Mason Marketplace

Getting Started

All Mason units must obtain approval from Fiscal Services prior to accepting credit card payments. The Touchnet Mason Marketplace is the university’s designated online payment portal for card acceptance. Marketplace sites are intended for use by the customer only. Due to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) Mason staff are prohibited from entering customer cardholder data for the customer. If your department is in need of in-person (point of sale) payment card processing please contact Internal Controls.

The Mason Unit or Department Application should be used by departments who have an existing eCommerce presence or would like to establish an eCommerce presence. Click on the Mason Unit or Department link to the right to begin.

The Program, Event or Camp (PEC) Survey should be used by organizations who need eCommerce for an event, a camp or for a one-time or annual program and is available on the Program, Event or Camp link to the right. Completing the PEC Survey alerts Events Management, Fiscal Services, Human Resources, Parking and other campus units that resources may be required for your event. This is especially important for PECs that involve minors (anyone under 18 years of age). Click on the Programs, Events of Camp link to the right to begin.

Accepting ACH Payments

ACH electronic payments are accepted from customer’s personal checking or savings bank accounts. TouchNet Transaction Services validates bank routing and account numbers to ensure that ACH is connected to an existing, open bank account. This helps to prevent payers from submitting a payment with an incorrect routing/account number, when selecting and authorizing an ACH payment or recurring payments. This validation is not able to confirm that the customer’s bank account contains sufficient funds to cover the marketplace purchase or if savings account type (if chosen) is authorized by the user’s bank to permit ACH withdrawals. There is a risk that payment cannot be completed.

• For each ACH returned by the bank for any reason, the department must charge a $50 return item fee to the customer. The department is responsible for fee collection.
• The department should consider if transaction amounts warrant potential return fee.
• Checks from business accounts are not accepted.

It is the departments’ responsibility to have appropriate staff to process and monitor the collection effort and accounting as outlined in the TouchNet ACH Payment Guide.Credit Card Processing Fees

Mason accepts the card brands VISA and MasterCard. These card brands, along with Elavon – Mason’s payment card processor, impose fees for using their payment networks. For each customer card transaction processed, the merchant (Mason) is charged a processing fee ranging from 2-4 percent. These fees will be allocated to your department or unit monthly and you will receive notification of the amount charged.  It is the departments responsibility to incorporate the cost of doing business into the price of the goods or services being offered so we recommend adding an additional 5 percent to cover this cost. Additionally, departments must maintain sufficient funds in the general ledger (GL) expense account where your processing fees will be posted.