Bulk CSV Credit Card Importer

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byraymondmimick
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Overview

This app is used to take a CSV file and submit each transaction to the BFC Gateway. The assumption is that the CSV file contains a reference number, the card number (unencrypted), card type (see list of card type possibilities below), expiration date as YYMM, Auth Code (or blank if not provided), Amount (Final amount for the transaction, post-tip amount), and Tip Amount (if provided).

Requirements

  • Windows 10, 1809 or newer (use the “winver” command from the “Run” prompt)
  • .NET 4.6.1 installed (already installed with Windows 10, version 1809)
  • Internet Connection to BFC Gateway (you can check by navigating to https://gateway.bfc-usa.com)

How to Import a File

Bulk CSV App
  1. Select a file or provide a file name in the Import File text box. Clicking the “…” button will allow you to select the file. If you have previously processed an import, the system will ask if you wish to reset the Batch ID. If this file is for a new merchant or a new batch of transactions, select “Yes.”
  2. Determine the number of “header” records to skip. Typically, this value should be “1” to allow it to skip the column header
  3. Verify the column order matches what the file contains. You can use -1 for no previous Auth Code and the system will submit the transaction for re-auth. Additionally, if you provide a column and the value is missing, the system will re-authorize the transaction. -2 in the Tip field will tell the system to skip that field. Be sure to close the file out of Excel before importing.
  4. Determine if you are running “sales” or “refunds.” If refunds, set the “Run as Credit” check box to checked. If sales, make sure this check box is unchecked.
  5. “Ignore Duplicates” – determines if every transaction should be submitted without checking a 5-minute window for a duplicate transaction (same card, same amount)
  6. Lookup the Gateway Login and Password from the BFC https://admin.bfc-usa.com site using the Gateway -> View Gateway Login
View Gateway Login Pae
  1. Click the “New Batch ID” button if you are working with a new batch of transactions for this merchant. This marks ALL transactions being imported together so that you can settle the batch.
  2. Click on the “GO” button to start the import process. You will need to have the file closed out of Excel if it is open.
    You will see a counter in the “Record ID/Output” text box.
    Once the import is complete, a message box will display the number of successful records and the total number of rows found in the file. You should verify the number of success matches the total records and the amount displayed match before moving to the next step.
Import Status to be concerned with – only 2 successful out of 3 rows

If there was an error, the Output window will show an error stack trace that BFC can look at. You can also examine the Output.log file to see what line in the file may have caused the problem (it will record the last successful imported record as it processes).

If you correct the file, create a new file with the remaining items and choose it to start the import. You can leave the “Batch ID” the same and the transaction(s) will be added same batch.

  1. Once all the transactions are imported, click the “Close Batch” button. It will take a little time to submit. With a very large batch, it may return an error message stating it has had a time out. Pressing the Close Batch button a second time will check the status of the close batch.
    The final result will show a “successful” or “failure” message status.
  • Confirm Batch Close
  • Successful Batch Close
  • Closed Batch Failed

Import File Details

Each import file needs to contain (at a minimum), the following fields:

  • Card Number
  • Card Type (see the card type list below)
  • Expiration Date
  • Amount (final amount to settle for)

The additional fields that can be provided:

  • Auth Code (use a space or empty value when you wish to re-authorize the transaction)
  • Tip Amount – the part of the “amount” field that is associated with a tip for the merchant.

Card Type List

For each card type, the system recognizes the following values for the specific card type (case is insensitive):

  • Visa: VI, Visa, V, VS
  • MasterCard: MC, MasterCard, CA, Master
  • Discover: DV, DS, DSC, Discover, DiscoverCard, Disc
  • American Express: AE, AX, American Express, AXP, Amex

Buttons/Functions

There are additional buttons on the screen that are provided to assist the user when using the tool. Below is a few of the options:

Help: This link starts a browser windows and navigates to this page.

Skip #: Determine how many lines at the top of the file to skip. If the file contains a header, this value will be 1. If you have 5-6 lines of text before the actual rows of content, adjust this value accordingly.

Reference Number Column: Use Line Number for Refence Number: When you check this check box, it will disable the Reference Number column input field and then use the line number of the record in the file.

Run as Credit: Tells Gateway to submit each record as a credit to the account (ie, a refund)

Ignore Duplicates: Tells Gateway to not examine previous transactions for any duplicate transactions (same card, same amount within a 10 minute window).

Reset 1: The reset button reverts all of the column fields back to the startup values – Ref Num Col: 0, Card Number Col: 1, Card Type Col: 2, Expiration Date Col: 3, Auth Code Col: 4, Final Amount Col: 10.

Reset 2: Hover the mouse over the button to see the order of the columns in the file. This reset option assumes a specific file format that contains the following order of data: Store, Term, Card Number, Date, Time, Card Type, Vendor, Expiration Date, Auth Code, Amount, Host Adjust

Reset 3: Hover the mouse over the button to see the order of the columns in the file. This reset option assumes a specific file format that contains the following order of data: Term, Account Number, Date, Card Type, Exp Date, Auth Num, Amount.

Save Cols: Saves the current column order into a config file so that when you start the application, this is the column order that is loaded. This is to allow each user to have their own file format that they use readily available.

Get Gateway User and Password: This link will open a browser and take the user to the View Gateway Login page.

Paste Icon Gateway User Name and Password: The paste icon will take the value from the Windows Clipboard and place the content into the appropriate text box.

Save GW URL: Saves the Gateway URL specified into the registry. User must have Administrator Rights to the computer in order to save the value. Once saved, this value is read each time the application is opened.

New Batch ID: generate a new uniquely random number sequence for the next step in the application.

Log File: This file name is the current operation log file – it will overwrite this name when you press the “Go” button or the “Close Batch” button. You can change this file with the text box or the “…” button.

Query: The Query button will take the Batch ID value and ask Gateway to return all transactions that match the Batch ID. It will output a CSV list in the output window with the last column showing approved/declined status of the transaction (this is also included in the log file specified).

Returned Transaction List From Query Button

Copy Icon next to Record ID/Output box: The copy icon will take the text in the output box and place it into the Windows Clipboard. Use this to save the content or update a support record.

Errors

This section shows you some of the errors you may encounter when using the application and some suggestions on how to work through the error.

Invalid Column Ordering

The application does attempt to validate each line in the file for the data expected. As a result, you may experience an message in the bottom of the application in the Record ID/Output text box details an issue found within the input file.

Data Input issues

In this case, the Column order is incorrect and needed to be re-checked.

Duplicate Column or Missing Data

When specifying the columns in the file, if two columns have the same number, when you press the “Go” button, it will generate an error and highlight the duplicate fields.

Duplicate Column or Missing Data

In this example, you can see both Reference Number and Card Number both have “1” as the column. Change one or the other value, after checking the input file. As you can see, the error message also displayed a message about a missing Input file and the Gateway User name and Password are missing. Please add these details before pressing “Go” again.

Invalid Gateway Login/Password

BFC has experienced some situations where the Gateway User Name has an extra space added to the database but you, as a user, cannot add this space to the login name or password. Please contact BFC to update the login details if this occurs.

Download File

The application is compiled to included everything needed to run except the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1 (click the link to download the file), which has been included in Windows 10, version 1509 and newer (click here to see details) (you can see your specific version by using the “winver” app from the Start-Run command). Please the downloaded file in the directory where you will put your CSV file(s) to process and run the application.

Version 1.0.5

Release Date: 1/21/2021

Details: This version includes the majority of the features needed to import credit card transactions to the BFC Gateway.

Download Link: BulkCSV1.0.5.exe.