UX+Portal
What are all of the key elements of a full funnel integration?
Homepage presence, nav bar presence, financing page, product pages, cart page, check out page. Category pages if on a supported platform.
What is "sandbox"?
"Sandbox" typically refers to a testing environment that should be identical to a real experience, allowing for merchants to test new features before launching them for real. VS. "Production" which refers to a real, live experience that real life customers can interact with.
For example, merchants use "sandbox" API keys that they retrieve from the Bread sandbox merchant portal to place test orders and have "sandbox" websites (often also called "staging" websites) that mirror their real websites.
A merchant asks for our advice about what loan program they should run. What do you advise?
Offer a maximum of 3-4 loan terms to avoid customer decision paralysis. If you have a lower AOV ($100-$900), pursue shorter terms and if you are a higher AOV merchant ($900+), pursue longer terms. Margin permitting, offer at least one 0% APR term to maximize sales — even a short term 0% APR opportunity will drive conversions. The longer the 0% opportunity, the greater the power. You can also consider running a promotional 0% as a trial or target the 0% APR product based on customer cart size if margins are thinner.
Open book question: how would a merchant settle a Bread Pay transaction in their BigCommerce order management system?
Go to "Bread App Orders List" and hit "Capture"
What can't we share with merchants about end-customers? What can we share?
No PII/PHI — especially creditworthiness (customer was approved/denied). For healthcare, what products the customer ordered.
Yes You may discuss general customer order status information with merchants ("this customer does not have an active loan with Bread associated with your website.")
Yes You can and should discuss high level Bread workflows prompted by a merchant's customer-specific question.
A merchant asks what basket sizes Bread Pay can accommodate as they have some very expensive products. How do you respond?
Capacity different on a customer by customer basis based on credit worthiness but overall we are very competitive here. Usually $8-12k for superprime customers and with downpayment can double that. Bonus Q: what is the minimum amount a customer can qualify for?
What is the "frontend?" What is the "backend"?
What a customer/user sees vs. anything in the background a user cannot see that creates the experience.
When does Bread pay merchants for new orders?
0+2 business days after order settlement.
A merchant writes in as a customer wants to change their address on a Bread Pay order — "just checking that's ok?" the merchant writes. How do you respond?
Please cancel the order and have the customer attempt pre-qualification and checkout again with their updated address as this is one of our core policies to prevent and inherit any fraud liability.
Name one 2.0. value proposition that makes it better than Classic
SplitPay in CA; SplitPay for new merchants; enhanced data offerings; where we are investing our time and resources for future enhancements
Name a feature that is available on Classic but not 2.0.
Down Payment, targeted financing, all relevant plugins, bespoke underwriting, SKU targeted financing...
Name three Bread supported Classic merchant platforms? BONUS: Name all the plugins we support on 2.0
Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Volusion, Salesforce Commerce Cloud...
2.0.: Shopify, Woo, BigC, Magento, SFCC
Does Bread give back the merchant fee on a transaction if a normal refund is initiated on Classic?
For Installment loans, the merchant gets back the fee. For SplitPay, the merchant does not get back the fee. Today, Bread Pay also does this for Chargebacks but could change on 2.0.
A Classic merchant asks how much their customers can put on a CC vs a loan? What do we advise?
Send Down Payment macro AFTER checking "borrow ratio" in admin. If "0" in admin, the merchant does not currently have access to Down Payment. If "2" in admin, send the macro as is. If "3" in admin, update the macro to read "3x" instead of "2x."
sucessdesk@breadfinance.com
@breadfinancial.com does not auto-forward
sucess@breadfinance.com does not auto-forward
Name two examples of when we recommend a merchant use the Bread "Carts" tool?
Phone sales, if they don't have other platform-specific tools to enable phone sales
As an invoice of sorts whenever a merchant needs to collect a total from the customer — examples include:
What is Solutions? What is OnCall? When do you submit for help from one vs. the other?
Solutions is our primary support system for merchant issues and we should always submit a ticket to them first UNLESS an issue is massive and multi merchant impacting and there isn't time to dilly dally.
Solutions can support with merchant configuration and integration issues. If they can't help directly as an issue exists within our product itself, THEY will escalate to OnCall on our behalf.
OnCall is a team that makes changes on the Bread Pay product and plugin layers.
Please note we should avoid passing tickets to integrations folks like Brad and Stephan (they aren't even in ZenDesk anymore) and primarily lean on Jared and Jake.
A merchant asks if they can keep restocking fees on a loan — how do you reply?
Check to see if they have an exception logged in SFDC on opp or account level. If not, "We ask that you please collect these fees on an outside payment method like a credit or debit card. As stated in your contract with Bread, balances for restocking fees cannot be left on loans."
When can and where do merchants turn on or off auto-settle?
Merchants must fulfill 90% of their orders within three days to qualify for auto-settle. If the merchant meets this threshold, they can enable this within their Bread integration on their side of things.
Name three important operational risk procedures that Success must follow
A merchant says they can't log into the merchant portal because they aren't receiving a token to their phone — what might be happening here?
They are probably trying to log in to the *member* portal. There is no token for the merchant portal. Or perhaps Okta for 2.0. portal and they need to log in to Classic — clarify URL!
A merchant writes in that "Bread is broken! Help" — what are some actions you should take and questions you should ask to get to the bottom of the issue BEFORE you email solutions.
