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Process a Card-Present Payment

Goal: Take a credit/debit card payment in person at a fundraising event, ReStore, or office reception using a Finix terminal — and have the gift show up cleanly in Ayuna immediately.

When you'd do this​

  • A walk-in donor wants to give at the office
  • A gala attendee makes a gift at the welcome table
  • A ReStore customer makes a donation at checkout (separate from a sale)
  • A board member writes a check on the spot — actually, that's not card-present, but the same intake desk handles both

For online and offline-card gifts, use Record a One-Time Gift instead.

Prerequisites​

  • The terminal is registered and active under Payments → Devices
  • Finix is configured (see Configure Payment Processing)
  • Staff are trained on the terminal's basic operation (tap/swipe/insert prompts)

At the moment of the gift​

  1. Identify the donor — search Ayuna by name or email and open the profile, or create a new donor record
  2. Start a card-present donation flow
  3. Capture amount, fund, optional campaign, and any tribute info
  4. Hand the terminal to the donor — they tap, swipe, or insert
  5. Wait for the SUCCEEDED state on the terminal display
  6. The donation record is created automatically; the receipt emails (per donor's preferences)

If the card declines, the donor will see the decline on the terminal. Don't retry without their authorization. Often a tap re-attempt or moving to a chip insert resolves a momentary read failure.

Confirming the gift posted​

After the donor leaves:

  • The donation appears on their profile immediately
  • The journal entry posts to the GL on the next sync
  • The transfer state on the donation tracks the Finix settlement (PENDING → SUCCEEDED for card transactions; ACH-equivalent flows take longer)

Refunding a card-present gift​

If a donor changes their mind:

  • Open the donation record
  • Use Refund — the refund is processed to the original card
  • The donation is marked refunded, a reverse journal entry is created, and the receipt is voided

Card refunds are full-amount only. For partial refunds, contact your account manager — Ayuna does not currently support partial refunds in the UI.

Terminal troubleshooting​

  • No connection — the terminal's last-seen timestamp is stale on the device list. Check network and power. Reboot the terminal.
  • Decline — common; tap/swipe again, or use a different card
  • Hang during processing — give it 60 seconds before cancelling. Once the terminal cancels, retry; there's no risk of double-charge on a cancelled transaction.

Reconciliation​

Card-present transactions reconcile against Finix settlement reports. Finix's daily settlement transfer hits your bank account; Ayuna's transaction list and Finix's report should match line-for-line on amounts and counts. Discrepancies usually trace to:

  • A pending transfer that hasn't settled yet (timing, not error)
  • A refund that hasn't completed
  • A transaction the donor disputed (chargeback)

See Search and Reconcile Donations for the daily reconciliation flow.