Describe the phone order and the keyed payment separately

Follow the order beyond its method of entry

Start with the real path from the buyer’s request to the payment record. Record the staff role that accepts the order, the system that creates the order, and who enters payment details into which tool. Use roles and tool names, not employee credentials or customer data. An order taken by phone can still be paid by the buyer through a separate payment page; it should not be described as staff-keyed unless staff actually enter the card details.

WooCommerce documents both customer-created checkout orders and orders added manually in WP Admin. That explains how an order record can exist, but it does not identify how the payment was made. Inspect the corresponding provider record or obtain confirmation from the person responsible for the tool. If only the store order is available, mark payment entry unconfirmed instead of classifying it from the word manual.

Identify the records this channel actually produces

For an existing channel, locate its order record, provider payment record, and buyer-facing receipt or confirmation. Keep private references in the business’s own systems and put only the record type and location in the worksheet. Check whether the payment reference can be matched to the order and whether the buyer receives the same seller name, amount and order description that staff recorded.

An order acknowledgment and a payment receipt answer different questions. The first can confirm what was ordered; the second must be read for the payment state it actually reports. If the channel produces no store order or no retrievable buyer confirmation, disclose that gap. For a proposed channel, describe the intended records as planned rather than claiming they already exist.

Describe code handling without collecting codes in the inquiry

The PCI SSC FAQ permits requesting a card verification code for a card-not-present authorization and states that PCI DSS Requirement 3.3.1.2 prohibits storing that code after authorization, even when encrypted. Retaining it for later orders is therefore not part of a repeat-order record.

Document the responsible system and the person who can confirm its handling. Do not prove the process by copying a code or card number into an order note, screenshot, worksheet or consultation message. The prohibition here concerns post-authorization verification-code storage; it does not establish that a primary account number can never be stored under any compliant arrangement. A tool’s existence also does not establish that this channel is permitted on your merchant account.

Keep the telephone shipment promise in the channel description

A telephone order can carry a shipment promise even when it never passes through the website’s checkout. Record what ship time staff actually stated, where that promise is documented, and which inventory or fulfillment records supported it. Distinguish handing merchandise to the carrier from its arrival with the buyer.

Where the US FTC Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule applies, the seller needs a reasonable basis for the stated ship time. The usual unstated-time provision is 30 days after a properly completed order, with a 50-day provision when the buyer applies to the seller for credit. If the applicable time cannot be met, the rule requires a delay-consent or cancellation-and-prompt-refund choice. Its definitions treat shipment as placement with the carrier. Applicability must be assessed separately; this is not a conclusion that every business-to-business research-only order falls under the rule.

Write the disclosure from the completed record

Build the inquiry sentence from the channel’s status, ordering method, staff role, payment-entry tool and account holder. Follow it with the record and receipt locations, the shipment-promise basis, and the specific question the provider must answer. Say explicitly when staff only create the order and the buyer enters payment details elsewhere. Do not let a description of online checkout stand in for the additional channel.

The result is ready for a processing discussion when the description distinguishes observed facts from proposed steps and names unresolved items without guessing. Prism can help organize that description within a scoped processing consultation. Scope, responsibilities, fees and terms are discussed before work; the provider determines eligibility and account terms. Prism’s public inquiry is not a processing application. Send the website, product types and channel question, without payment data or customer records.

Keyed-order channel record

Complete one copy for each actual or proposed phone/keyed workflow. Write live, planned or unconfirmed beside the facts you record. If the order and payment cannot be connected, disclose the missing link; do not fill it with an assumed checkout path.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.