Author: Fiscal Services Communication Team

Written Refund Procedures

All Marketplace uStores and uPay sites are required to have written Refund Procedures established in the event of an audit. Fiscal Services provides guidance to departments on what must be included in their Refund Procedures in the Marketplace Refund Procedures.

The most important component to your procedures requires that two individuals be involved in the refund process. One individual to review and approve the refund and another individual with access to the Marketplace uStore/uPay site in the role of Fulfiller with Cancel/Refund Rights/Payment Clerk that can process the refund.

TouchNet stores refund activity within the transaction history which can be used as part of the department documentation for the refund. Departments will need to establish/keep approval related documentation (email, electronic signature sign-off, etc.). Refund documentation needs to be kept for a period of three years.

Fiscal Year-End: Transition to Revenue Detail Codes

It is up to the department to ensure the correct detail code is being used behind each product.

With fiscal year end approaching, Fiscal Services wants to remind departments with uStores/uPay sites that use deferred revenue detail codes to ensure deferred detail codes are changed to revenue detail codes as of Friday, July 1, 2022.

Review the Deferred Revenue Guide for instructions on updating your product to a deferred account as well as changing products back to revenue detail codes for the new fiscal year.  This change can be set up in advance under Status Management to automate these scheduled changes. Be sure to add this information to your annual process procedures for TouchNet uStore/uPay management. 

Refund Policy Acknowledgement

New Copy Option Replaces Clone

Many experienced Marketplace users were left wondering and slightly panicked when they discovered the CLONE option was no longer available. Good News – there is a new COPY option located on the Products page. Selecting the Copy button will initiate a series of prompts that will take you through the copy features.

You will be shown the the products from the Stores you have access to (including the product(s) in the current store – this replaces the Clone feature). Or you can copy products from other stores you have access to. To get started go to your Products list from the Store Settings menu.

Follow the Status and Category prompts to copy the desired product(s).

Enter the information for the New Product: name, stock number, pricing, shipping class etc. and select Copy.

To view an example of the copy feature in action, select the 8.2 TouchNet Webinar featuring many of the features in the recent 8.2 upgrade by Clicking Here.

Marketplace User Audit

Merchant Coordinators or Store/Site Managers must log into their Store/uPay sites at least once annually to verify there is adequate user coverage in necessary roles and ensure successful separation of duties critical for effective internal controls. Separating functional responsibilities ensures errors whether intentional/unintentional cannot be made without being discovered by another person.

Select Users on the left side menu to see who has access to your store and their roles.

Key roles are limited to a primary and backup. Users in roles above the recommended limit must be removed. Click here for separation of duties for uStore Roles or uPay Roles.

uStore Roles

Store Manager	No more than 2. Exception if there is a designated Marketplace Coordinator for that Merchant. Merchant Coordinators have access to all stores within the merchant.
Fulfiller with Cancel/Refund Rights	No more than 2
Accountant	No more than 2*. The designated primary accountant is responsible for reconciling the accounts within the store on a monthly basis and will be provided access to Marketplace reports on a shared Accountant drive to aid with reconciliation and credit card fees.
POS Attendant	No more than 3

uPay Roles

Site Manager	No more than 2. *Exception if there is a designated Marketplace Coordinator for that Merchant. Merchant Coordinators have access to all stores within the merchant.
Payment Clerk	No more than 2
Accountant	No more than 2*. The designated primary accountant is responsible for reconciling the accounts within the store on a monthly basis and will be provided access to Marketplace reports on a shared drive to aid with reconciliation and credit card fees.

*There are circumstances that allow for additional individuals in some roles. Contact commerce@gmu.edu if you have questions.

Cashless Campus Initiative

We appreciate your continued feedback and patience as we work through this transition. As a reminder, the Cashier’s Office will remain closed to walk-in customers and beginning July 1, 2021 will only accept deposits containing currency by appointment for limited purposes. Deposits of checks may be placed in the drop box in SUB 1 outside of room 1501.

We are exploring additional payment options that will enable Mason to minimize payment handling on campus and will provide periodic updates. Information on transitioning departmental currency and cash collections to Mason Marketplace is below. For specific questions on situations or alternative payment methods please contact fscomm@gmu.edu.

What does Cashless Campus mean?

