What is Partial Authorization?
Partial authorization, also called partial authorization or partial capture, is the process of authorizing a credit card for less than the full amount of the transaction. This can be useful if you need to verify that a customer has sufficient funds to cover a purchase, but you don’t want to hold the entire purchase amount on the card.
Partial authorization can be performed by submitting a request to the credit card processor for an authorization code for less than the full transaction amount. The customer’s bank will then place a hold on the specified amount of funds, which will be released after a certain period of time (usually within a few days).
If the customer does not have sufficient funds to cover the partial authorization, the transaction will be declined. In this case, you may need to obtain a different form of payment from the customer.
It’s important to note that not all credit card processors support partial authorization. If you plan to use this feature, you’ll need to make sure that your processor supports it.
When to Use Partial Authorization
There are several situations in which partial authorization may be useful:
When a customer is making a large purchase and you want to verify that their credit card limit is high enough to cover the transaction.
When you want to reduce your exposure to fraud by only authorizing a small portion of the transaction amount.
When you need to obtain a down payment for a purchase and the customer will pay the remaining balance later.
How to Perform Partial Authorization
If your credit card processor supports partial authorization, you can perform a partial authorization by submitting a request for an authorization code for less than the full transaction amount.
