In the Rainforest ecosystem, a Payment describes the movement of funds to or from a User on behalf of a Merchant, which includes payins, refunds, ACH returns, and chargebacks.

A Payin is a type of payment and is the movement of funds from a User to a Merchant. All other payment types (refunds, ACH returns, and chargebacks) will be associated to

A payin is identified by the payin_id in the Rainforest ecosystem. The prefix for a payin_id is pyi_ on Production and sbx_pyi on Sandbox.

Rainforest supports processing payins with Card and ACH payment methods. While both methods allow for the movement of funds electronically, they differ in several ways including money movement, deposit timing, billing fees, and security.

Card

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Card payins involve the use of debit or credit cards to pay for goods or services, either via online or with a device. When a User processes a payin with a Card payment method, the payin is authorized through the card network with the customer's issuing bank and Rainforest processes the payin.

Money movement

Authorization occurs in real-time. If the user has enough funds to process the payin amount, then the issuing bank will put a hold on the funds, ensuring the funds are "good funds" and the payin will have a status of Processing. The debit of funds from the User's account is dependent on the type of card, debit or credit, and the user's issuing bank. For debit cards, the timing can vary from a few minutes to the next business day. For credit cards, the timing can vary from one to three business days.

If the user does not have enough funds to process the payin amount, then the card payin will decline in real-time and the payin will have a status of Failed.

Deposit timing

The funds are then deposited to the merchant's bank account depending on the merchant's configured deposit timing. Rainforest's standard is T+1, which is the next business day after the payin processes. For example, a payin processed on Monday would deposit to the merchant on Tuesday. Once the payin is available to be deposited to the merchant, the payin will have a status of Succeeded.

Billing fees

Billing profiles associated with a Card payin involve both card brand interchange (charged as a percentage of volume and a per item fee) and processing fees. Fees are card payins are generally higher than ACH, but the money movement is faster and offers additional security measures such as chargebacks and fraud monitoring.

ACH

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Automated Clearing House (ACH) payins are electronic movement of funds between bank accounts. When a User processing a payin with an ACH payment method, the user initiates the transfer of funds from their bank account to the merchant's bank account. The Automated Clearing House is a financial network that facilitates electronic transfer of funds between bank accounts in the United States. The ACH network is governed by the National Automated Clearing House Association (Nacha), which is an organization that manages and sets the rules for the ACH network.

Money movement

There is not a real-time authorization of funds when processing an ACH payin. The User's issuing bank will work with Rainforest to move the funds and may not know until 2 business days later if there were enough funds in the User's bank account. While the ACH payin is moving through the ACH network, the payin will have a status of Processing. If it is determined there are not enough funds, the ACH payin will result in an ACH return.

Deposit timing

Due to the ACH return window, Rainforest's standard deposit timing of ACH payins to the merchant is T+4. For example, a payin processed on Monday would deposit to the merchant on Friday. Once the payin is available to be deposited to the merchant, the payin will have a status of Succeeded.

Billing fees

Billing profiles associated with an ACH payin are generally less expensive than card payins, as they involve fewer intermediaries and less risk of fraud. However, the money movement is slower than Card payins.

Statuses

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The payin status is the descriptor of the current status in the life cycle of the payin.