Authorize.net "x_description"

Question

I need to be able to pass identifying information through to Authorize.net's server so I can use this information when the confirmation comes back for logging purposes. We have information such as IDs for the items we sell on our site, and I'd like to have Authorize.net's response include this information to plug into our database along with the rest of the transaction data that Authorize.net's API natively supplies. Sort of like "merchant-private-data" in Google Checkout carts.

The only field I see that doesn't hold some other specific information in Authorize.net's API is x_description. My question is does the data in x_description get displayed to the customer at any point? The information I'd like to include is sensitive and not for customer's eyes. I've been over the API documentation provided by Authorize.net and it's not clear to me what is done with this field.

If this field is not private, is there a better solution to my problem which I am not seeing?

Answer 1

Dig through their list of API fields and see what you can use. If you want to build a list of line items, for example, look at their x_line_item field. If you're using the AIM/CIM SDK and not telling Authorize.net to e-mail a receipt then I don't see how the customer would see anything you submit to Authorize.net besides the charge on their credit card. If your customer does receive an e-mail directly from Authorize.net though, they will most likely see everything you submit. But double-check the docs I linked to be sure.

Answer 2

You have x_description, but also x_invoice_num and x_po_num. These fields are for the internal use of the merchant. The fields x_description and x_invoice_num can be set in the virtual terminal, if you use it to submit transactions, and also via the API. Authorize.net will return them in the response. If you set any of these two fields in an automatic recurring billing subscription, it will be returned in each individual payment response. They might be included in the email receipt also - I never used the authorize.net email receipt to the buyer. You can disable this email receipt and send your own email receipt.

Answer 3

I know x_description gets sent in plain text to the merchant's email, so I wouldn't use it for anything too sensitive. The description does not, however, appear on my credit card statement (as a customer).

There is another field you can use, refId. It's not well documented, but what you pass in refId will be returned in the response object as refId.

Personally, I recommend creating a database table to store your data, and then use refId to keep track of the insert ID.