Troubleshooting PaySafe payment failures in WorldShare Management Services (WMS)
Applies to
- WorldShare Circulation
- WorldCat Discovery (My Account access only)
Overview
Libraries using PaySafe with WorldShare Management Services (WMS) may encounter payment failures where a patron’s card is authorized, but the transaction does not complete successfully. In some cases, error messages reference AVS (Address Verification Service) failures, even when the Address Verification Level in Service Configuration is set to None.
Symptoms
Libraries may report one or more of the following:
- Patron payments fail in My Account, even though the credit card is valid.
- PaySafe returns an error indicating an AVS check failure.
- The payment amount is temporarily reserved on the patron’s card and released several days later.
- Payments fail inconsistently or affect certain card types (e.g., international or European-issued cards).
- Address Verification Level is set to None, yet AVS-related errors still occur.
Known configuration issue
For North American institutions, using 3‑D Secure version v2 with PaySafe can result in payment failures that resemble AVS errors, even when:
- Address Verification Level is set to None
- The patron enters the correct billing information
- Funds are authorized by the issuing bank
In these cases, authentication may fail during the 3DS step before WMS can complete settlement, resulting in a transaction failure.
Recommended solution
If your library experiences PaySafe payment failures that appear AVS-related:
-
In Service Configuration, navigate to:
Third‑Party Integrations > Payment Platforms > PaySafe -
Check the 3‑D Secure Version setting.
-
For North American institutions, set 3‑D Secure Version to:
v1 -
Save the configuration changes.
-
Retry the payment using a small test amount, if possible.
Libraries have reported successful transactions immediately after switching from 3DS v2 to 3DS v1, including payments made with both domestic and international cards.