Pre-auths allow you to reserve funds in advance of a future transaction. During this time, while no funds have actually left the customer's bank account, these reserved funds are unavailable to the customer for other purchases. At a later time, you can then either adjust the amount, complete the purchase or cancel to release the funds back to the customer.
This has useful applications for many types of businesses. Common examples would be for customers booking a hotel reservation, which ensures the customer has the funds to pay for their stay without actually charging them until checkout. Other examples would be businesses renting out cars or other valuable equipment, to provide peace of mind against potential damage, loss or theft of said products.
Not supported
This functionality is not supported on your device. You can use the drop-down above to review instructions for other supported devices.
Not supported
This functionality is not supported on your device. You can use the drop-down above to review instructions for other supported devices.
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Tap Supervisor on the main screen to access the Transaction Menu.
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Tap "Pre-Authorizations...".
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Tap "New Pre-Authorization".
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Enter the pre-auth amount and tap the icon on screen.
Tap the icon in the bottom left to clear the entered amount. You can then type in a new amount.Prior to completing the pre-auth, you can tap the icon in the top right to abort the pre-auth.
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When prompted, insert the card OR tap for contactless OR swipe the magnetic stripe. The customer may be prompted to enter their PIN to continue.
Tap the icon in the top right to abort the transaction.Learn more about Contactless- Ask the customer to tap their card on the top of the reader.
- If a contactless card pre-auth is attempted for an amount greater than the Cardholder Verification Method (CVM) contactless limit applied to the card, the customer will be automatically prompted to enter their PIN for authentication before the sale can be completed.
- If the transaction fails (e.g. due to a decline), an error will be shown on the display.
Learn more about Chip and PIN- Ask the customer to insert their card into the reader.
- The customer will be prompted to enter their PIN for authentication before the pre-auth can be completed.
- If the transaction fails (e.g. due to a decline), an error will be shown on the display.
Learn more about Magstripe- Swipe the customer's card in the magstripe reader found on the side of the device.
- Two receipts will be printed – a customer's copy and a copy for yourself.
- Ask the customer to sign your copy of the receipt and compare this against the signature found on the back of their payment card.
- When prompted by the terminal, select "Yes" if the signatures match. This confirmation indicates that the transaction has passed the signature verification security check.
- Otherwise, select "No" to indicate a mismatch and follow the on-screen instructions to cancel the transaction.
- If the transaction fails (e.g. due to a decline), an error will be shown on the display.
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The pre-auth is processed. If successful, a confirmation message is displayed on screen and a receipt is printed for your records. The receipt will be needed to make any further adjustments to this pre-auth prior to completion.
Performing a pre-auth as described below with a Maestro card is not supported. However, you can still perform a pre-auth when the customer is not present by following the instructions in this article.
- Tap Menu icon onscreen and select the Pre-Authorization option
- Enter amount, press
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Insert card (enter pin when requested); Tap or Swipe
- To Abort transaction press red cancel button
- To Abort transaction press red cancel button
- The merchant receipt prints, press OK; the cardholder receipt prints
- Both receipt lists Auth Code and Sequence Number
You have up to 30 days to complete the transaction before the reserved funds are automatically released back to the customer.