Ask clarifying questions: How is Bread Pay broken? Can customers check out? What is the scope? How many customers are impacted? Is it specific to certain devices or browsers? Did the merchant make any recent changes that could have caused this? Is only one transaction impacted?
Collect transaction IDs: What are impacted transaction examples, if relevant?
Do homework: Is this specific to this merchant or are multiple merchants reporting? (Indicates a product or plugin level issue) See if you can reproduce the issue yourself
When do funds for Bread transactions appear on the settlement report as a line item on Classic?
When the funds actually deposit into the merchants bank account
A merchant wants to apply a reward or discount to an order after checkout. What would we advise?
If the merchant is looking to decrement an order, they can initiate a partial cancellation for an Authorized order or a refund on a Settled order.
How many days can a merchant keep an order in a pending state? How many days in an Authorized state?
For installments, 14d; 90d.
For SplitPay, order must be settled within 14d.
How many days of data is included in the Applicant Report on Classic? How many on 2.0.?
30 days (rolling); unlimited (for now!)
A merchant wants to place test Bread pay orders. How do they do this?
Using sandbox API keys in their sandbox site; use testing credentials — any fake name, 1234 for SSN etc. No way to do in production today. If they do with real data, will pull real information / email, will place real loan, and is not advisable.
A merchant claims that the totals they are receiving from Bread Pay in their bank account are less than the basket sizes customers checked out with and they are wondering why they are short.
What are some possibilities for why this is happening?
Investigation would be needed to validate one of these possibilities:
- Orders not yet settled
- Transfers sent are less fees owed to Bread Pay
- Merchant has hanging refund balance. Bread Pay kept what we are due before sending the rest
- Merchant not seeing Stripe totals in bank account as they are coming from separate funding source
- Hanging refunds for Stripe vs. Loan
A merchant reaches out confused because they moved a pending order to authorized in their merchant portal but it still isn't showing in their OMS. What do we advise?
Pending orders occur when there is a communication error between systems. Unfortunately, moving a pending order to authorized will
not cause the order with Bread to show up in their bookkeeping — the link between systems is broken for that order. The merchant should 1) add the order into their OMS for your record-keeping. 2) Upon shipment, remember to log back into the Bread Merchant Portal to manually settle the transaction, which captures the funds. 3) Please note that any action needed on this order in the future (e.g. refund, partial refund, cancellation) will need to be done in the merchant portal. We recommend the merchant make a note on the order in their OMS to this effect.
A merchant writes: "Hi, how do I switch the email address that receives automated order emails? Also, I would like to change our contact for fraud outreach?
For automated order emails and expirations, you can update that on the merchant's admin page under Email Order Notifications. For all other merchants' contacts, including operations contacts, the RM will need to update, so escalate.
What fields are required for a merchant to send a Bread Cart?
Error URL, Completion URL, price amount — for SplitPay, need custom total + Shipping details
Open book: name one supported plugin that allows customers to check out directly on a product page?
Using platform functionality matrix
A historically very margin sensitive merchant submits a loan program change to add a 24M 0% APR to their current program. What would you do first?
- Check contract to see if available. If not available in existing contract, alert merchant and provide alternative option or use as a way to get them on CCB paper IF qualified for 24M 0%. Bonus Q: What merchants are we empowered to execute contracts with 24M 0% APR for without an exception?
- If available in contrract, verify submission with contract signer given risk area; ensure merchant is aware of associated fees and proceed with loan program change process.
A merchant accidentally cancels an order or it expires but has already shipped the product to the customer. What do we advise?
Unfortunately, due to consumer finance laws, we are unable to reverse accidental cancellations and refunds. Therefore, we recommend the merchant collect for the amount due using an outside payment method or by sending a Bread Cart to the customer to collect funds as an invoice of sorts.
A merchant can't log-in to Classic after following all standard troubleshooting protocols. How do we help them create a new log in?
Follow ID validation procedures. Go to admin profile (sandbox or production respectively) and under user management add their email address as username and email and hit create, they will receive instructions to log in. Delete any old log in. If issue persists due to glitch or duplicate records, escalate to Solutions to raise to Oncall.
A merchant cannot Authorize a transaction in the merchant portal and sees an error that reads "member capacity not sufficient." What is likely happening here?
This would require research but more likely than not there are likely two duplicate transactions associated with this customer in the merchant's Merchant Portal. The first transaction is likely in a "Pending" status, which indicates there was a communication error between Bread and their order management system (OMS). The second transaction authorized successfully and used up the customers loan capacity, which is why the merchant is seeing the error when trying to authorize the pending transaction. Since the pending transaction is a duplicate, the merchant can "cancel" that transaction within the Bread merchant portal.
A merchant is thinks our applicant report is too slow as it updates on a daily cadence. They want real time data to populate into their email service provider for drip campaigns. Is this possible?
OnCustomerClose!
A merchant tries to refund a Bread order in their supported OMS but it doesn't refund in Bread. What may have happened here?
Perhaps the order started in a pending state and so there is now no link between the systems. If there are any issues, the merchant should refund directly in Bread.
A merchant is frustrated about servicing pending orders that occur due to CC failure. Is there a way to reduce this operational burden?
Many of our extensions/apps allow merchants to have auto-cancel pending orders that occur due to failed CC. See this macro for details: How Merchants Can Auto-Cancel Failed CC Pending Orders
Name one key difference between how we service Fiserv merchants vs. standard Bread Pay merchants?
No loan program changes; clover devices; in-store trainings