In an effort to reduce contact, improve the safety, eliminate manual processes, and increase security over transactions, all departments are requested to convert currency and check collection to Mason Marketplace. Students are encouraged to access Bill + Payment for tuition and fee payments. Additional information for student payments is available on the Cashier’s Office webpage.

Transition to Mason Marketplace

Mason Marketplace is the currently available eCommerce solution for the Mason community. Powered by TouchNet Marketplace Suite, the Mason Marketplace makes it easy for departments and campus organizations to create, manage and operate online storefronts, registration sites and secure payment portals with minimal training and seamless financial integration. Click here to explore more.

Current Alternatives to Currency Collection

Develop an online store front for your unit, department, event or organization to collect credit card payments in advance or onsite using a QR code. Please visit the Mason Marketplace webpage to learn more.
Inform your clients/participants that cash will not be accepted ahead of time and encourage them to bring a check, money order, or payment card to the event.

Department Check Collection Guidance

Recurring payments or those with high transaction volumes (i.e., rental payments, event registrations, etc.) received by the department should be transitioned to Mason Marketplace.

Sporadic and intermittent revenue (i.e., payment refunds, incoming sponsorships, etc.) received by the department may be placed in the drop box in SUB 1 outside of room 1501. Please include a Cash Receipt detailing the deposit instructions.

Accounts Payable Auto Direct Deposit

In an effort to provide more efficient and cost-effective payment processing, Fiscal Services will routinely enroll all Mason employees in Accounts Payable Direct Deposit for travel and business expense reimbursements.

Fiscal Services will automatically match the Accounts Payable Deposit to the employees’ primary Payroll direct deposit account. No change will be made to employees who have self-enrolled in Accounts Payable Deposit using an alternative account. The AP Direct Deposit guide provides instructions for employees to view and make changes to their current account in Patriot Web. Please contact Accounts Payable at acctpay@gmu.edu for assistance or questions regarding this process.

Mandatory and Specialized Purchases

Search the table below for mandatory or specialized purchase ordering instructions and helpful links. Any VASCUPP contract may be used for all contract categories, except office supplies which are limited to The Supply Room (TSRC) and Amazon Business. . VASCUPP contracts may be searched at /purchasing/purchase-goods-or-services/search-for-an-existing-contract/

Can I Purchase…?

All purchases must be essential to the mission, vision, and operations of the University. Every purchase should be carefully assessed prior to the purchase to ensure that it is reasonable and economical. All faculty and staff must comply with comprehensive financial requirements that have been set forth by the State and University. The Virginia Department of Accounts has the authority to question any State-funded expenditure

This list is intended to provide a basic guide for University allowable/unallowable purchases. Purchase circumstances will vary widely, thus adequate documentation should always be available for review. This list is not all-inclusive and will not provide insight into all aspects of a particular purchase. Please, ensure that you are carefully reviewing the Manuals and Training Material for additional information related to purchasing at Mason, in addition to the Mandatory and Specialize Purchasing list, and the commonly used Existing Contracts list. Please review the Purchasing website for more information and additional resources.

Managing uStore Availability

Congratulations! You have been authorized a Go Live for customer transactions for your Marketplace uStore. Now what?

Information displayed in your Marketplace Stores must be keep up-to-date and as current as possible. Use the following guidelines to help us achieve this goal.

Web Availability – Preview, Enable, or Disable

Change the web availability of your uStore by selecting the gear icon to the right of your uStore name and selecting one of the options from the drop down menu.

Stores that are active and current should be in an Enabled status (View Store) so customers can easily access your store via the Mason Marketplace Mall or link you provide to them.

Indicate event dates on the store landing page or within product descriptions so it is obvious to your users and clear to Fiscal Services that your events, products and store are current or upcoming.

If your event has passed, the information is no longer current or displays a future event, we request the Store Manager change the status of the store to Preview (View Store Preview). Stores in Preview are not available to shoppers and do not appear in the Mall. Once placed in preview mode, a store can only be viewed by the Store Manager from their administrative access. This also lets Fiscal Services know that this store is viable, will be utilized at some point in the future, but is waiting to be updated.

There are exceptions to this rule. If a department wishes to provide access to event follow up information such as video links or presentation files for attendees, include a statement on the storefront that the event is over, and how to locate the event information. Add a message to users when they can check back to the store for updated information for next upcoming event.

Stores are placed in a Disabled web status when a store was used for a one-off event and is no longer needed. Shoppers will not be able to shop at this store and the store will not appear in the Mall.