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Test yourself

Answer first, then check. Getting one wrong and reading why is worth more than getting five right.

Every explanation names the page that teaches the answer, and the glossary covers any term you meet here before you have read its page.

Mixed set

Mixed set

0 of 10 answered

  1. Which component of processing cost is actually negotiable with your provider?
  2. What does a force capture give up? Select all that apply.
  3. Your integration authorizes at checkout and captures on dispatch. Which card products can break that design?
  4. Why are decline reasons often vague, such as "do not honour"?
  5. Why is running a single "sale" message risky for goods that ship three weeks later?
  6. A customer sees a charge twice. What is the usual explanation?
  7. A non-bank provider says it can put you into the card networks. What arrangement makes that possible?
  8. At which step is the final cost of a transaction determined?
  9. Which of these never holds merchant funds?
  10. The final bill comes in slightly above the amount you held. What lets you claim it without a new authorization?

The full transaction flow

Purchase to funding

0 of 14 answered

  1. A customer complains that their refund has not arrived three days after you issued it. What is true?
  2. A customer sees a charge twice. What is the usual explanation?
  3. A transaction was captured two hours ago and the batch has not closed. The customer cancels. Best operation?
  4. A hotel stay is extended by two nights. Which operation adds to the existing hold, and what does it not do?
  5. Which of these describe genuinely different failure states? Select all that apply.
  6. What are the likely consequences of capturing well after the authorization window has lapsed? Select all that apply.
  7. What does a force capture give up? Select all that apply.
  8. On a T+2 schedule with an evening cut-off, when does a Friday morning sale fund?
  9. You refund a sale in full. What determines whether you get the interchange back?
  10. Why is the reason code the first thing to read on a dispute notice?
  11. You win a representment on a low-value sale. What is the financial outcome?
  12. A customer cancels 10 minutes after checkout. The transaction was authorized but not captured. What is the correct operation?
  13. An order for three items ships as two shipments. What is the cleanest approach?
  14. A chargeback arrives for a transaction you already refunded in full. What should you do?

Who does what

Parties and responsibilities

0 of 8 answered

  1. A payment facilitator onboards a seller as a sub-merchant. Who carries the loss if that seller takes money and disappears?
  2. Which of these never holds merchant funds?
  3. Why can a card issued by a small bank in one country be accepted by a merchant on the other side of the world?
  4. What distinguishes a three-party network from a four-party one?
  5. A cardholder does not recognise a charge. Who do they contact, and who opens the dispute?
  6. An issuer's systems are unreachable. What can happen to authorization requests?
  7. The network decides which interchange category a transaction falls into. Who receives the interchange?
  8. Interchange flows in which direction?

By topic

Roles

Roles and parties

0 of 13 answered

  1. A payment facilitator onboards a seller as a sub-merchant. Who carries the loss if that seller takes money and disappears?
  2. Which of these never holds merchant funds?
  3. Why can a card issued by a small bank in one country be accepted by a merchant on the other side of the world?
  4. What distinguishes a three-party network from a four-party one?
  5. A cardholder does not recognise a charge. Who do they contact, and who opens the dispute?
  6. An issuer's systems are unreachable. What can happen to authorization requests?
  7. The network decides which interchange category a transaction falls into. Who receives the interchange?
  8. Interchange flows in which direction?
  9. Which party carries the loss if a merchant collapses owing a large volume of chargebacks?
  10. A non-bank provider says it can put you into the card networks. What arrangement makes that possible?
  11. A day's batch never closed and the takings have not arrived. Who owns the problem?
  12. Which of these are worth taking to the card network's rules, via your acquirer? Select all that apply.
  13. How does a merchant account differ from an ordinary business bank account?

Lifecycle

The transaction lifecycle

0 of 4 answered

  1. A customer cancels 10 minutes after checkout. The transaction was authorized but not captured. What is the correct operation?
  2. Why prefer the earliest applicable operation when undoing a payment?
  3. Why is running a single "sale" message risky for goods that ship three weeks later?
  4. Which of these describe genuinely different failure states? Select all that apply.

Authorization

Authorization and capture

0 of 11 answered

  1. Under Mastercard's rules, why does a preauthorization get longer to reach clearing than a final authorization?
  2. A subscription renews and you charge the stored card. What kind of transaction is that?
  3. A customer cancels an order minutes after checkout, before capture. What should the merchant send?
  4. A furniture retailer authorizes at checkout and ships six weeks later. What is the main risk?
  5. Why are decline reasons often vague, such as "do not honour"?
  6. Which of these are true once a transaction is captured but not yet settled? Select all that apply.
  7. A card authorization has just been approved. What has happened to the money?
  8. You want to store a card for later use and check the details are real. What should you send?
  9. You receive a soft decline. What is the issuer asking for?
  10. What is the auth code for?
  11. A hotel stay is extended by two nights. Which operation adds to the existing hold, and what does it not do?

