Citibank Payment Gateway Integration
Posted by leepeng on September 10, 2010
We had our first Citibank payment gateway integration on Jan 2008 and I think it will be good to share our experience.
Citibank provide a good alternative for the available payment gateways in Singapore (PayPal, WorldPay, eNets, NERA etc). I think the good point with Citibank is flexibility. Programmer can basically implement all kind of workflow after mastering the architecture and API. In addition, Citibank do provide full set of payment options (SALE, AUTH/CAPTURE, VBV). However, it is technically more complicated, require more correspondences and take longer time to implement (and of-course it can be more expensive)
Ask yourself these questions before you call Citibank
- Do you really need Citibank? Do you need a full fledged payment engine? Or simpler payment interface like PayPal and WorldPay can satisfy your need?
- Is Citibank already your aquirer? Have you negotiate a good rate with them?
- What payment mode do you need, SALE or AUTH/CAPTURE?
- Do you need to be protected through VbV (Verify by Visa)?
SALE, AUTH/CAPTURE, VbV???
These can sound foreign if you are new to payment gateway integration.
SALE – Credit will be deducted immediately once transaction successful.
AUTH/CAPTURE – AUTH perform the card verification process and authorise the card (reserve the amount). CAPTURE will do the actual deduction from the reserved amount. AUTH/CAPTURE mode is particularly suitable for reservation (e.g. hotels, flights) and deposit payment.
VbV stands for Verify by Visa (and Master). With VbV activated, card holder with VbV activated will required to key in a security code during online payment. This security code is normally set when the card issuer issued the card and normally can be reset / changed via bank’s online portal or ATM machine. With VbV activated, merchant can reduce the charged back risk if fraud case happen.
The Process
It is not that straight forward to get this payment up and running. In summary here are the steps
1.) Approach Citibank online payment team to create a payment gateway account. You will need to decide the currency, the payment mode (SALE or AUTH/CAPTURE) and if you need VbV to be activated. These will eventually affects the number of online payment accounts you need to open with Citibank.
2.) Receive test account from Citibank
3.) Payment gateway development and integration based on the test account
4.) Payment testing based on test account. Citibank will then required a test report to be submitted to them in order for them to issue the LIVE account.
5.) Issue of LIVE account (not activated)
6.) Payment testing based on LIVE account. Additional test cases will be needed if VbV is turned on and this can only be done at the LIVE account. Citibank will then required a comprehensive test report to be submitted before they giving green light to activate the LIVE account.
7.) LIVE account activated and you can start collecting money.