Authorizations

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

Micropayment Authorizations

Micropayments are payments for less than one unit in the transaction’s currency.
For
HSBC
,
Cybersource
 supports micropayment authorizations for Mastercard and Visa payment cards.

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.

Offline Authorizations

Online transactions require an internet connection. In situations where the internet is not available, for example, due to an outage, merchants can continue to take credit card payments using offline transactions. An offline authorization is an authorization request for which you do not receive an immediate confirmation about the availability of funds.
Offline authorizations have a higher level of risk than online transactions because they do not confirm funds availability or set aside the funds for later capture. Further, it can take up to 5 days to receive payment confirmations for offline transactions. To mitigate this risk, merchants may choose to fulfill orders only after receiving payment confirmation.

Incremental Authorizations

Incremental authorizations are useful when a customer adds products and services to a purchase. After a successful initial authorization, you can request subsequent authorizations and request one capture for the initial authorization and the incremental authorizations.
The incremental authorization service is not the same as the incremental authorization scenario for a merchant-initiated transaction.

Scenario for the Incremental Authorization Service

This sequence is an example of how incremental authorizations work:
  1. The customer reserves a hotel room for two nights at a cost of 200.00 per night. You request an authorization for 400.00. The authorization request is approved.
  2. The customer orders dinner through room service the first night. You request an incremental authorization of 50.00 for the dinner.
  3. The customer decides to stay an extra night. You request an incremental authorization of 200.00 for the additional night.
  4. The customer uses items from the mini-bar. The cost of the mini-bar items is 50.00. You request an incremental authorization of 50.00.
  5. When the customer checks out, they sign a receipt for 700.00, which is the total of all costs incurred.
  6. You request a capture for 700.00.

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.
  • When you do not capture the authorization, you must reverse it.
    In the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, Mastercard charges an additional fee for a pre-authorization that is not captured and not reversed.
    In Europe, Russia, Middle East, and Africa, Mastercard charges fees for all pre-authorizations.
  • Chargeback protection is in effect for 30 days after the authorization.

Payment Network Token Authorizations

You can integrate authorizations with payment network tokens into your existing order management system. For an incremental authorization, you do not need to include any payment network tokenization fields in the authorization request because
Cybersource
 obtains the payment network tokenization information from the original authorization request.

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
    and American Express
    , 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.