Issuing transactions

Learn how to use Issuing to handle transactions.

After an authorization is approved and is captured, the status on the authorization is set to closed and a Transaction object is created. This normally happens within 24 hours; however hotels, airlines, and car rental companies are able to capture up to 31 days after authorization.

When an authorization is captured, two things happen.

The status on the authorization is set to closed, releasing the purchase amount held by that authorization. A balance transaction of type issuing_authorization_release is created to represent this.
A new transaction object of type capture is created. The purchase amount is deducted from the balance you’re using for Issuing.

Spending controls, real time authorization controls, and card status (whether a card is active or not) don’t apply for capture. They can be used to determine whether authorizations are approved, but captures for approved authorizations always succeed.

Handling other transactions

In addition to regular transactions, there are a few other cases that you should be ready to handle.

Certain merchant categories (including airlines, cruise lines, or railway merchants) might authorize a transaction, then capture funds multiple times. This situation might occur when you purchase multiple items that ship separately as they become available. This results in the creation of multiple issuing_authorization.updated webhook events and multiple transactions.

Testing

To simulate the capture of an authorization multiple times, you can use the Authorization Capture API in the Issuing test helpers.

You can repeatedly capture the authorization while setting close_authorization = false. To close the authorization, either set the value to true or omit the parameter.