The transaction lifecycle
One purchase produces a string of separate events. Each has its own message, its own timing, and its own way of going wrong. Treating them as a single thing called "the payment" is what makes reconciliation hard and support calls circular.
Authorization
Authorization asks the issuer a question: if I claim this money later, will you stand behind it? An approval is a promise and a hold. No money moves.
Capture
Capture is you telling the system: I delivered, I am claiming the money. It turns a hold into a claim and puts the transaction in line for clearing.
Voids, reversals, and refunds
Three ways to undo a payment. The customer ends up in the same place; you do not. Picking the right one is probably the highest-value thing a support team can learn about payments.
Clearing and settlement
Clearing decides who owes whom. Settlement moves the money. They are a day or so apart, and neither of them puts anything in your bank account. That is funding, which comes later still.
Funding and disbursement
Settlement moves money between banks. Funding is your processor moving money to you, and it runs on your contract rather than on network rules. Most "where is our money" investigations end here.
Disputes and chargebacks
A chargeback is the cardholder's bank taking money back out of your account, on the cardholder's word, months after you thought the sale was finished. You do not approve it and you cannot stop it. You can only answer it afterwards.
Timing, end to end
Scheme deadlines on this page are published rules and are linked. Funding times are typical ranges and depend on your contract, so treat those as shape rather than fact.