1. Understanding Pre-authorisation and Capture
A Pre-authorisation (PA) is a transaction that temporarily blocks or reserves funds on a customer's card without actually debiting their account. It is a way to guarantee that the funds are available for a future payment.
To complete the payment and transfer the funds to your account, you must perform a subsequent Capture (CP) transaction. You can capture any amount up to the original pre-authorised value.
A common question is: how long do you have to capture the funds before the authorisation expires?
2. Authorisation Validity Period
The exact time limit that an authorisation code is valid for is determined by the customer's card issuing bank and the card scheme (e.g., Visa or Mastercard).
- General Guideline: As a general rule, a normal validity period is between 7 to 14 days.
- Specific Card Scheme Rules:The major card schemes have their own maximum timeframes that you should be aware of:
- Visa: The maximum time to capture a PA is 8 days.
- Mastercard: The maximum time to capture a PA is 30 days.
⚠️ Important: Using Expired Authorisation Codes
It is crucial to capture funds within the valid authorisation period.
While a capture on an expired authorisation might still technically go through, you will lose your chargeback protection for that transaction. If the customer disputes the payment, the fact that the original authorisation had expired will be a major factor, and the dispute will very likely result in a chargeback that you will lose.