CashBox FAQ

  ChargeGuard FAQ

CashBox FAQ

Q. Since CashBox is a hosted solution, what is the process for integrating it with a merchant's Web site?

A. The Vindicia API enables merchants to completely customize the configuration, controls, data flow, reporting infrastructure and presentment of data to their systems and portals. CashBox is architected to provide "black box" functionality, connected to the merchants' various sites and portals via our API to provide a seamless customer experience controlled by the merchant.

Q. What is CashBox's level of availability and how do you support that level?

A. The Vindicia CashBox solution maintains a scalability level of at least 5 times the current transaction run-rate and delivers 99.99+% uptime to all critical merchant-facing functions. All logical components are hardware redundant and infrastructure installations are physically and network redundant across geographic regions.

Q. How much flexibility does CashBox provide merchants to define billing plans?

A. CashBox allows complete flexibility for unlimited billing plans. Product definitions/SKUs, billing plan definitions and customer information can be combined in various permutations, creating an "autobill" that then controls the billing payment profile, encompassing details such as billing frequency, amounts, notifications, etc. The CashBox API Reference Guide provides more details around these objects and their related flexibility.

Q. Does CashBox support regional pricing?

A. Yes, regional pricing is supported with the use of product definitions/SKUs and associated billing plans. Support for regional pricing is a function of a merchant's order process via its Web site/shopping cart. CashBox would process the transaction as defined by the buying process completed by the merchant's customer at its Web site and subsequently communicated via the API to Vindicia for processing

Q. Can CashBox bill and collect payments in local currencies?

A. Vindicia CashBox accepts payment in any currency type. For example, if a customer in Germany is purchasing from the merchant's site and the billing options are in Euros or US Dollars, this transaction would be processed by Vindicia in accordance with the merchant's set-up with its payment processor and funds would be transferred to the merchant's accounts per the agreement it has in place with its processor. A single product can have different prices based on the currency. Again, payment settlement to a merchant's accounts is done via the payment processor relationship.

Q. What payment methods does CashBox support?

A. CashBox supports a broad range of payment methods including credit cards, pin-less debit cards, ACH and European Direct Debit, and PayPal. We constantly are adding to this list as customer requirements dictate.

Q. Which payment processors does CashBox support?

A. Vindicia supports a number of the leading payment processors around the world including Chase Paymentech, FDMS, Merchant e-Solutions, Arvato and others.

Q. How does CashBox handle taxes at all levels, both in the US and internationally?

A. CashBox has its own sales tax engine that calculates the appropriate tax at the time of purchase to ensure correct percentages are added to the product price. We support tax regimes internationally including GST and VAT. Sales tax is calculated using merchant nexus information as well as any special jurisdiction rules. Vindicia applies monthly updates to stay current with sales tax regulations.

Q. Can CashBox provide token support?

A. CashBox supports token-based activity. The billing system supports multiple ways of purchasing tokens which can be associated with merchant definable activity (e.g., time, usage, etc.) as defined in an associated product or billing plan. Customers can create an account with an associated billing profile used to purchase tokens either in a one-time purchase or by subscribing to a billing plan with defined increments and pricing.

Q. Does CashBox support the granting of free time to a subscription at the start, middle or end of the subscription period?

A. CashBox supports having free periods anywhere in the billing plan, including the entire plan. For example, CashBox can support a subscription with a free first period, or a "buy 3 get 1 free" model. Merchants can also use CashBox to send email notifications to customers who are about to either end their free trial (reminding them they will get billed with the details) as well as customers who are about to reach the end of their subscription (offering a chance to upsell or cross-sell to another offering).

Q. What reporting capabilities does CashBox provide?

A. CashBox provides complete reporting on all aspects of the billing process, including product, billing plan, affiliate and campaign ID. These reports are available online on a 24x7x365 basis. The reports can also be downloaded as CSV or Excel spreadsheets and further broken down based on the merchant's informational needs or the data can be fed back to a merchant's accounting and other systems via the Vindicia API.

Q. Can CashBox use pre-generated or "on the fly" generated discount offers?

A. CashBox allows for the inclusion of discount information in an email notification. This would allow customers to get access to a code, for example, they would then enter on the merchant site to invoke a specific plan. Cancellation emails can also include "save sale" offers or pormotions, pointing the customer to a URL on the merchant site in order to invoke the offer.

