I've seen in the knowledgebase where clicking the "Authorize Only" checkbox in the Online Payment Manager Real Time Payment, causes the Warehouse email to not be sent UNTIL the order is marked as "In Progress."

My question is this: Does clicking this "Authorize Only" checkbox cause the credit card transactions generated to only "authorize" the payment instead of actually charging it thereby forcing me to go to my merchant account console to actually complete the transaction?

If I uncheck the "Authorize Only" checkbox, will all credit card transactions be true charges instead of "authorized" transactions?

I couldn't find an explanation of the "Authorize Only" checkbox in any documentation other than searching the knowledgebase and that only talked about the timing of the warehouse email.

Thanks - Rhonda

Does anyone one have an answer on this one? Do any of you "not check" the authorize only checkbox? If so, how do you credit card transactions look in your merchant console? Are they just pre-auths or actual completed charges in a batch ready to be posted?

Thanks - Rhonda

Rhonda,
This is exactly the topic I've been looking for and am dissapointed to find zero responses to your question. I'm looking for the same information but in the meantime I am just going to leave it unchecked. I think it will charge the customer right away for the purchase.
J

I can't remember the details when we set up ours...I do remember I had the help of one of the support people...but we have Authorize Only checked. This results in us having to release or batch the individuals sales through our Authorize.net terminal. They are not automatically settled if the Authoirze Only is checked. Not sure what happens if left unchecked.

p.s. we chose this option because our policy is to only charge when an order is shipped. So charging and shipping occur on the same day.

I do the same thing - authorize only because I only capture the charge when the order actually ships.

If you leave it unchecked, when MC connects with the gateway, it will authorize & capture the payment. After it's captured, it's just a matter of time for the transaction to settle.

I get the feeling most people do an authorize only and then charge when items are shipped. Can you tell me reasons why? It seems like more work to do it yourself and wait for the items to ship. Are there tax issues to consider or something? Just curious cause it seems easier to have authorize do it automatically when the transaction is made. Any help would be great!

I believe it's a requirement of most payment processors that you only charge when the item ships. That's why we "authorize only" and then when the item ships, I go into our gateway software and close and post the payment batch so that the charge is actually made at that point. Most internet sites do the same (amazon, buy.com, etc).

- Rhonda

Thanks Rhonda!
J

We let the authorization and charge happen automatically because we ship the same day orders received (or within 24 hours if the order received after a cut-off time that we state in our Customer Care page). We think it is a much simpler and more streamlined way to handle. (we don't use drop shippers, but hold the inventory in our warehouse).

Hi Rhonda,

Authorize Only captures the funds but doesn't add the transaction to your current batch, so the customer's card isn't actually charged. However, once the authorization has gone through, the funds are no longer available to the customer unless/until you release them. In order to actually charge the card you need to finish processing the order by shipping it.

This is a very useful feature, which can be used, for instance, to pre-authorize a card before placing merchandise on hold for a customer, placing a special order for a customer without requiring a down-payment, etc.

HTH,
Bob