this message.
This message will repeat for each new sale until it is resolved. You also won’t be allowed to complete a Day End until it is resolved.
All roads start with answering YES to this question.
Situation 1: The money needs to be voided:
Once the money is on a sale, it can be voided normally. Click the Void button and choose void entire sale. You will receive the following message.
Situation 2: The items need to be re-entered and the sale saved:
Simply add the items and then process the sale normally.
Situation 3: You accidentally answered yes and you want to abort recovering the payment at this time:
Click the Close button or press the Esc key and choose Discard Changes from the following menu.
You will then get this message:
Situation 4: You want to issue store credit:
This is a good option if the customer is undecided or if you need to move the money to another transaction or if you just need to procrastinate on the issue. Choose Issue a Store Credit, add the customer record as needed and then save the sale.
Finding A List of Orphaned Payments: IMPORTANT if you are UPGRADING from a version prior to 4.4.218.
Open the Payment Processing Log by clicking on the toolbar icon or by choosing Reports -> Payment Processing
Click on Power Search, select the current date, and select Show Power Search. Choose Yes to Missing Sales and Yes to Only.
When you first upgrade to Version 4.4.218 you may have to reconcile some of these older (often ancient) transactions by placing them on a sale and voiding them out.
You can do this one sale at time by starting a new sale and answering yes or by explicitly Add Missing Sale from the view of one of these entries.
You can attempt to VOID the entry by clicking on the VOID button. 
Most likely it will get declined unless it was processed today.
But then Artisan will ask if you manually voided it with the processor.
Once you answer Yes and Confirm, Artisan will no longer consider this transaction active and it will not be on list and you will be allowed to continue your day end.
Please let us know if you need assistance with this process.
A Payment needs to be Voided from a Current Sale
It can also happen if there is partial payment and the rest of payment is declined and customer has no other means to pay.