Pre-Authorizations

A partial pre-authorization of a card payment occurs when the Merchant requests a pre-authorization on a customers credit or debit card for a specific value, but the card issuer will only authorize a lower amount due to insufficient funds in the account.

For example, the pre-authorization request amount is £20.00 but the available balance on the account is £15.00 In this instance, the card issuer will authorize the £15.00 and not the £20.00

When this happens, the Register will display a dialog that will offer the Merchant three options;

1. Accept the partial pre-authorized amount
2. Process another card for pre-authorization, or
3. Cancel the partial pre-authorized amount.

Accept Amount

If the Merchant chooses to accept the partial pre-authorized amount, it will be added to the journal and the Register will then begin the Split Tender workflow to allow the remaining balance to be paid with another form of payment. From this point, the transaction will no longer be able to be Suspended.

Authorize Another Card

This option will do the following;

• Reverse the partial pre-authorized value of the credit / debit card.
• Begin the pre-authorization workflow to allow the Merchant to pre-authorize another card.

Cancel authorization

This option will do the following;

• Reverse the partial pre-authorized value of the credit / debit card.
• Return the Merchant to the Register screen. From here, the Merchant can either attempt another tender process, suspend or cancel the transaction.

There are varied workflows to Pre-Authorize a card payment, depending on how your card terminal has been configured in the Portal. This chapter will detail each of these workflows.

• Any transactions that have a pre-authorization tender included will need to be Completed by the merchant.
• There are three different ways to complete an authorization:
  • Using the Complete Authorization button when the transaction is resumed in Register
  • Tapping the ‘Complete’ button for the required transaction in the Ready To Complete tab of the Open Transactions dialog. This will perform a completion on the selected transaction only.
  • Tapping the ‘Complete All’ button on the Ready To complete tab. This will complete all valid transactions for the logged in staff member, or the whole store, depending on the settings.

The Completion Process will close the transaction(s) within Register, which will then include them in the reports and sales figures.

• For any transaction that has a pre-authorization item included, Staff Members have the ability to reverse / void the authorization. This can be used for scenarios where the customer wishes to pay by a different card or tender type, or to cancel the transaction.
• The Reverse Authorization button is available from the tender area when the transaction is resumed in Register.
• If there are two or more authorizations in the transaction the Staff Member will have the ability to choose which one to reverse.
• On return to Register a dialog will be displayed to let the Staff Member know if the reversal was successful or not.
• On resuming a transaction, if the Staff Member attempts to tender using another method such as Cash, the Register will automatically prompt for the reversal of the authorization.

The reversal of a Pre-Authorization can only take place before the transaction is completed.