Authorization and Capture

Authorization and Capture is a two-step process for processing card payments. It lets you first reserve funds on a customer’s card and then charge them later.

The process involves two distinct steps:

1. Authorization verifies that the customer’s card has sufficient funds and places a temporary hold for the specified amount. No money is actually transferred at this stage.

2. Capture transfers the reserved funds from the customer’s card to your account, completing the transaction.

When to Use This

This two-step flow is ideal for situations where

• The final amount might change, for businesses like hotels or car rentals
• Fulfillment is delayed, for handling pre-orders, food deliveries, or appointment bookings

Implementation with Beam

On Beam, this process begins with a CardAuthorization object. A CardAuthorization represents the intent to authorize a customer’s card and contains all the payment details, such as the amount, currency, and status.

To implement this flow:

1. Create a card authorization using the Card Authorization API.
2. Capture on the card authorization using the Capture API.