Funds Authorization & Capture

Definitions

• Authorize: When you authorize a subscriber's credit card, we check with the subscriber's bank to see if the credit card is legitimate and has sufficient funds for the amount you authorized. If the subscriber's bank approves, a hold is placed on the funds in the subscriber's account but no money has moved, yet.

• Capture: In order to actually move money from the subscriber's account, you have to issue a capture request on the original authorization to collect ("capture") the funds.

• Void: If you choose not to capture the funds from the subscriber's account, you can explicitly cancel the authorization to release the hold on those funds.

Authorizing first and capturing funds later allows you to

• Authorize the amount first but only capture the funds once you've shipped the physical goods.

• Perform a manual fraud review before capturing the funds and fulfilling the order.

• Authorize the amount at the start of a free trial and then capture the funds at start of the subscription.

Resources

Use the following resources to complete your integration:

• Explore our Interaction API

• Explore Gateway-Specific Contracts.