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.

Capture still moves no money. It is the last step you control before the banking system takes over on a schedule you do not set.

What happens

Two things there catch people out. Capture puts the transaction into a batch, not onto the network, so nothing leaves your processor until the batch closes. And the batch close, not the purchase, starts the funding clock — the T in a T+2 schedule, as timing explains.

The batch and its cut-off

Your processor sets the cut-off time, usually in its own timezone rather than yours. Anything captured after it waits for tomorrow.

This is the whole explanation for a complaint you will hear often: two customers buy twenty minutes apart on the same evening and their payments fund a day apart. Nothing is broken. One of them landed on the wrong side of the cut-off.

Most processors close batches automatically. Manual close survives mainly in terminal-based retail, where staff settle the till at the end of the day, and forgetting to do it is the classic reason a Saturday's takings never arrive. A batch that fails to submit and is never resubmitted is rarer and worse, because every transaction inside it is stranded.

Daily batch check

Confirm each day that the batch closed.

1. Open the batch report for the trading day.
2. Compare the batch total against your own captured total.
3. If the totals do not agree, or the report is missing, contact the processor the same day.

Do not assume that a missing batch will submit itself.

Capturing part of an order

Situation	What to do
Shipped less than ordered	Capture the lower amount, then release the rest
Split shipment	Capture more than once against the authorization, where the processor supports it; otherwise authorize per shipment
Final total slightly above the hold	Rely on the over-capture tolerance for tips and fuel; outside it, authorize again
Bill grew during a stay	Add an incremental authorization first, then capture

Where multiple partial captures are not available, authorizing per shipment is the honest fallback. It costs more messages and more decline exposure, but it charges the customer for what has actually left the warehouse.

Late capture

Capturing after the window has closed is the most common way merchants cost themselves money without noticing. The transaction can downgrade to a worse interchange category. The protection attached to the original approval weakens. The issuer may reject the clearing record outright, which leaves you holding delivered goods and no payment.

Since April 2024 Visa also treats late presentment and missing authorization as one dispute condition rather than two, so a late capture and an uncaptured sale now fail the same test. Disputes covers what happens when one is filed.

The fix is operational, not technical. Know the window that applies to your card mix, and flag orders before they lapse instead of discovering the problem in a statement.

Force capture

A force capture claims money with no matching approval. It exists for the aftermath of a voice authorization or a lost auth record, and it works.

It also costs you. Visa charges a zero floor limit fee on every settled transaction that cannot be matched back to an authorization, and the transaction carries none of the assurances an approval provides: no confirmation the funds existed, and a weaker position if the cardholder disputes it.

Force capture

Use a force capture only when no authorization record exists.

1. Record the reason in the order.
2. Record the voice authorization code, if you have one.
3. Report the force capture in the daily exception review.

Do not use a force capture as a routine way to fix a failed capture.

Terms introduced

• Batch — the day's captured transactions, submitted for clearing together.
• Cut-off time — the daily deadline for joining the current batch.
• Partial capture — claiming less than the authorized amount.
• Over-capture tolerance — the allowance to claim slightly more than was held.
• Force capture — a capture with no matching authorization.
• Zero floor limit fee — Visa's per-item charge for a settled transaction with no matching authorization.

Capture

0 of 5 answered

1. The final bill comes in slightly above the amount you held. What lets you claim it without a new authorization?

   The over-capture tolerance, which allows a small excess over the held amount.A partial capture, adjusted upwards at batch close.The authorization-to-clearing time frame, which permits amendment within the window.Nothing. Any excess requires a force capture.
2. A retailer's Saturday takings never arrive. What should be checked first?

   Whether the batch was closed.Whether the issuer settled.Whether interchange downgraded.Whether the network had an outage.
3. What are the likely consequences of capturing well after the authorization window has lapsed? Select all that apply.

   The transaction may downgrade to a worse interchange category.Chargeback protection tied to the original approval is weakened.The issuer may refuse the clearing record entirely.The acquirer automatically re-authorizes on your behalf.
4. Two customers buy 20 minutes apart on the same evening, and their payments fund a day apart. What is the most likely explanation?

   One capture landed after the daily batch cut-off and joined the next day's batch.One issuer settled more slowly than the other.One transaction downgraded at clearing.The acquirer split the batch by card type.
5. Beyond the weaker dispute position, what does Visa charge on a settled transaction with no matching authorization?

   A zero floor limit fee, per item.A misuse of authorization fee, per item.A downgrade to the most expensive interchange category.Nothing, provided a voice authorization code is supplied.

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How we do it here

We authorize at checkout and capture on dispatch. That keeps us in line with what the schemes expect for delivered goods, and it means an order cancelled before it ships is a reversal rather than a refund on the customer's statement.

Our internal window is seven days, which is shorter than Visa allows for card-not-present. That is a deliberate margin, not a rule we are required to follow.

Symptom	Look here first
Approved but never captured	Fulfilment queue. Capture is triggered by dispatch, not by payment
Capture rejected as expired	Order age against the seven-day window
Customer says funds are still held	Whether a reversal was sent on cancellation

Owner: Payments Platform. Review each quarter.

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How our providers do it

Stripe

What they are to us: a PSP. They hold the acquiring relationship, so capture semantics are theirs, not a bank's.

Their model has no separate "batch" that we can see. Capture submits the charge; batching and clearing happen inside Stripe. There is no batch close for us to miss, which removes a whole class of failure at the cost of removing a lever.

Their vocabulary

We say	They say	Status
Auth-only	PaymentIntent with capture_method: manual	confirmed
Sale	PaymentIntent with capture_method: automatic	confirmed
Capture	Capture the PaymentIntent	confirmed
Partial capture	Capture with a lower amount_to_capture	confirmed
Release an uncaptured auth	Cancel the PaymentIntent	confirmed

Question	Answer	Status
How long can an auth stay uncaptured?	Bounded, and shorter than the scheme maximum for some methods	unconfirmed — check current docs per payment method
Multiple partial captures against one auth?	Generally one capture per PaymentIntent	unconfirmed
Over-capture allowed?	Limited, method-dependent	unconfirmed

Owner: Payments Platform. Last verified: never.