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Nerve Centre KPIs · Audit Profile · Sentiment Settings Authorize.Net state matters when it’s tied to captured revenue and checkout friction. This audit answers: (1) is the API Login ID / Transaction Key pair valid and the environment (sandbox/production) correct, (2) is the success rate holding and which reason codes / FDS rules drive declines, (3) are refunds, chargebacks, disputes and settlement timing under control vs the Visa/Mastercard monitoring thresholds, and (4) does payment friction map to lost revenue and support load via the commerce + support siblings.

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What this audit checks

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Authentication & access

  • Credential pair valid (authenticateTestRequest probe on /xml/v1/request.api)
  • Environment matches intent (api.authorize.net in production, apitest.authorize.net in sandbox)
  • Signature Key present so inbound webhook signatures can be verified (SHA-512)
  • Transaction Reporting API enabled on the account (read scope for getTransactionListRequest)

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Transaction health

  • Success rate below 90% (or a -3pp drop vs prior week)
  • Decline rate above 8% (and which responseReasonCode dominates)
  • A card network authorising below 85% (network-specific breakage: Visa vs MC vs Amex)
  • DO_NOT_HONOR (reason 2) concentrated on a single BIN range (issuer fraud-flag wave)
  • 3DS challenge abandon rate above 30% (Cardinal UX friction / abandonment risk)
  • FDS hold-rate above 2% (Fraud Detection Suite rules too tight, suppressing revenue)

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Refunds & disputes

  • Refund rate above 8% of revenue (or a +25% spike vs the trailing baseline)
  • Chargeback rate above 0.9% (Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program / Mastercard ECM threshold)
  • Dispute rate above 1% (active disputes share of settled)
  • Active disputes approaching respondBy deadline with no evidence submitted
  • Dispute win rate below 35% (weak evidence packs or response too slow)

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Settlement timing

  • Average settlement time above 5 days (cash-flow risk vs acquirer T+1/T+2 cards, T+3/T+5 ACH)
  • Oldest pending payout above 5 days (capture stuck on chargeback hold / FDS reserve / acquirer issue)
  • A settlement batch in settlementError state
  • Pending balance growing while volume is flat (settlement is slowing)

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Cross-channel: payments-to-revenue (the killer area)

  • Decline spike correlated with a commerce-sibling checkout-funnel completion drop in the same window (real lost revenue, not buyer remorse)
  • Authorize.Net captured volume vs commerce-sibling order revenue mismatch > 2% (reconciliation gap)
  • Refund spike correlated with a commerce returns spike in the same window
  • Failed-payment / declined shoppers opening support conversations (sibling support_helpdesk) - friction driving support load
  • Decline-rate spike during a campaign push (paying for traffic that can’t pay)

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Severity thresholds

SignalWarnCritical
success_rate92-
decline_rate58
refund_rate58
chargeback_rate0.50.9
dispute_rate0.51.0
threedsecure_abandon_rate1530
avg_settlement_days35
oldest_pending_payout_days35

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Data sources

  • POST https://{api_host}/xml/v1/request.api - getTransactionListRequest - transactions by batch/date for success / decline / refund / payment-method / 3DS
  • POST report:getSettledBatchListRequest - Settled batch day totals - volume trend, settlement timing, batch success
  • POST report:getUnsettledTransactionListRequest - Captured-not-yet-settled (pending payouts) + chargeback-flagged rows
  • POST report:getTransactionDetailsRequest - Single-transaction detail incl. reason codes, AVS/CVV, 3DS status