AuctionWorx Payment Gateway Integration Guide

Your AuctionWorx payment gateway sets how fast bidders check out, what you pay in processing fees, and how much friction sits between a winning bid and money in your account. It deserves a real decision, not a default.

Systenics, a RainWorx Premium Partner, lists payment gateways among the integrations it builds for AuctionWorx. The gateways it names are Stripe and Authorize.Net, along with escrow and split-payment services for post-sale settlement. Anything beyond those is custom work.

What a payment gateway does

A gateway is not a bank account. It captures and validates card data and passes it to the payment network on your behalf, then tells your site whether the charge went through. Because the gateway handles the card data, you avoid storing raw card numbers yourself.

When a bidder pays, the gateway tokenizes the card and returns an approve or decline response to your site. Your checkout is only as smooth as that round trip.

One warning from Systenics’ own rescue work: AuctionWorx already has a tokenized payment storage system. Systenics has inherited projects where a developer stored partial card data in custom tables instead, which left the client exposed in a compliance audit. Use what the platform gives you, and never store card data in tables you add.

Stripe

Stripe is a hosted-payments provider with a well-documented API and webhooks. A typical integration looks like this:

1. Create a Stripe account and get API keys.
2. Build a payment form that tokenizes the card in the buyer’s browser, so raw card data never touches your server.
3. Submit the token to Stripe to create the charge.
4. Listen for webhooks that confirm whether the payment succeeded or failed.
5. Update the invoice and send the confirmation email.

Stripe supports local payment methods such as iDEAL and Bancontact, but they have to be enabled explicitly. Check that before you launch to buyers in those countries.

Authorize.Net

Authorize.Net is another widely used gateway, and Systenics names it too. The client-side pattern is similar: Accept.js tokenizes the card in the browser, and your code submits the token to the Authorize.Net API.

Plan for these points:

1. Set up a merchant account.
2. Tokenize with Accept.js.
3. Handle both success and decline responses.
4. Reconcile transactions against your bank settlement.
5. Test in their sandbox before going live.

Systenics also has a post on enabling TLS 1.2 for Authorize.Net and Salesforce API calls, which matters if your server is older.

Other processors and escrow

If you need something else, such as a regional processor or an escrow or split-payment service, expect a custom integration. Budget time for:

• Tokenization and secure storage of anything sensitive
• PCI compliance
• Webhook handling for asynchronous confirmations
• Retry logic when the gateway times out
• Reconciliation against bank settlement
• Dispute and chargeback workflows

How long that takes depends on the processor’s API and how much reporting you need. Get a scoped estimate once you know the processor.

Habits that keep checkout safe

Keep payment logic in its own layer. A separate payment service lets you swap gateways later without touching checkout. It also fits the isolated-assembly approach Systenics recommends for upgrade-safe customization.

Test in the sandbox. Cover approvals, declines, timeouts and failed webhooks before production.

Fail cleanly. A failed payment shouldn’t leave an invoice half updated. Retry, alert staff, and tell the bidder what happened.

Log every attempt. When a dispute comes in, you want the full trail.

Verify webhook signatures. Anyone can post to your webhook URL. Check the signature with your secret.

Comparing fees

Fees depend on your volume, average sale and card mix, so run your own numbers. Stripe publishes its rates. Authorize.Net rates are quoted through your merchant account. A custom processor may cut per-transaction fees, but you pay for that with a larger build.

Adding a second gateway

You can add a gateway without a cutover:

1. Deploy the new gateway as an optional method beside the old one.
2. Let bidders pick at checkout.
3. Watch success rates and adoption.
4. Shift traffic as confidence grows.
5. Retire the old gateway once it sees little use.

Red flags in a gateway

• It makes you store raw card data
• No sandbox
• Poor API documentation
• Slow chargeback handling
• Hidden fees for reporting or disputes
• No webhook support

Next step

If you’re picking a gateway or want a cleaner checkout, we can scope it with you. Systenics’ process for custom work is a free discovery call and ballpark, then requirements and mockups, then a milestone-based build with deployment to your installation. Its published add-on and app pricing is one-time and includes deployment.

Talk to us about your payment integration.

Related Resources:

• AuctionWorx Integration Services
• Learn About Customization and Development