University of Dayton e-Commerce Solutions include the following:
- TouchNet® Marketplace™
- uStore
- uPay
How do I use Marketplace?
What is uPay?
What are uStores?
Can I take credit card payments from packaged software?
How do we access the funds?
What reports will I see?
How do I get started?
How do I use Marketplace?
One of the first decisions that you will want to consider is how you want to use Marketplace. If you already have a self-contained business application, it may make sense to continue to use that business application and link it to a uPay site for collection of the payments. On the other hand, if you are considering whether or not to write a business application, creating a new uStore instead might be a better and faster option. A key component in this decision is understanding the difference between uStores and uPay.
What is uPay?
uPay is a PCI Compliant payment application that allows you to take payments via the web from an existing website. uPay focuses on payment collection and payment reporting while your business application provides the core business functionality including things like, managing inventory or registrations. To use this, you must have an existing website and you must have access to modify the programming. Examples of business applications currently using uPay at the University of Dayton include Active Flyers, Parking Services, and Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF). If you have a Cascade website, there is a ready-to-use uPay form that can be added to a page for initiating the payment process.
Content Options
After your application has been accepted, the MarketPlace Team will contact you to request detailed information for setting up the uPay account. Be prepared to provide the following:
- Completed FOAPAL string associated with the account ledger that will be receiving the funds
- Name of your department's budget manager
- Completed End User Agreement
- Refund policy
Explanation of uPay Content Options
uPay transactions can have one of these payment amounts:
- Pre-determined payment amount(s)
- User-entered payment amount,
- Payment amount passed from an external application
What are uStores?
uStores, also PCI Compliant, is a self-contained online store where you can sell products, take conference registrations, or disseminate electronic media using only the Marketplace tools. You do not need a web site or any programming expertise. Through Marketplace you create an online store which appears as a web page to your customer. You are able to establish store specific settings and products, along with all online store activity such as order fulfillment and reporting.
To view uStores at the University of Dayton: https://secure.touchnet.com/C20221_ustores/web/
uStores can be used in many ways such as, selling traditional products like school apparel or selling nonphysical products such as conference attendance. Here are a few ways that other schools have used uStores:
- Conference and/or Camp Registrations
- Campus music, theater, and entertainment events that do not require a seating chart
- Donations
- Cafeteria services (such as birthday cakes for students)
- Coordinating the issuing of non-chargeable events such as Graduation tickets
uStores also have the option to employ TouchNet Point of Sale (POS). If you have a dedicated and secure workstation that meets PCI standards, your department can purchase additional equipment to use with it for receiving payments. This is ideal for a permanent, customer-facing means of receiving payments. There are also mobile devices for taking payments that allow you to take payments anywhere. Visit the billing and accounts office for details on how to temporarily check out a mobile device.
In uStores, products are categorized into three types:
- Donation products are those which do not have a set payment amount and allow the buyer to provide the amount they wish to pay. Donation products can be configured to be one time payments or recur based on a schedule. Donation products also have the option of notifying users designated by the store manager when a donation is received.
- Digital products are those where a digital item can be purchased and then downloaded directly from the uStores. A digital item could be a WAV file of your school’s school song or it could be a recording or other computer file available to your students.
- Generic products are all other products. These could include physical products such as apparel or non physical products such as conference attendance. Most products typically fall into the Generic type.
Content Options
After your application has been accepted, the MarketPlace Team will contact you to request detailed information for setting up the uStore account. Please be prepared to provide:
- uStore item descriptions and prices;
- uStore landing page content;
- uStore splash and optional thumbnail images;
- Prompts for user-supplied information;
- Refund policy
Explanation of uStore Content Options
- Your uStore landing page provides space for descriptive information (no character limit) and a “splash” image up to 920 pixels in width.
- Each “item” in the store can have a thumbnail image (80 pixels x 80 pixels) and a description up to 500 characters. Each item can also have fill-in fields (text entry, checkboxes, and dropdowns) to collect additional user-supplied information (no limit).
