Not every sale happens with a card in hand. Phone orders, invoices, deposits, standing customers who read you their number over the line — a lot of real revenue comes in card-not-present. That's where manual entry earns its keep.
If you process with Clearent (now part of Xplor Pay), keyed transactions run through its Virtual Terminal — a browser-based screen you open on any computer, tablet, or phone. No dedicated hardware required. Here's what it actually does, and the settings that quietly decide whether a keyed sale costs you a little or a lot.
What "manual entry" means here
Manual entry (a.k.a. keyed entry) is exactly what it sounds like: instead of dipping or tapping a physical card, you type the details into the Virtual Terminal. The required fields are short:
- Card number
- Expiration (MM/YY)
- CSC — the security code
- Amount — you enter the decimal point yourself
ZIP code is recommended but optional out of the box. That's the whole path to taking a payment when the card isn't in front of you.
The transaction types you can run
Clearent's Virtual Terminal isn't just a "charge this card" box. Keyed entry supports the full set of transaction types (which ones you see depends on your user permissions):
| Type | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Sale | Standard charge — authorize and capture in one step |
| Authorization | Hold funds now, capture later (deposits, pending orders) |
| Forced sale | Complete a charge against an auth code you already have |
| Unmatched refund | Refund a customer who isn't tied to an original transaction |
On top of those, you can void pending transactions, refund settled ones, and capture a pending authorization when the order ships — all from the dashboard.
The two fraud settings that matter most
Keyed transactions carry more fraud risk than a dipped card, so Clearent gives you two tools to fight it. Here's the catch: both are turned off by default.
- AVS (Address Verification Service) — matches the billing address you enter against what the cardholder's bank has on file. Turn it on and you reduce fraud and qualify for better card-not-present interchange.
- CSC (Card Security Code) — checks that security code. With CSC enforcement enabled, Clearent will void a transaction whose CSC response isn't allowed — even if the bank approved it.
If you take keyed payments and haven't enabled AVS and CSC, that's the first thing to fix. They're your cheapest insurance against chargebacks.
Keyed doesn't have to mean expensive: Level II/III data
Here's the part most merchants miss. Keyed, card-not-present transactions normally sit at the higher end of interchange — and if your customers pay with corporate or purchasing cards (common in B2B), the rates climb further.
The fix is Level II and Level III processing data. In the Virtual Terminal's Additional Information section, you can attach the extra detail card networks reward — tax amount, customer/PO number, and line-item data. The more qualifying data you send with a commercial transaction, the lower the interchange the networks charge you.
The savings are real. Level 2/3 data can shave roughly 30–80 basis points off qualifying commercial transactions. If you run meaningful B2B volume, that difference can add up to thousands a year.
One 2026 note if you take Visa commercial cards: Visa retired its old Level 2 program in January 2026, so Level 3 data (under Visa's Commercial Enhanced Data Program) is now the main path to those savings. If your business sells to other businesses, make sure whoever set up your account is actually passing this data.
Beyond one-off charges
Manual entry is the front door, but the Virtual Terminal keeps going:
- Card-on-file — securely store a customer's payment method and charge it again later with a quick Find Customer search, no re-keying.
- Recurring payments — set an amount, start/stop dates, and frequency to bill automatically (memberships, installments, retainers). Not on by default; it takes a quick setup.
- Account Updater — automatically refreshes expired or reissued card numbers from Visa, Mastercard, and Amex, so stored cards don't silently start declining.
- Paylink — send a customer a link to pay instead of collecting the number yourself, which keeps sensitive card data off your side entirely.
- Receipts — print or email, matched and unmatched refunds, batch reporting for reconciliation.
- Connected readers — when a card is present, the same terminal pairs with a desktop reader for swipe/dip/tap, so your keyed and in-person flows live in one place.
The bottom line
Clearent's manual entry is more capable than "type in a card number." You get real transaction control (auth, capture, void, refund), fraud tools that are worth turning on the day you go live, and — most importantly — a Level II/III path that keeps keyed and B2B transactions from quietly overcharging you.
The traps are the defaults: AVS and CSC start off, and Level II/III data only helps if someone configured it. Get those three right and manual entry goes from "the expensive way to take a payment" to a clean, low-friction channel.
Not sure what your keyed transactions are actually costing you? The guide below walks through reading a merchant statement so you can spot the interchange you should — and shouldn't — be paying.