INTERNAL FAQ — Payments & Checkout

Internal FAQ — Payments & Checkout

This document is for the FocusPoint support team. It covers internal troubleshooting steps, escalation paths, and behind-the-scenes technical details related to payment processing, checkout flow, payment gateways, and order payment issues on the FocusPoint portal.

Q: A customer says their checkout is failing. What’s the standard troubleshooting flow?

A: Checkout failures can have many causes. Work through these in order:

1. Payment gateway error: Check if the error message mentions a specific gateway (Authorize.Net, Stripe, PayPal). If so, the issue is likely with credentials or the gateway account itself.
2. Cart/session timeout: If the customer spent a long time at checkout, their session may have expired. Have them clear cookies and try again.
3. Required fields: Check if checkout fields (billing address, phone, etc.) are properly configured in Cockpit → FP Administration → Checkout Settings.
4. Payment method restrictions: Verify the customer’s role and country aren’t excluded from the selected payment method (Configuration → Payment restrictions).
5. SAP order push failure: The checkout may succeed on the portal but fail when pushing to SAP. Check SAP Integration → Outbound Messages for outbound order push errors (inbound invoice sync is under SAP Integration → Inbound Messages).
6. Browser/device issues: Some older browsers or strict corporate firewalls can block payment form iframes. Have them try a different browser or device.

Q: How do the different payment gateways work on FocusPoint?

A: FocusPoint supports several payment gateways. Each has its own configuration:

• Authorize.Net: Most common for US customers. Requires API Login ID and Transaction Key. Configured in Configuration → Payment methods.
• Stripe: Popular for both US and international. Uses Publishable Key and Secret Key. Supports card payments and Apple Pay/Google Pay depending on configuration.
• PayPal: Business account required. Can run alongside card gateways as an additional option.
• Opayo (Sage Pay): Common for UK customers. Requires Vendor Name and keys.
• Purchase Order / On-Account: B2B payment method where no online payment is collected. Order is placed with a PO number and invoiced later through SAP.

Each gateway has a “Use Sandbox/Test Mode” toggle. If a customer reports that payments aren’t processing, first check that the gateway is NOT in test/sandbox mode.

Q: A payment was charged but the order didn’t appear in SAP. What happened?

A: This is a critical issue. The payment was captured by the gateway, but the order push to SAP failed. Steps:

1. Confirm the order exists on the portal: Cockpit → Sales → Orders. Find it by order number, customer email, or date.
2. Check SAP Integration → Inbound Messages / Outbound Messages for the outbound order message. Look for errors.
3. Common causes: SAP connection down, required SAP fields missing (tax group, warehouse), BP not found in SAP, item not found in SAP.
4. If the error is resolvable (e.g., missing field mapping), fix it and retry the message.
5. If the order cannot be pushed, escalate to senior dev immediately — the customer was charged but SAP has no record.

Q: How do Payment Restrictions work?

A: Payment Restrictions (Configuration → Payment restrictions) limit which payment methods are available based on:

• Customer Role: e.g., only Wholesale customers can use Purchase Order/On-Account.
• Country: e.g., Opayo only available for UK billing addresses.

If a customer says they don’t see a payment option at checkout, check their Customer Role and billing country against the restriction rules. This is the most common cause of “missing payment method” reports.

Q: A customer wants to enable Purchase Order / On-Account payments. What’s involved?

A: PO/On-Account lets B2B customers place orders without paying online. Setup involves:

1. Enable the PO payment method in Configuration → Payment methods.
2. Set up Payment Restrictions so only approved customer roles (e.g., Wholesale, Approved B2B) can use it.
3. Configure the PO number field to be required or optional at checkout.
4. The order pushes to SAP as a Sales Order without payment — invoicing happens through normal SAP AR processes.

If the customer also wants a credit limit enforced (so customers cannot order beyond their SAP credit limit), that is independent of Pay Order Now. It is driven by the Business Partner record: enable Enforce Credit Limits on the BP in SAP (the SAP-mastered CreditLimit / Balance / PastDue values), and checkout then blocks orders that would exceed it. Escalate to the project team for the BP-side setup.

