How to keep duplicate credit card charges from being rejected

If you're using the X-Charge or Cayan software for credit card processing through Campground Master, you may have noticed that it will reject duplicate charges (for the same amount for the same customer if they happen on the same day).  A common reason situation this comes up is if the one person is making deposits for multiple reservations.

There are a few ways to avoid this problem:

1. You can tell X-Charge to allow duplicate transactions -- in the X-Charge Server, go to Setup, click the Credit Cards section, and check the box to Allow duplicate transactions.  Also, you need to enable "Allow duplicate..." in Network Setup on Campground Master (this is an option in later versions -- earlier versions will always allow duplicates).

HOWEVER, we don't necessarily recommend this method because it can result in accidental duplicate charges in certain timing conditions (see the next article).

2. You can enter slightly different amounts for the charges.  For instance, enter $49 and $51 instead of two $50 charges.  This is obvious enough but it's a messy solution.

3. If you're trying to make deposits or payments on non-synchronized reservations (as opposed to merchandise sales outside of reservations), then instead of entering separate payments, make the payment for the overall total on the first reservation.  Then use the Transfer Deposit or Transfer Payment function to transfer individual amounts of the payment to the other reservations.  For instance if you need four $25 deposits, enter a Deposit of $100 charged to the credit card.  Then use Transfer Deposit three times to move $25 to each of the other reservations.

Of course this last technique can also be used for any deposit, even if it's paid by check or by a credit card that you don't process through Campground Master.