Problem: I've implemented "partial authorizations" (pg 72) but whenever I try to run a transaction that could use it, the result is a decline.
Setup: I'm handling transactions with the API with PayPal Payment Pro Payflow Edition (aka, PayFlow Pro Gateway & PayPal Merchant Account).
Cards use in Transaction: Visa Gift Card & American Express Gift Card. This feature was made for gift cards and other prepaid products. Gift Cards are specifically cited in PayPal's documentation example.
Transaction Logs:
Here is the log for a declined partial authorization. The original amount requested is $25.00, even though this visa gift card only had $2.00 on it. I should have received a response with an approved amount for $2.00. Instead I got a decline.
-> PARTIALAUTH:Y TENDER:C ACCT:**** VERBOSITY:HIGH TRXTYPE:A EXPDATE:0618 AMT:25.00
<- RESULT:12 CARDTYPE:0 PROCAVS:G IAVS:N PROCCVV2:I EXPDATE:0618 RESPMSG:Declined: 15005-This transaction cannot be processed. LASTNAME:NotProvided ACCT:**** AMT:25.00 PNREF:************ AVSZIP:X AVSADDR:X HOSTCODE:15005 TRANSTIME:2012-12-14 12:43:04 CVV2MATCH:X
For comparison, when I run the same card for an amount that is less than what's on the card, it goes through no problem:
-> TENDER:C VERBOSITY:HIGH ACCT:**** AMT:.11 TRXTYPE:A EXPDATE:0618 PARTIALAUTH:Y
<- AMT:0.11 AVSZIP:X PPREF:***************** ACCT:**** AUTHCODE:111111 TRANSTIME:2012-12-14 12:41:46 LASTNAME:NotProvided IAVS:N PROCAVS:G RESPMSG:Approved PNREF:************ RESULT:0 EXPDATE:0618 PROCCVV2:I CARDTYPE:0 AVSADDR:X CVV2MATCH:X CORRELATIONID:*************
-> TENDER:C ORIGID:************ TRXTYPE:D
<- RESULT:0 PENDINGREASON:completed PNREF:************ FEEAMT:0.11 PAYMENTTYPE:instant RESPMSG:Approved PPREF:************ CORRELATIONID:*************
I believe the API calls should be and in fact are the same in both cases. The point of Partial Authorizations is that you don't know when you need it, so if you want it, it should be enabled for all transactions -- meaning you always append the two extra parameters of VERBOSITY=HIGH and and PARTIALAUTH=Y.
Any ideas why this isn't working. The feature is very important to my application and is one of the main reasons I'm using PayPal.
I hope I'm missing something simple, like a setting in manager.paypal.com.
From what I can see you're doing everything correctly. When something like this happens the only thing you can do is contact PayPal directly.
You can do so via www.paypal.com/mts or if you login to your PayPal account and go into the contact by phone section you should see a separate phone number for tech support directly.
I would recommend submitting a ticket to MTS and then also calling, but when you call, refer them to your ticket. They're going to want you to post one anyway, but if that's all you do it probably won't get answered for awhile, unfortunately. I've had good luck catching them on the phone, though, and can get things done much more quickly that way.
The only thing I can think of that might be an issue here is that you're using the PayFlow gateway with PayPal as your merchant. While the PayFlow gateway supports this, PayPal may not. It may only work if you're using a 3rd party merchant account on the PayFlow gateway.
That's something they will need to confirm or deny as I haven't specifically tested this myself, but again, I don't see that you're doing anything incorrectly.