Authorize Only or Sale

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   I'm curious as to what other merchants are doing in regards to capturing payments from customers. We say on our website that we'll ship products within 3 - 5 business days to allow for manufacturing (if required), processing and packaging. Could I legally capture the funds from the sale at the time of the sale or am I required to only authorize the sale and capture the funds at a later date? Thanks in advance.

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Jackalope Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 07-July-2006 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Jackalope Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Authorize Only or Sale Posted: 16-October-2007 at 8:24pm
	I'm curious as to what other merchants are doing in regards to capturing payments from customers. We say on our website that we'll ship products within 3 - 5 business days to allow for manufacturing (if required), processing and packaging. Could I legally capture the funds from the sale at the time of the sale or am I required to only authorize the sale and capture the funds at a later date? Thanks in advance.

fidjiti Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 30-November-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote fidjiti Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17-October-2007 at 2:43pm
	It depends on your merchant account rules. I would check with them if I were you. I think it varies. For example if you're using google checkout, they authorize first and then you must charge within 7 calendar days.
	Linda - I wish I knew ASP. To view my ever evolving site click the "www" button below. :)

Jackalope Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 07-July-2006 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Jackalope Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20-October-2007 at 6:27pm
	I just wasn't sure if it was illegal to charge the customers card at the time of purchase if the product wasn't ready to ship immediately. I'll check with our merchant provider. Thanks Linda

Stuck Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 09-March-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Stuck Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20-October-2007 at 10:29pm
	Hello Jackalope, "I'm curious as to what other merchants are doing in regards to capturing payments from customers." We follow a pretty simple policy as follows: We set up our credit card purchases to Authorize Only, then we perform the final Capture on the day the order will actually ship to our customers (never sooner than 24 hours before actually shipping). I believe you would have a substantial number of disgruntled customers if you were to fully capture the funds 3-5 days before actually shipping the products. Hope this helps! Edited by Stuck - 20-October-2007 at 10:30pm

rotokirby Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 22-April-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote rotokirby Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 22-October-2007 at 1:51am
	While I agree that it is best to only capture once an item is shipped or ready to ship, it's my experience that 99% of the world have no idea how credit card authorization works...nor do they know the difference between "authorized" and "captured." A majority of banks and credit card companies will show a debit on their online systems when the purchase is authorized, so most people see the money as immediately gone from the account whether the merchant has actually captured the funds or not. It's a good practice to only capture funds once items are shipped, but there are scenarios...."pre-orders" for example...where it is necessary to capture prior to shipping. Edited by rotokirby - 22-October-2007 at 1:52am

billh Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 01-June-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote billh Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 23-October-2007 at 11:34am
	In our shop, if we waited until after the products were shipped before we captured the funds, we'd lose money right and left. We capture and charge, and we generally ship within 48 hours if the product is available, if not, we contact the customer to inform them and give them the choice of waiting for us to get it before we ship, or we cancel the order. 9 out of 10 times, they're more than happy to wait. The key is communication. If you're in touch with your customers, things like this will not upset the applecart.

EarlJ Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 02-May-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote EarlJ Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 23-October-2007 at 4:04pm
	Hi Jackalope, We only sell over the Internet and as such we are subject to the Mail Order regulations for our state. Under those rules we have 30 days from the date of purchase to ship the goods. Usually every order ships within 48 hours. We authorize and charge at the time of purchase and have never had a problem. But as someone before stated we've found that the majority of the consumer's have no understanding of how the charge process works. If the customer has online access to their credit card account, which most do, they see the authorization as a charge to their account whether or not you have rejected, accepted or even captured the funds. Earl

scarlettscloset Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12-August-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote scarlettscloset Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 22-February-2008 at 4:21pm
	We authorize and charge at the time of purchase and have never had a problem. Ditto To many uninformed customers, the authorization and charge look like double dipping. amela
	Scarlett