- Items can be “free” with an assigned price of $0.
- Each payment transaction can have fill-in fields (text entry, checkboxes, and/or dropdowns) to collect additional user-supplied information (100 characters per item).
Refund Policy Options
- No refunds
- Partial refunds; Examples:
- Cancel within 14 days eligible for xx% return. Cancel within 7 days eligible for xx%.
- The registration fee, less a $x.xx handling charge, will be refunded if cancellation is received by dd/mm/yyyy. There will be no refunds after that date.
Can I take credit card payments from packaged software?
You may have acquired your website, and the supporting software, by purchasing it from another vendor. That vendor may offer their own credit card processing but you may still be able to use uPay. The advantage? Using the TouchNet uPay system is the least expensive way to process payments.
Currently there are several ways that TouchNet can accept a transaction from a 3rd party vendor including:
- Secure TLink Integration with a uPay site. This applies to TouchNet Ready Partners. These are vendors that have completed the integration and provided a certificate to TouchNet for use with their application. The current list can be found on the TouchNet site at www.TouchNet.com Regular uPay Site. This applies if the vendor has not yet completed the integration or is not planning on doing so. In this case, your school and the vendor are responsible for working together to modify their business application as necessary to call and pass information to uPay, as well as, handle any updates to their business application.
- Web Service to the Payment Gateway. This applies if the vendor has been certified with the TouchNet Web Service program. In this case, the vendor collects the payment information in their business application and passes it to the Payment Gateway via a Web Service. This type of transaction is actually completed outside of Marketplace and would be associated with our TouchNet Payment Gateway application.
It is not always possible to incorporate uPay onto a vendor supplied website. The vendor has to be willing to add this function to their software.
How do we access the funds?
Today, the funds associated with credit card payments are transferred to General Ledger accounts through the Office of the Bursar. They review the transactions daily and create General Ledger transfer transactions. Once we go-live with Banner Finance, Marketplace will automatically update the Banner General Ledger system for both uStores and uPay transactions. This update takes the form of a real-time transaction when the uStore order is fulfilled or uPay payment taken. The update takes place via TouchNet’s Banner Connect module and the transaction is added to the Miscellaneous table (TBRMISC) where it is later transferred to the Banner Finance module using our existing Banner procedures.
What reports will I see?
You will have login access to view transaction information in your uStore or uPay account. Transaction reports can be downloaded as CSV files. These are the available reports:
uPay
- # Of Credit Card Transactions
- Total $ Credit Card Transactions
- # Of ACH Transactions
- Total $ ACH Transactions
- Total # Of Transactions
- Total Revenue
uStores: By Product
- Product Name
- Order Id
- Purchaser
- Date Ordered
- Date Fulfilled
- Qty Fulfilled
- Payment Method
- Total Amount Paid
- User-supplied product info
- User-supplied buyer info
uStores: Totals (no detail break-down)
- Store Name
- # of Fulfillments
- # of Items Sold
- Item Amount
- Shipping Amount
- Item + Shipping Amount
uStores: Buyer Information
- Order Id
- Purchaser
- Date Ordered
- Payment Method
- User-supplied buyer info
How do I get started?
To apply for a TouchNet uStore or uPay Marketplace site, complete a TouchNet Marketplace Request. For uStore sites collecting payments and all uPay sites, have the following items ready:
- Completed FOAPAL string associated with the account ledger that will be receiving funds
- Name of your department's budget manager
These are requirements for obtaining a detail code from the bursar, which allows TouchNet to direct your funds to the correct account.
For every TouchNet site, at least one active TouchNet U.Commerce user is required to serve as the owner and manager of the site. If you do not have a U.Commerce login or would like to set up additional users as managers or store clerks, complete an E-Commerce User Agreement for each user.
If you have any questions or technical issues, submit an IT General Help Request.