Preauthorization
Preauthorization means the reservation of an amount.
It is a money guarantee, whereby a certain amount is blocked and retained for a predefined period of at least seven days. There is no maximum reservation amount. It depends on the card issuer.
Preauthorizations are usually valid for 7 days (depends on the card issuer)
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You can debit the pre-authorization exactly once.
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The amount to be debited cannot exceed the reserved amount. A smaller or equal debit is possible.
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The reserved amount can be guaranteed to be debited if the time period is observed.
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Preauthorizations are commonly used in hotels. Pre-authorized payments allow funds to be held either at the booking stage or at check-in. Reserving an amount can ensure that a guest do not leave without paying and additional costs (minibar, spa) are covered.
Car rental companies usually use pre-authorization for their customers. By withholding funds when renting a car, it is possible to ensure that the vehicle is returned in the desired condition and with a full tank of fuel. In case the car is damaged or fuel is needed, the holdback covers these costs.
See our Developers Docs for instructions on implementing pre-authorization as a payment method via API or gateway:
After registering a payment provider that supports pre-authorization, you can easily select the "Pre-authorization" payment method in our tools.
Example: Enabling pre-authorization in Pages Tool:
Last modified 3mo ago