Capture

Capture

0 of 8 answered

  1. The final bill comes in slightly above the amount you held. What lets you claim it without a new authorization?
  2. A retailer's Saturday takings never arrive. What should be checked first?
  3. What are the likely consequences of capturing well after the authorization window has lapsed? Select all that apply.
  4. Two customers buy 20 minutes apart on the same evening, and their payments fund a day apart. What is the most likely explanation?
  5. Beyond the weaker dispute position, what does Visa charge on a settled transaction with no matching authorization?
  6. What does a force capture give up? Select all that apply.
  7. An order for three items ships as two shipments. What is the cleanest approach?
  8. You build one internal capture deadline for both Visa and Mastercard. What goes wrong?

Voids, reversals, and refunds

Voids, reversals, and refunds

0 of 7 answered

  1. Why is a same-day void preferable to a same-day refund? Select all that apply.
  2. A customer complains that their refund has not arrived three days after you issued it. What is true?
  3. A transaction was captured two hours ago and the batch has not closed. The customer cancels. Best operation?
  4. You refund a sale in full. What determines whether you get the interchange back?
  5. Why does an abandoned authorization cost money even though no sale happened?
  6. How do refunds relate to chargebacks?
  7. Why are blind refunds — credits with no matching original sale — heavily restricted?

Clearing and settlement

Clearing and settlement

0 of 6 answered

  1. Why will a settlement figure rarely match any single order total? Select all that apply.
  2. At which step is the final cost of a transaction determined?
  3. What does flat-rate pricing hide that interchange-plus exposes?
  4. Which fee is the card network's own revenue?
  5. Which component of processing cost is actually negotiable with your provider?
  6. A transaction that qualified for a good interchange category at authorization lands in a worse one. When do you find out?

Funding and disbursement

Funding and disbursement

0 of 6 answered

  1. Under net funding, why does no deposit ever equal a familiar number?
  2. Your funding is two days late. Who should you contact?
  3. For a platform paying out to sellers, which questions must be answered before launch? Select all that apply.
  4. On a marketplace, why does it matter who the merchant of record is?
  5. What characterises a rolling reserve?
  6. One payout has been stopped following a risk review, while the rest continue normally. What is this?

Disputes and chargebacks

Disputes and chargebacks

0 of 7 answered

  1. Why is the reason code the first thing to read on a dispute notice?
  2. A chargeback arrives for a transaction you already refunded in full. What should you do?
  3. A chargeback is filed against a transaction you were funded for last month. What happens to the money while you decide whether to contest it?
  4. Why is arbitration rarely the right destination for a disputed transaction?
  5. What is the key structural difference between a card chargeback and an ACH return?
  6. You win a representment on a low-value sale. What is the financial outcome?
  7. Which of these affect your chargeback ratio or its consequences? Select all that apply.

Timing

Timing

0 of 7 answered

  1. On a T+2 schedule with an evening cut-off, when does a Friday morning sale fund?
  2. Money is missing. Which causes are operational rather than failures in the payments chain? Select all that apply.
  3. In a T+2 funding schedule, what is T?
  4. In a period where refunds and chargebacks exceed sales, what happens?
  5. How long can a consumer's bank take to return an ACH debit as unauthorized?
  6. What is the dangerous assumption when applying card thinking to ACH?
  7. A customer sees a charge twice. What is the usual explanation?

Cards

The card rail

0 of 5 answered

  1. What does a card payment do that a bank transfer does not?
  2. Why does a card-not-present transaction cost more and get longer to clear than a card-present one?
  3. What makes a payment a pull rather than a push?
  4. Your integration authorizes at checkout and captures on dispatch. Which card products can break that design?
  5. A colleague quotes an interchange rate they read for a consumer card in another country. How much does that tell you about your own cost?

ACH

ACH

0 of 8 answered

  1. Why does Nacha monitor unauthorized return rates rather than overall return rates alone?
  2. Which return codes are worth retrying? Select all that apply.
  3. Why does R29 carry a two-banking-day window when R10 gets 60 calendar days, given both mean "not authorized"?
  4. What does an ACH debit that has not returned tell you?
  5. In an ACH transaction, what are the ODFI and the RDFI?
  6. What does the effective date on an ACH entry represent?
  7. You receive a notification of change (NOC) on an ACH debit that otherwise succeeded. What does it mean?
  8. What does the SEC code on an ACH entry identify?