Synchronous payment flow

In Zuora, by default, the payment status is synchronously set based on the response that Zuora receives from the network. The Payment Status field can be one of the following values:

• Processing

• Processed

• Error

• Voided

The following chart displays the synchronous payment flow:

For payment card (credit card or debit card) transactions, the response from the card network is usually an immediate approval or a decline. For example, a Processed payment means that the transaction is approved for payment by the payment card network after the network checks the account information and available balance. If a decline is received from the payment card network, the Payment Status should be Error in Zuora.

For ACH and Bank Transfer (also known as Direct Debit) transactions, there is no immediate approval for a payment. Instead, the payment gateway will respond with an initial approval or decline after checking the format of the bank account number, the transit routing number, and other specific Bank Transfer information. If Zuora gets an initial approval from the payment gateway, the Payment Status is Processed . If a decline is received by Zuora, the Payment Status is Error . A processed payment in Zuora will decrease the invoice balance, even though the ACH or Bank Transfer payment might fail later. The Processed status for ACH or Bank Transfer transactions does not mean the payment is truly completed and settled. You must use gateway reconciliation and leverage other status fields such as Gateway State to determine the true status of the payment.

For descriptions of Payment Status values, see Payment Status values .

Asynchronous payment flow

In the synchronous payment flow, the status of electronic direct debits (labeled as ACH and Bank Transfer in Zuora) might not be accurate because the Processed status is set based on the initial approval or decline from the payment gateway. It does not mean the payment is truly completed and settled.

Zuora offers opt-in support for the asynchronous payment flow for electronic ACH and Bank Transfer transactions. The Pending payment status is included to indicate that transactions are awaiting settlement confirmation, in addition to the other statuses available in the synchronous payment flow (Processing, Processed, Error, Voided). If this support is enabled, after you create an electronic ACH or Bank Transfer payment through the UI or the REST API operations, the payment is in a Pending status upon successful network communication with the gateway. For descriptions of Payment Status values, see Payment Status values .

The following chart displays the asynchronous payment flow:

Payments in the Pending status can be canceled, applied, and unapplied, but cannot be refunded or transferred. To transition from a Pending status to another status, you must either cancel the payment or use any of the following Gateway Reconciliation services:

• Batch Gateway Reconciliatiton

• Real-Time Reconcilation

• Payment Gateway Reconciliatiton API operations

If the payment is settled, the Payment Status field is set to Processed and the Gateway State field is set to Settled . If the payment is rejected, the Payment Status field is set to Error and the Gateway State field is set to FailedToSettle . Since the gateway is moved to Error, no external refund is created. If the payment is reversed before it is settled, the Payment Status field is set to Processed and the Gateway State field is set to Settled . An external refund is created to reverse the journal entry.

Troubleshoot transactions

• If you find a payment stuck in Processing status and you want to manually update the transaction status, see Update the status of a payment stuck in Processing .

• To find out more information about the communication between Zuora and the gateway for payment method creation, verification, and payment processing, see Discover information about payment method creation and payment processing .