How payments work in Recurly
Recurly's documentation says to connect Authorize.Net to Recurly to process credit card transactions. It supports recurring subscriptions and payments, both online and by phone or mail order, and it is available on all Recurly plans.
You need your own Authorize.Net account and enter its API Login ID and Transaction Key in Recurly. You also choose the card types and currencies your account accepts.
Recurly is subscription billing software.
This guide covers online and invoice payments, the ones Recurly takes through its payment connection.
What changes and what stays
What changes
- The payment connection inside Recurly: either a new gateway login, or a new account behind the gateway you already use. We tell you which after we read your statement.
- Who settles your card money and sends your monthly statement.
- Your fees. We show you the real numbers from your own statement and never predict them.
What stays
- Recurly itself, with your customers, records and the way you work.
- What your customers see when they pay, in most cases.
Who this suits
Best fit
- A subscription business with a steady base of saved cards that wants a planned, supported move.
- Your processing contract is near its end, or you can time a change around it.
- You have not looked at your statement in a while and want a person to read it with you.
Not a fit
- A business that needs 3-D Secure on every payment. Check that with your next gateway before you move.
- Your statement is already clear and you are happy with it. Then the honest answer may be to stay where you are.
- You are in the middle of a contract with a large early cancellation fee and cannot time a change.
What a switch involves
- Send your latest statement. A person reads it with you and works out your effective rate. This is free and there is no pressure to switch.
- We check what Recurly allows for your setup. Plans and settings differ, so we confirm what your Recurly account can do. If the honest answer is to stay, we say so.
- Apply for the new account, if a change makes sense. This takes business and bank details. How long it takes varies with the account review and with any hardware involved.
- Update the payment connection in Recurly. Enter the new connection details in your payment settings and run a test payment before you tell customers anything.
- Move saved cards and recurring payments, then close the old account. Do this when your contract allows it. Closing the old account too early can stop recurring charges.
Timing varies. We give you a realistic timeline for your setup when we read your statement.
What to watch
- Recurly's page says Authorize.Net does not return raw card reference numbers, so moving away from Authorize.Net takes help. Recurly says to contact its support, who start a migration with Authorize.Net.
- Recurly's page says Authorize.Net does not support 3-D Secure, an extra check some card issuers ask for.
- Cards your customers have saved on file. Ask whether they can be moved to the new setup, or whether customers would need to enter them again.
- Recurring billing and subscriptions, which are tied to those saved cards.
- Gift card balances, if you sell gift cards.
- Card surcharges. Card network rules and some state laws limit them, so check before you add or keep one.
- Your current contract end date and any early cancellation fee.
Questions merchants ask
Will my subscribers have to re-enter their cards?
Not necessarily. Recurly says moving off Authorize.Net is a support-led migration, so ask Recurly before you cancel anything.
Which plans include this?
Recurly's page says Authorize.Net is available on all Recurly plans.
Does Recurly cover payments by phone?
Its page says the Authorize.Net connection supports ecommerce and mail or telephone order payments.
How do I see what I pay now?
Open your monthly processing statement and add up every fee. Divide that total by your card sales for the month. The result is your effective rate, the real percentage you pay after every fee. Our free statement review walks you through it.
See what you pay, for free
A person reads your statement with you and tells you what each fee means and whether a different processor is even possible with Recurly. There is no pressure to switch.