Processing with Party Center Pay

Overview

Our proprietary credit and debit card solution provides a great user experience at a great rate. Party Center Pay was created to simplify the credit processing experience. We are currently only able to offer Party Center Pay in the United States.

Please visit this page to sign up for Party Center Pay

Party Center Pay EMV

An EMV account is used to process payments through a chip reader, and a chip reader is required to use this type of account. You will typically want to order one chip reader for each POS Station. Party Center Pay EMV is the currently the only option for debit. You will not be able to process a debit transaction through Party Center Pay Hosted, as debit requires the card to be physically present.

Note: Chip readers must be ordered directly from us. You will have the opportunity to do so while signing up for Party Center Pay.

The following models have been tested and are supported for use with Party Center Software:

• Ingenico Lane/3000 (requires an Ethernet connection)
• Ingenico Link/2500 (requires a WiFi connection)

The following models are tested and work with Party Center Pay, but are no longer supported:

• Ingenico iPP320 (requires an Ethernet connection)
• Ingenico iSMP4 (requires a WiFi connection)
• Verifone MX 915 (requires an Ethernet connection)
• Verifone MX 925 (requires an Ethernet connection)

A Party Center Pay EMV account can only be used to process transactions from the Management side of Party Center Software. It can be used to process payments in both Party Orders and Point of Sale Orders.

Party Center Pay Hosted

A Party Center Pay Hosted account can be used to process MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order) transactions from the management side, as well as Ecommerce transactions from the consumer side. The same Party Center Software Hosted account can be used for both at the same time. Party Center Pay Hosted can only handle credit, debit must be run through Party Center Pay EMV.

Processing through a Party Center Software Hosted account requires the credit card information be manually typed into the payment screen.

Click here to walk through how to process a transaction with Party Center Pay MOTO!

Party Center Pay Swiped

A special account and a specially encrypted card swiper are both required to run Party Center Pay Swiped transactions. This account must be set up by our support staff, and the swiper must be ordered from us. This option is faster than EMV, but offers virtually no protection against chargebacks and is less secure. It is not recommended unless there is an explicit need. If you do opt to explore this option, we only recommend using Party Center Pay Swiped to process small amounts.

Party Center Pay Swiped can only handle credit, as a PIN number is required to process debit.

Setting Up Your Accounts

When you sign up with Party Center Pay, you will be sent an email containing your account information, Merchant ID, and login information for our MerchantTrack portal. You will be given one Merchant ID. The same merchant number will be used for both your EMV and Hosted account.

Once you have signed up for Party Center Pay, you can work directly with our support staff to set up your account for processing in Party Center Software. Please contact support by calling (916) 226-4062 or sending an email to support@partycentersoftware.com.

Note: Every chip reader MUST connect directly to your network. The Ingenico iPP320, Ingenico Lane/3000, and the Verifone MX 925 DO NOT plug into your computer, but rather into your router. The Ingenico iSMP4 and Ingenico Link/2500 connect to your router via WiFi.

If there is a considerable distance between your Point of Sale and your router, consider going wireless with the Link/2500.

Network Setup for Currently Supported Chip Readers

Please follow the instructions in this article to connect your Ingenico Lane/3000 to a network.

Please follow the instructions in this article to connect your Ingenico Link/2500 to a WiFi network.

Network Setup for Discontinued Chip Readers

Please follow the instructions in this article to connect your Ingenico iPP320 to a network.

Please follow the instructions in this article to connect your Ingenico iSMP4 to a WiFi network.

Please follow the instructions in this article to connect your Verifone MX 925 to a network.

Processing Debit

You may use a Party Center Pay EMV account to process debit transactions. Once it has been set up for you in Party Center Software, you must do so by first checking "Enable Tip On Chip Reader" before proceeding with the charge:

For additional information on this feature see our Tip on Chip Reader article.

If you are processing a branded debit card (i.e. a debit card with a Visa or MasterCard logo), you will have the option to run the card as either debit or credit. This will be determined by the options you or the customer choose on the chip reader's screen.

Note: You may choose to process either debit or credit through the debit tab.
You CANNOT process debit through the credit tab. If you choose the options on the chip reader for debit while processing through the credit tab, it WILL NOT WORK. 

Processing a Visa Debit Card

If you process a Visa branded debit card through the debit tab, you will be presented with the following options:

• Choose VISA DEBIT to process the card through the credit network
• Choose US DEBIT to process the card through the debit network This will not work through the credit tab!

Processing a MasterCard Debit Card

If you process a MasterCard branded debit card through the debit tab, you will be presented with the following options:

• Choose DEBIT MASTERCARD to process the card through the credit network.
• Choose US DEBIT to process the card through the debit network. This will not work through the credit tab!