Reconciling your bank account when using e-Commerce can be challenging. The following information and guidelines can simplify this process for you!

Understanding the eCommerce Players

Jackrabbit – transmits the transaction to the payment gateway (does not approve or decline transactions).

Payment Gateway  – accepts transaction in ‘bunny’ language, translates to ‘bank’ language and forwards to merchant services provider/merchant processor.

Merchant Services Provider  – coordinates the processing of the transaction between the customer’s card issuing bank and the merchant’s bank account; does the approval/decline.

Transaction Times/Cut-offs

Jackrabbit – When an eCommerce payment is initiated in Jackrabbit, we call the gateway 24/7; there is no ‘batching out’ process like there is for many stand-alone eCommerce terminals. Transactions are stamped with the date the transaction was initiated (as per time/date settings in your database) and are reported on in Jackrabbit based on that date.

Payment Gateway – Transactions are batched for settlement in the gateway. Know your settlement time. This is when the “train is leaving the station” and if you miss it, you will have to catch the next one (which won’t be until tomorrow). If your settlement time is set to 8:00 pm (the default setup for most providers), all transactions processed between 8:01 pm – 11:59 pm in your database will not be batched out until the following day. It is recommended to adjust the settlement time in your virtual terminal/online gateway account access to as late in the day as possible: most gateway providers will not allow a cutoff time later than 11:30 pm.  

Merchant Services Provider – Transactions are also batched out from the merchant processor. Each processor has their own default settlement times.  Contact them to inquire as to what their time is.

Reports/Tools

Jackrabbit – Deposit Slip Report

Payment Gateway – Batch settlement reports in virtual terminal (able to be grouped by payment method) and your daily settlement detail email that you receive from the gateway

Merchant Services Provider – Online account access and statements

Your Bank – Online account access and statements

Recommended Actions

• Adjust your gateway settlement time in your virtual terminal
• Ensure that you are setup with a monthly billing structure for your merchant processing fees. With this method, all fees are taken at the end of the month and the daily deposits to your account will match your Jackrabbit/gateway reports.
• Always follow up on bank draft/ACH payments in your bank account; some banks will send out returned item notifications but many do not.
• Review transactions in your online gateway access/virtual terminal regularly to ensure that they are in agreement with your Jackrabbit reports.