Pre-Authorisation processing
The pre-authorisation function allows you to authorise and hold funds on a customer’s credit card for a period of up to seven days. A pre-authorisation will not debit a customer’s account until a completion transaction is processed at a later date. Each ‘transaction’ consists of two parts: the pre-authorisation and the completion. This facility is only available for use in certain industries, such as hotels or lodgings.
It is important to retain the Pre-Authorisation merchant receipt as the pre- authorisation completion cannot be completed without the Approval Code from the receipt.
Part one: Pre-authorisation
A pre-authorisation transaction requests verification from a customer’s card-issuing bank for the full value of the purchase. The customer’s bank will issue a successful pre-authorisation request with a 6-digit authorisation number.
Part two: Completion
The Completion transaction is used to process the Customer’s final payment where a Pre-Authorisation was processed earlier. When processing the completion request, use the following data to retrieve the pre-authorisation transaction:
- the six-digit authorisation number
- the invoice number and amount
- the card number or date.
The amount of the completion request may not exceed the pre-authorisation request by more than 15%. If it does, the transaction will be declined. When a completion transaction is successful, its value will be included in the end-of-day settlement to your merchant account.
Note: Please refer to your POS Vendor Point of Sale manual on how to initiate this transaction at the POS if in integrated mode.
Processing a pre-authorisation transaction
Press Menu key.
Press 1 to select Transaction.
Press 4 to select Pre-Auth.
Enter pre-authorisation amount and press Enter.
Request customer to tap, insert or swipe their card.
Request customer to enter their PIN and press Enter or press Enter to sign.
An Approved acknowledgement displays once the sale has been successfully processed and the merchant receipt will print automatically.
Request the customer to sign the receipt if required. You will need to verify your customer's signature. Press Yes if the signature matches.
Press Yes to print customer receipt if required.
Processing a pre-authorisation completion
Press Menu key.
Press 1 to select Transaction.
Press 5 to select Completion.
Enter the completion amount and press Enter.
Enter the 6-digit Approval Code from the merchant receipt and press Enter.
Enter the terminal password.
Press Enter to confirm key and the merchant receipt will print automatically. The customer's credit card will be required if the pre-authorisation transaction is not found on the terminal. Of the latter happens, request the following
- Request the customer to insert or swipe their card.
- Enter the last 8 digits of the RRN from the merchant receipt and press Enter.
- Enter the pre-auth date from the receipt in DD/MM format and press Enter.
Request the customer to sign the receipt if required. You will need to verify your customers' signature. Press Yes if the signature matches.
Press Yes to print the customer receipt if required.