Q: How does the “Pay Order Now” feature work?

A: Pay Order Now (Cockpit → FocusPoint → Pay Order Now) allows customers to pay outstanding invoices directly through the portal. Key details:

• Customers see their unpaid invoices from SAP in their account portal.
• They can select invoices and pay them using the configured payment gateway.
• Payment confirmation is pushed back to SAP to update the AR balance.
• This feature requires a working payment gateway AND proper SAP invoice sync.

If Pay Order Now isn’t showing invoices, check that invoice sync is working in SAP Integration → Inbound Messages (look for inbound invoice messages).

Q: The checkout has too many steps / the customer wants to simplify it. What can we adjust?

A: Checkout flow is configured in Cockpit → FP Administration → Checkout Settings. Options include:

• One-page vs. multi-step checkout: Some themes support single-page checkout where all steps appear on one page.
• Guest checkout: Allow orders without requiring account creation.
• Required fields: Toggle which fields are required vs. optional (phone, company name, etc.).
• Terms and conditions: Require acceptance before order placement.
• Order comments: Enable/disable the order notes field.

For significant checkout flow changes beyond these settings, escalate to dev — it may require theme-level customization.

Q: A customer is getting “payment declined” errors. Is that our problem?

A: Usually not — but we should help diagnose:

• Card declined by gateway: The customer’s bank declined the transaction. They need to contact their bank or use a different card. This is NOT a portal issue.
• AVS mismatch: Address Verification failed because the billing address doesn’t match what’s on file with the card issuer. Common when customers use a shipping address instead of billing.
• CVV failure: Wrong security code entered.
• Gateway credentials expired/invalid: If ALL customers are getting declined, the merchant account credentials may have changed. Check gateway settings.
• Test mode: If the gateway is in test/sandbox mode, real cards will be declined.

Q: How do I check a payment gateway’s transaction log?

A: The portal doesn’t store full transaction logs — those live in the gateway’s own dashboard:

• Authorize.Net: Log into merchant.authorize.net → Transactions → search by date, amount, or customer name.
• Stripe: Log into dashboard.stripe.com → Payments → search by amount, email, or payment intent ID.
• PayPal: Log into business.paypal.com → Activity → search transactions.

The portal’s order record will show the payment status and sometimes a transaction ID that can be used to look up the transaction in the gateway dashboard. If you don’t have access to the merchant gateway, ask the customer to check or escalate to someone with access.

Q: Gift cards aren’t working at checkout. What do I check?

A: Gift card functionality is configured in Cockpit → FP Administration → Gift Card Settings. Common issues:

• Feature not enabled: Gift cards must be explicitly enabled in settings.
• Balance depleted: The gift card may have been fully used. Check the gift card balance in Sales → Gift Cards.
• Expired: Some gift cards have expiration dates.
• Not activated: Gift cards generated but not yet activated won’t work at checkout.

Q: When should I escalate payment/checkout issues?

A: Handle yourself if:

• Customer can’t find a payment method (check restrictions and roles).
• Individual card declines (customer’s bank issue).
• Gift card balance inquiries.
• Checkout field configuration changes.

Escalate to senior dev if:

• Payment charged but order not in SAP (high priority).
• ALL customers experiencing payment failures (gateway credential issue).
• Gateway configuration changes needed (API keys, switching gateways).
• Credit limit enforcement setup.
• Checkout flow customization beyond Cockpit settings.
• Refund processing through the portal (if supported).

Related Articles

• FAQ — Payments & Checkout (customer-facing)
• INTERNAL FAQ — Orders & Order Management
• INTERNAL FAQ — SAP Integration & Sync
• Checkout Settings (KB article)
• Payment Methods (KB article)
• Payment Restrictions (KB article)
• Pay Order Now (KB article)
• Gift Card Settings (KB article)