Payment Gateway Transaction Types

Here are different types of payment gateway transactions that are used in Ablecommerce.

Authorize

This is an authorization to charge, but does not capture funds.

Capture

This is a capture of a previous authorization. Only payments that are in an “Authorized” state can be captured. The merchant can provide the amount of capture, between 0.01 and the amount of the authorization. Some processors will allow you to capture more than the authorization. Once a capture is completed, the authorization is closed.

Authorize / Capture or Sale

This completes the authorization and capture in one step. Some processors allow this. At least one (CyberSource, when working with a particular bank) requires it. In general, our merchants will not want this. The major card issuers (Visa, MC, etc.) require that goods are shipped before the capture is completed.

Void

This could also be called Authorization Reversal. Only a payment that is “Authorized” can be voided. A void cancels the authorization. A payment that has been fully captured cannot be voided, it must be refunded instead. These are the rules for AbleCommerce, and it is important to note that not every processor implements this feature the same way. For example, CyberSource considers a void as something you can do to any transaction that has not been sent to the bank during the nightly batch processing. They do not allow “authorization reversals” in most cases. So this transaction type will be unavailable for some processors.

Partial Capture

This should better be named “Multiple Capture”. This means that you can capture more than one time on a single authorization. For example, I authorize a card for 80. Then I can capture half the amount (40), then later I can capture the other half. There are very few processors that support this feature. When a payment has been partially captured, you can initiate a VOID if the processor supports it, to cancel the remaining authorization. So AUTH 80, CAPTURE 40, VOID 40 = CAPTURE OF 40.

Refund

This is refunding the entire amount of a transaction. Only payments that have been captured can be refunded. I am not sure whether any payment processors would support this type of transaction, but not support Partial Refund (below). From the merchant interface, if partial refund is not supported, the merchant will only be able to refund the entire capture amount.

Partial Refund

This is refunding part of the transaction. We allow partial refunds to be issued as long as the refunds do not exceed the total amount captured. The merchant can enter the amount of refund, between 0.01 and the amount captured.