Additional Features

Recurring Billing includes these additional features.

System Retry Logic

Cybersource
 automatically retries failed recurring payments based on the type of decline received from the service. The service retries the internal and external payment declines.
If the recurring billing service encounters an internal processing error without sending the request out to the banking network, the service retries the payment until the error is resolved.
If the recurring billing service encounters an external processing error when the request is sent out to the banking network,
Cybersource
 retries the payment before changing the subscription status to suspended. The maximum of retries is five times and is based on the billing frequency. During the retry period,
Cybersource
 changes the subscription status to delinquent.
This example shows the system retry logic based on the billing frequency:
  • Daily
    : retry 1 hour later, 1 time
  • Monthly
    : retry every 2 days, 5 times
  • Weekly
    : retry every 1 day, 3 times
  • Yearly
    : retry every 15 days, 3 times
For a recurring payment that has a custom billing frequency, the recurring billing service retries a failed payment based on the billing frequency. As an example, suppose a payment fails for a recurring billing on a 14-day cycle, The recurring billing service uses the Daily retry logic and every 2 weeks uses the Weekly retry logic, even if the duration is the same.

Customer Notifications

The Recurring Billing service sends email notifications to customers using the email address stored on the customer token. The system sends notifications for three defined payment events:
  • Prepayment Notification: notification of an upcoming recurring payment.
  • Successful Payment Notification: notification of a successful recurring payment.
  • Failed Payment Notification: notification of recurring payment failure.
Cybersource
 sends email notifications from a
Cybersource
 email address.

Example: Notification of Upcoming Subscription Payment

Hello,
Your recurring subscription will be charged to your payment card on file on
${paymentDate}
.
Subscription ID
: 
${subscriptionId}
Subscription Name
: 
${subscriptionName}
Billing Amount
: 
${billingAmount} ${currency}
Set-up Fee
: 
${setupFee} ${currency}
Thank you,
${merchantName}

Example: Notification of Successful Subscription Payment

Hello,
Your recurring subscription has been successfully charged to your payment card on file.
Subscription ID
: 
${subscriptionId}
Subscription Name
: 
${subscriptionName}
Billing Amount
: 
${billingAmount} ${currency}
Set-up Fee
: 
${setupFee} ${currency}
Transaction ID
: 
${transactionId}
Transaction Date
: 
${paymentDate}
Thank you,
${merchantName}

Example: Notification of Failed Subscription Payment

Hello,
Your recurring subscription has failed to charge to your payment card on file.
Subscription ID
: 
${subscriptionId}
Subscription Name
: 
${subscriptionName}
Billing Amount
: 
${billingAmount} ${currency}
Setup Fee
: 
${setupFee} ${currency}
Transaction ID
: 
${transactionId}
Transaction Date
: 
${paymentDate}
Thank you,
${merchantName}

Decision Manager
 Integration

A recurring payment is a credentials-on-file (COF) transaction in a series of payments that you bill to a customer at a fixed amount at regular intervals that do not exceed one year.
Cybersource
 saves and stores payment credentials for recurring transactions, ensuring compliance with COF best practices.
Recurring transactions are considered low risk as compared to unscheduled payments. Therefore, when the
Decision Manager
 fraud detection system is enabled on your account,
Cybersource
 does not submit recurring billing transactions to
Decision Manager
 for fraud screening.
For more information about the
Decision Manager
, you can access the documentation by logging in to the
Business Center
.

Account Updater Integration

Account Updater is integrated with the Recurring Billing functionality so that your customer subscriptions can be kept current with credit card data changes. These changes can include a new expiration date, a new credit card number, or a brand change such as a change from Visa to Mastercard.
For more information relating to Account Updater, contact your
Cybersource
 representative.