Auth & Capture Best Practices

TabaPay recommends the following best practices that our TabaPay Clients must follow to ensure we follow network requirements for authorizations and captures.

Authorization & Capture

Authorizations are a key part of any transaction, giving merchants the ability to complete the transaction. With each successful authorization, the amount available to the cardholder for other purchases is typically reduced to cover the approved transaction- this is commonly known as an authorization hold. Authorizations are meant to be settled; however, when they are not, it can cause a problem for cardholders when the authorization is tying up money that can be used for other purchases.

Best Practices

Here are some best practices for TabaPay Clients:

Authorizing Amounts

Authorize only the amount that you must authorize. Remember authorization places a hold on the funds for the transaction amount on debit cards until they are captured.

Misuse of authorizations, especially, authorizations that are placed without an intent to capture, will be subject to fines by the network.

Capturing Amounts

Perform a fraud review before capturing the funds.

For subscription clients, authorize the amount at the start of a free trial and then capture the funds at start of the subscription.

There can only be one capture associated with an authorization, and an authorization can only be captured once.

Authorizations automatically expire after a certain period of time if they are not captured. The length of time varies by card network, but usually it is within 7-10 calendar days. If TabaPay Clients wait longer to capture an authorization, the card network may have already canceled the authorization as well as expired at the issuer. In addition, network rules suggest that delayed captures can result in issuers disputing the transaction with a 12.1 Late Presentment condition code.

TabaPay Clients will be unable to capture an already captured transaction.

Reversals

A reversal message sent for the full Transaction amount cancels the original authorization request.

A reversal message must correspond to the original authorization message and must be requested within 24 hours of the original transaction.

A reversal can be for a full amount (void) or a partial amount (partial reversal).

Authorization Reversals and Holds

Authorization reversals notify the issuer that all, or part, of a transaction has been cancelled and that the authorization hold should be removed and open to buy amounts may be adjusted.

To help ensure that cardholders have access to all of their available funds, TabaPay Clients should process authorization reversals: Transaction not completed: Entire authorized amount must be reversed within 24 hours or earlier — and as soon as the Client understands that transaction would not be completed before the end of the authorization validity period.

A Misuse of Authorization System Fee is assessed by Visa to approved and partially-approved authorizations that cannot be matched to a settled transaction. If an authorization was attempted and received but the transaction was not settled, merchants must reverse the authorization.

Note: The usage of $1.00 “test transactions” in certain circumstances instead of Account Verification Service can lead to Misuse of Authorization System Fee.

Reversals for Fraud Prevention

Reversal for Conversion of Approval to Decline: TabaPay Clients can reverse an approved authorization for fraudulent reasons

1. TabaPay client must determine whether to proceed with a Transaction believed, in good faith, to be fraudulent within 72 hours of sending the original authorization request message.
2. Upon deciding not to proceed with the Transaction and still within 72 hours of the original authorization request, the TabaPay Client must:
   1. Generate a reversal message for the full transaction amount that includes a reason code indicating that the Transaction was declined due to perceived fraud.
   2. Disclose to the Cardholder that the transaction cannot be completed at that time, and provide the Cardholder with valid customer service contact information (phone number or email address) to respond to Cardholder calls or email messages related to the cancelled order. The contact information should be that of the TabaPay Client that made the decision not to proceed with the Transaction. Sharing the specific reasons for the decline is not recommended or required.
   3. The likelihood that a Transaction is fraudulent typically is determined through fraud screening and fraud scoring services that involve the storage, transmission or processing of Card or Transaction data in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).

Refunds

A refund Transaction is a payment processed by a TabaPay Client to a Cardholder’s Account upon the return of goods or cancellation of services previously purchased by the Cardholder.

A refund Transaction must only be reversed for the purchase Transaction amount or adjusted for an amount less than the purchase Transaction amount to correct a clerical error.

The reversal or adjustment must occur within one calendar day of the refund Transaction. The Settlement Date of the original authorization transaction of the refund Transaction is counted as day zero. Reversible clerical errors include, by way of example and not limitation, the erroneous capture of Transaction data, a duplicate Transaction, or an error caused by the transposition of data.