An authorization is a request made in real time to the acquirer’s server, then to the issuer’s server in order to reserve (block) a certain amount of money for the merchant on his/her customer’s credit card.
For an authorization to be successful, the credit card needs to be valid and the available amount on the card sufficient.
Once authorized, the monetary amount is reserved for the merchant for x days (the authorization’s duration depends on the acquirer). The money stays on the customer’s credit card. For the merchant to actually receive the money in his/her bank account, he/she should confirm the transaction.
To confirm a payment, you need to:
- Log into your account
- Goto “Operations”
- Select “View transactions”
- Enter the required selection criteria and click on the “Display list” button
- Click on the PayID for the transaction
- Then click on the “Confirm payment (data capture)…” button
Once the payment has been confirmed, the status will change from “5 – authorized” to “91 – payment processing”. This status “91” will later change to a status “9 – payment requested” or “93 – payment declined”.
Should the merchant fail to confirm a payment before its authorization expires, the money is then no longer reserved for him/her and there is no longer any guarantee of an adequate available amount on the card for the merchant to be paid.