Q. Can CashBox track and report on Affiliate traffic as well as billing associated with those transactions?

A. Affiliate order and billing information can be received by CashBox via the customer API interface. Specific offers, pricing and terms can be incorporated into appropriate product SKUs and billing plan mixes to appropriate reflect agent and partner-based traffic. Vindicia can send confirmation as long as specific affiliate-based SKUs are defined.

Q. Do merchants still need a gateway or sales tax engine with CashBox?

A. Merchants do not need to continue using a gateway as CashBox fulfills that functionality. CashBox also has its own embedded Sales Tax Engine so no separate sales tax processing subscription is needed from a third-party vendor.

Q. Can business managers and executives update billing plans and product information without going through the API?

A. Yes, business executives have the ability to leverage the portal capabilities of CashBox, through which they can make changes to billing plans, update product configurations and rapidly respond to changing market dynamics without the need to involve technical resources.

Q. How can customer service personnel interact with CashBox?

A. CashBox provides customer service representatives and managers the ability to update customer billing information, make changes to preferred payment methods, and even initiate the refund process in the event of potential chargebacks.

Q. How does Vindicia guard against unauthorized access to specific customer information?

A. Vindicia provides role-based access control to the portal so that different people have access to different capabilities. For example, customer service representatives may be able to update customer billing information but not be able to edit billing plans.

ChargeGuard FAQ

Q. What is included in the Vindicia ChargeGuard solution?

A. The ChargeGuard fraud management solution incorporates three key components: fraud screening which is used to determine real-time chargeback probability prior to the transaction; chargeback management which comes into play once the customer has initiated the chargeback; and reporting capabilities that enable merchants to understand the impact of the fraud.

Q. What factors go into determining the chargeback probability score?

A. A number of factors go into determining the score including: IP Address Geolocation, Proxy Detection, BIN Validation and others. The full range of factors that go into determining the score can be found here.

Q. What makes the Vindicia fraud screening solution unique?

A. The fraud screening component of ChargeGuard is unique because it calculates true probabilities for your chargeback rather than just estimates. This is possible because Vindicia has a database of chargeback data across its network merchants that helps inform and optimize the fraud screen score.

Q. What does the term "false positives" mean as it applies to transactions and fraud?

A. False positives refers to the phenomenon where valid transactions are refused by the vendor because of suspicion of fraud. In a recurring business, false positives can become very expensive as the potential average lifetime value of that customer can run into the hundreds of dollars. In high-margin online businesses, the cost of false positives often far outweighs the cost of fighting the chargeback.

Q. How does ChargeGuard deal with false positives?

A. ChargeGuard is designed to limit the number of false positives that merchants incur while still rejecting obviously fraudulent transactions. In addition ChargeGuard provides a safety net in the form of chargeback management to help merchants recover lost revenue.

Q. Can ChargeGuard increase my sales to chargeback ratio?

A. Vindicia has extensive expertise in fraud management and helps clients achieve the right risk/revenue balance with its focus on limiting false positives, recovering revenues with chargeback management, and providing guidance on how to change internal processes to reduce future chargebacks.

Q. What merchant processors does ChargeGuard support?

Vindicia supports a number of leading merchant processors around the world including Chase Paymentech, FDMS, Merchant e-Solutions, Arvato, and others.

Q. What is your chargeback recovery rate?

A. Vindicia has a success rate of up to 85% for the chargebacks on which recoveries are attempted.

Q. How long does integration with ChargeGuard take?

A. The integration process generally takes between two and eight weeks depending upon how many resources your business has available to dedicate to the integration process.

Q. Does ChargeGuard impact my customers' buying experience?

A. ChargeGuard works seamlessly with your existing product/service online purchase process and is transparent to your customers.

Q. Is Vindicia PCI compliant?

A. We are an externally-audited PCI Level 1 Service Provider and are SAS70 Type 2 compliant. In addition, we support the Safe Harbor Principles and adhere to the provisions of the European Data Privacy Act. Merchants can request a copy of our external audits, view our Privacy Policy, and obtain further details around our security technologies and processes by reading our white paper, "Vindicia Technology Overview".