TabaPay’s Partial Authorization (Auth) Service provides an alternative to declining a transaction when the card’s available balance is not sufficient to approve a transaction in full. Participating issuers return a response with an approval for a portion of the original amount requested, enabling the remainder of the transaction amount to be paid by other means using split-tender functionality.

You can increase sales and decrease declines by enabling customers to use all available prepaid or debit card funds, supplementing with an alternate payment method for a seamless purchase experience, ensuring satisfaction even with an uncertain remaining balance.

Use Cases

While prepaid and debit cards are used for instant pull payments, what happens if they do not have enough funds to cover the full transaction amount?

• Accept partial auth from Visa/MC cards: Process the available balance and then charge the remaining transaction amount to a secondary card during an online payment.
• Facilitate partial bill payments by card: Avoid declined bill payments by accepting partial payments to cut down utility bills or vendor invoices when the customer attempts to pay the full amount.
• Facilitate an Account Funding Transaction: Funds are debited from an account holder to load onto another financial account.

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Opt-In Service

TabaPay Partial Authorization Service is an opt-in service for TabaPay Clients. Two things are required for transactions to be enabled for Partial Authorization:

1. Set-up: ON/OFF at the TabaPay Merchant ID (MID) level
2. Run-time configuration Indicate with partial: true using the Create Transaction API request to enable partial authorization.

Partial Authorization Payment Flow

Here is a scenario to help follow the part auth flow.

• John wants to load $100 dollars into his favorite app. John has $75 as his available balance.

With Partial Authorization

• With partial authorization, John's transaction is approved by the issuer for only the available balance of $75.

Without Partial Authorization

• John's authorization is declined by the issuer due to insufficient funds.

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Supported Card Brands

Visa and MasterCard are both supported for Partial Auth. However, partial approvals will be dependent on the card issuer.

1. The customer presents a card to be used for the "pull" transaction. Initiates a transaction of $100.
2. You sends out the Create Transaction Request which includes the Partial Authorization indicator.
3. TabaPay sends the transaction to card network with the partial authentication indicator turned ON for the transaction.
4. Card network conducts transaction verification and forwards the transaction to the issuer.
5. Issuer evaluates the transaction and approves the available balance of the cardholder. When the card’s balance is less than the purchase amount, issuer sends back an authorization response with a unique response code and the available balance as a partial amount approved to the card network.
6. Card network informs TabaPay of the partially approved amount.
7. TabaPay shares the results of the partial approval to the you.
8. You identify the unique status, subtract the partially approved amount from the total transaction amount (and optionally requests another form of payment, using split-tender option. Your customer pays the remaining amount of purchase with another form of payment...upto your policies and capabilities)

Note: This ensures TabaPay Client's Customer is satisfied with a seamless process. If the customer does not wish to complete the sale, the merchant should initiate an authorization reversal.

Accepting Partial Auths from Your Customers

Partial authorization uses Create Transaction the same way as regular transactions. Upon receipt of a partial approval, present your customers with an option to pay for the balance with another form of payment.

• Ensure customer-facing pages clearly communicate why there is an outstanding balance and what amount will be charged to the additional form of payment.
• Clearing transactions will only be for the amount partially approved—this is the maximum amount of issuer liability, and there is no 15% tolerance allowed on partial authorizations.

Post Transaction Choices

• TabaPay Clients can identify the unique network response code, subtract the partially approved amount from the total transaction amount, and request another form of payment, using split-tender functionality.
• Customer pays the remaining amount of purchase with another form of payment, depending upon
  the TabaPay Client's policies and user experience/capabilities.
• TabaPay Client completes the sale and prints a receipt showing each payment amount.

Reversal Request

If the customer does not wish to complete the sale, TabaPay Client should initiate an authorization reversal.

Best Practices

• Alternate Payment Methods for Remainder: Partial authorization works the same way as face-to-face transactions: Upon receipt of a partial approval, present the customer with an option to pay for the balance with another form of payment.
• Customer Education: Ensure customer-facing pages clearly communicate why there is an outstanding balance and what amount will be charged to the additional form of payment.

How Partial Auth Works

The request and response field descriptions can be found at Create Transaction.

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Example Amounts vs Sandbox

The example amount values shown here may be higher than client default limits in sandbox. To increase limits, refer to Adjusting Limits.

Create Transaction Request

To indicate a partial authorization transaction,partial: true is required within the pullOptions object.

{
    "accounts": {
        "sourceAccount": {
            "card": {
                "accountNumber": "4111111111111111",
                "expirationDate": "202712",
                "securityCode": "245"
            },
            "owner": {
                "name": {
                    "first": "Payer",
                    "last": "Name"
                }
            }
        },
        "destinationAccountID": "NYMznh2UjfZBijgJs7WCA8"
    },
    "pullOptions": {
        "partial": true
    },
    "referenceID": "1kdev0924",
    "type": "pull",
    "amount": "100.00"
}

Response

To identify a partial authorization response, notice the partialAmount field, and the status field with PARTIAL_COMPLETED.

{
    "SC": 200,
    "EC": "0",
    "transactionID": "k5KnKwhgeita2lMToD9BQQ",
    "network": "Visa",
    "networkRC": "00",
    "networkID": "402104171109",
    "status": "PARTIAL_COMPLETED",
    "approvalCode": "210558",
    "partialAmount": "75.00",
    "card": {
        "last4": "1111",
        "expirationDate": "202712",
        "nameFI": "Whoop I.E. Institution"
    }
}

FAQs

How do we determine when the remaining amount from a partial authorization is not approved by the cardholder?

Based on Network Compliance Requirements, a disclosure should be displayed and it must obtain the Cardholder’s express informed consent to an agreement. For more information, refer to the Disclosure and Agreement Section for Partial Payments.

You can also use Authorize & Capture along with Partial Auth on any dual message network to void transactions with status PARTIAL_AUTHORIZED before the recommended timeframe.

Are all card brands supported for partial authorization service?

Visa and MasterCard prepaid and debit cards are supported for partial authorization service. However, approvals will depend on the Issuer.

Do all issuers support partial authorization?

All Visa prepaid issuers and all acquirers are required to support partial authorization, and an increasing number of debit issuers support the service as well.

A customer performs Visa transaction for $100, but only has a balance of $80 available. What happens when partial authorization is supported?

1. Create Transaction API Request: Includes transaction amount of $100 and the partial authorization indicator is ON.
2. Create Transaction API Response: Includes a status of PARTIAL_COMPLETED, or PARTIAL_AUTHORIZED (Auth & Cap + Partial Auth).
3. Retrieve Transaction API Request: Includes the transactionID from the Create Transaction Response.
4. Retrieve Transaction API Response: The partially authorized amount of $80, and the original transaction amount of $100 is returned back in the retrieve transaction response.

When do TabaPay Clients reverse Partially Approved transactions?

Here are a few examples:

• When the customer does not offer additional funds to complete the transaction amount and the sale is canceled.
• The customer abandons a sale.
• The transaction is subsequently voided or cancelled for various reasons.

Can partial authorizations be used for both face-to-face and e-commerce transactions?

Yes. Partial authorization transactions can be used in both face-to-face and e-commerce environments. Additionally, all merchants, including mail order/telephone order and e-commerce merchants, must support sending a reversal of the partial authorization if the cardholder does not complete the purchase with another form of payment or transaction is subsequently voided or cancelled depending on their use case and context.

Why can't I transact amounts of $100 or $75 in Sandbox?

Client Sandbox limits may be lower by default to only transact $0.25 or lower to test. To increase limits, refer to Adjusting Limits.

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