Running a 'pre-auth' on a card, for a defined Amount, guarantees you have access to those funds
This feature can be used to guard against theft or breakages by having a 'hold' on a certain Amount of funds in the event of such eventualities.
Please note that currently, pre-authorization is not compatible with cards that necessitate 3D Secure authentication.
This feature is currently in BETA - meaning we're still testing and improving it.
This requires that you are using Stripe and have enabled the 'pre-auth' Feature
image above shows how 'pre-auths' appear in the list of transactions. Pre-auths can be captured or released.
In order to enable this feature, first go to Features and Customization and enable 'Stripe Pre-Authorization'.
(clearly you will already need to have Stripe setup for your store).
image above ⬆ shows the feature to enable in Features and Customization
Using the feature
To capture a pre-auth for a Reservation you will need to do the following:
- Open your reservation.
- press on Add Transaction.
- Ensure you have a credit card saved (for this customer)
- Type in the Amount you want to pre-auth
- Choose Stripe as the payment method
- Select 'pre-auth' as the payment type
⬆here you can see the user has chosen the amount, the method and the type.
When you add a pre-auth 'transaction' 2 things will happen
- the payments slider shows that there is a pre-auth
- a 'pending' transaction is added to your list of transactions.
The pre-auth only lasts for a defined period of time before it is automatically released ( 7 days)
What happens next?
You have 3 options from this point.
- Do nothing and the pre-auth will be auto-released after 7 days
- If you 'capture funds' then the pre-auth will be converted into a real payment and the funds will be moved to your Stripe account.
- If you 'release' then the pre-auth will be lifted and you will no longer have access to the funds
Frequently Asked Questions?
- Can you change the automatic duration after which the pre-Auth is released? Not yet.
- Can you auto-populate the Amount to be pre-Authed? Not yet. (see below)
- Can you capture multiple pre-Auths for the same reservation? Yes.
- Can you use pre-Auth for online bookings? Not yet.
Coming soon for this feature
- You will be able to set 'pre-auth' amounts for your inventory (via Price Groups) which will automatically populate the amount of pre-Auth to be captured.
- We will be making some usability changes based on the feedback from this Beta.
- We will enable it for online bookings.
See Also
Setting up Stripe as your payment processor
Features and Customization section
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