Authorize and Capture Guide

Card transactions occur very quickly, which is what makes them so convenient for day-to-day purchases. In fact, they happen so fast that many people don’t realize that there are actually two events taking place: an authorization and a capture.

By default, the Stripe extension will perform the authorization and capture at the same time. However, by enabling the Issue an authorization on checkout, and capture later setting, you can prevent the automatic capture of charges. This allows you to manually capture the charge at a later time.

Although most merchants don’t need this feature, it may be helpful in certain cases.

If you wish to enable this feature, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > Stripe > Settings.
2. Scroll down to the Payments & transactions section.
3. Check the box labelled Issue an authorization on checkout, and capture later.
4. A popup will appear to ask if you’re sure. Click Enable.
5. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.

Cards, Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna are the only payment methods that support manual capture. All other payment methods will be hidden if manual capture is enabled.

If an order is placed while manual capture is enabled, the order will be assigned the “On Hold” status, which you can see under WooCommerce > Orders.

If you open the order itself, you’ll see a note indicating that the payment was authorized:

To capture an authorized payment, you can either:

• Change the order status manually under WooCommerce > Orders to “Processing” or “Completed” and update the order.
• Capture the funds via the Stripe dashboard.

You may, if you wish, capture a lower amount than the one you originally authorized against the customer’s card. This is called a “partial capture.”

Keep in mind, however, that you can once per order. If the capture is a partial one, the difference between the captured amount and the authorized amount is immediately released back to the customer, and you will not be able to capture it later.

To perform a partial capture:

1. Find the order under WooCommerce > Orders and click to open it.
2. Hover your cursor over an item from the order and click the pencil icon that appears.

3. In the Total box, enter the amount you wish to capture, then click Save.

4. The cost of the item will updated as if a coupon were applied.

5. Change the order status to Processing or Completed.
6. Click the Update button.

After updating the order, the lesser amount will be captured.

Although authorizations expire automatically after seven days, it’s best to cancel them if you’ve confirmed that you won’t need to charge the customer. Doing so releases the hold that their bank placed on their funds.

If a customer wishes to cancel their order after it’s been authorized but before it’s been captured, you can do so by:

• Setting the order status to “Cancelled”, or…
• Cancelling the authorization in the Stripe dashboard.

If an authorized charge is not captured within seven days, the authorization will expire. An expired authorization operates similarly to a cancelled authorization, meaning that:

• The held funds will be returned to the customer.
• The order status is set to “Cancelled.”
• The funds can no longer be captured.

The only difference between an expired authorization and a cancelled authorization is that expiration happens automatically, and cancellation is a manual process.