An auth and capture transaction is suitable for credit-based purchases with a delay involved. An example is an e-commerce sale that involves shipping after a few days.
The payment is authed at the time of purchase and captured at the time of shipping.
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Authorize: authorize a subscriber’s credit card/ account for a period (expires after 30 days)
- check with the subscriber’s bank to see if the credit card is legitimate
- has sufficient funds for the amount authorized.
If the subscriber’s bank approves, a hold is placed on the funds in the subscriber’s account but no money has moved, yet.
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Capture: To move money from the subscriber’s account, you have to issue a capture request on the original authorization to collect (“capture”) the funds.
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Cancel: If you choose not to capture the funds from the subscriber’s account, you can explicitly cancel the authorization to release the hold on those funds.