Payment rules provided in WebSphere Commerce

Payment rules specify the payment actions that should occur for the payment methods a store accepts for its goods or services. Payment actions and credit actions are determined in terms of current-to-target state movements. payment rules define what target state a payment should be in by defining the actions needed to move a payment from its current state to the target state.

During payment rules processing, for each specific time in the order life cycle, payment rules are read to find the payment actions required to achieve the target state for the payment amount. The following list defines the relationship of order life cycle phases and the corresponding payment events:

  • The order capture life cycle phase corresponds to the PrimePayment payment event.
  • The release to fulfillment life cycle phase corresponds to the ReservePayment payment event.
  • The fulfillment (shipment confirmation) life cycle phase corresponds to a FinalizePayment payment event.

In effect, these order life cycle phases are translated to payment events.

Rule PrimePaymentCmd (at order capture) ReservePaymentCmd (at release to fulfillment) FinalizePaymentCmd (at shipping) Description
No Validation or Reservation payment rule DNE DNE DEPOSITED Do not check to see if customer has funds at order capture, do not reserve funds before releasing to fulfillment; only deposit at shipping.

Typically applies to: electronic check (Automated Clearing House, ACH) transactions.

No Validation with Approval on Reservation payment rule DNE APPROVED DEPOSITED Do not check to see if customer has the funds at order capture, but reserve funds before releasing to fulfillment and deposit payment at shipping.

Typically applies to: credit card transactions.

No Validation with Deposit at Reservation payment rule DNE DEPOSITED DEPOSITED Do not check to see if customer has funds at order capture, but deposit payment at release to fulfillment.

Typically applies to: electronic check (ACH) transactions.

Early Approval payment rule APPROVED APPROVED DEPOSITED Check to see that customer has funds to pay for the order when the order is captured; that is, validate the payment at the earliest opportunity.

Typically applies to: credit card transactions.

Validation with Deposit at Reservation payment rule APPROVED DEPOSITED DEPOSITED Check to see that the customer has funds to pay for the order when it is captured, and ensure that deposits occur at release to fulfillment.

Typically applies to: Credit card transactions.

Early Deposit payment rule DEPOSITED DEPOSITED DEPOSITED Deposit funds as soon as possible - at order capture or at release to fulfillment.

Typically applies to: electronic check (ACH) transactions.

Note: Because the task command called StoreAndValidatePaymentCmd does not have configurable actions, it is not listed in the following table.

Although no payment action occurs during order capture when the target state is DNE, payment instructions are still validated.