Declined credit cards - issues with error

[travellikesound]

I use authorize.net to process payments. When someone attempts to pay with a declining card or enters invalid info, it redirects back to the payment page and there is an error message at the top of the page indicating an issue. The problem is that the message seems to be missed by customers. They attempt the same payment method over and over and over and get frustrated asking why they keep getting redirected. Is there some way to make this message much more obvious? Maybe move it to a more noticeable section on the page and in a larger size? That or a popup window? I'm sure this is easy to do, but as a front end designer rather than a programmer I'm not entirely sure how to go about it.

 

Also, when these declined transactions are attempted, it show up on the customers bank statements for a short time as a pending charge. Although no funds are taken out and this is only listed temporarily, it results in quite a few upset customers. Has anyone figured out a method of dealing with this issue? Are there any authorize.net settings that can be adjusted to avoid this?

 

Thanks!

[madinchina]

I'm not sure about your second question, but here's some code to add to get the error message to appear more prominently (in bold red text) on the payment page:

 

In the file /catalog/checkout_payment.php (make a backup of this file before modifying, just in case)

 

Find these lines, around line 223:

		<td><?php echo tep_draw_separator('pixel_trans.gif', '100%', '10'); ?></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
	<td><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2">
	  <tr>
		<td class="main"><b><?php echo TABLE_HEADING_PAYMENT_METHOD; ?></b></td>

 

Add this directly below that last line:

 

<?php $ccnotif = $_GET["error_message"]; ?>
<div style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; color:#FF0000; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic "> <?php echo $ccnotif; ?></div>
<br />

 

Feel free to play around with its location on that page, too.

Edited July 31, 2008 by madinchina

[travellikesound]

Thank you!!!