Authorizations

An authorization confirms that
a payment
 card account holds enough funds to pay for a purchase. Authorizations can be made online or offline.

Online Authorizations

Online authorizations provide immediate confirmation of funds availability. The customer's financial institution also reduces the amount of credit available in the customer's account, setting aside the authorized funds for the merchant to capture at a later time. Authorizations for most payment cards are processed online. Typically, it is safe to start fulfilling the order when you receive an authorization confirmation.
An
 online authorization confirmation and the subsequent hold on funds expire after a specific length of time. Therefore it is important to capture funds in a timely manner. The issuing bank sets the expiration time interval, but most authorizations expire within
5 to
 7 days.
The issuing bank does not inform
Cybersource
 when an authorization confirmation expires. By default, the authorization information for each transaction remains in the
Cybersource
 database for 180 days after the authorization date. To capture an authorization that expired with the issuing bank, you can resubmit the authorization request.

Pre-Authorizations

A pre-authorization enables you to authorize a payment when the final amount is unknown. It is typically used for lodging, auto rental, e-commerce, and restaurant transactions.
For a pre-authorization:
  • The authorization amount must be greater than zero.
  • The authorization must be submitted for capture within 30 calendar days of its request.
  • After 30 days, the issuer will release the hold on the authorized amount.
  • Send a new authorization request to claim the amount.

Authorization Workflow

This image and description show the authorization workflow:
  1. The customer purchases goods or services from the merchant using a payment card.
  2. You send an authorization request over secure internet connection to
    Cybersource
    . When the customer buys a digitally delivered product or service, you can request both the authorization and the capture at the same time. When the customer buys a physically fulfilled product, do not request the capture until you ship the product.
  3. Cybersource
     validates the order information then contacts your payment processor and requests authorization.
  4. The processor sends the transaction to the payment card company, which routes it to the issuing bank for the customer's payment card. Some card companies, including Discover, act as their own issuing banks.
  5. The issuing bank approves or declines the request.
    • If funds are available, the issuing bank reserves the amount of the authorization request and returns an authorization approval to
      Cybersource
      .
    • If the issuing bank denies the request, it returns an authorization denial to
      Cybersource
      .
  6. Cybersource
     runs its own tests then tells you whether the authorization succeeded.