Increment an authorization
Increase an existing authorization on a confirmed PaymentIntent before you capture it.
Incremental authorization allows you to increase the authorized amount on a confirmed PaymentIntent before you capture it. Before capture, each incremental authorization appears on the credit card statement as an additional pending entry (for example, a 10 USD authorization incremented to 15 USD appears as separate 10 USD and 5 USD pending entries). After capture, the pending authorizations are removed, and the total captured amount appears as one final entry.
Availability
When using incremental authorizations, be aware of the following restrictions:
- Not currently available if you and the cardholder are in a country with Strong Customer Authentication requirements or similar authentication requirements.
- Only available with Visa, Mastercard, or Discover.
- Certain card brands have merchant category restrictions (see below).
For learning more about incremental authorization and in-person payments made using Terminal, see Incremental Authorizations.
IC+ feature
We offer incremental authorizations to users on IC+ pricing. If you’re on standard Stripe pricing and want access to this feature, learn more at support.stripe.com.
Availability by card network and merchant category
Use incremental authorizations on payments that fulfill the criteria below. You can find your user category in the Dashboard.
Attempting to perform an incremental authorization on a payment that doesn’t fulfill the below criteria results in an error.
Card brand | Merchant country | Payment type | Merchant category |
---|---|---|---|
Visa | Global | All card payment types | All user categories |
Mastercard | Global* | All card payment types | All user categories |
Discover | Global | All card payment types | Car rental, hotels, local/suburban commuter, passenger transportation, including ferries, passenger railways, bus lines-charter, tour, steamship/cruise lines, boat rentals & lease, grocery stores and supermarkets, electric vehicle charging, eating places and restaurants, drinking places (alcoholic beverages), hotels, motels, resorts, trailer parks & campgrounds, equip/tool/furn/appl rental & leasing, automobile rental agency, truck and utility trailer rentals, motor home and rec vehicle rentals, parking lots, parking meters, and garages, amusement parks, circuses, fortune tell, recreation services (not classified) |
Discover | Global | Card not present | Taxicabs and limousines |
* Excludes MX users and JPY transactions for JP users
Networks with limited support (beta)
Best practices
When using incremental authorization, proactively notify your end customer with the details of any authorizations for estimated amounts, which might be followed by incremental authorizations that increase those amounts. Here are some best practices for doing so:
- Disclose that an authorization is for an estimated amount and that subsequent authorization requests might follow at the time of checkout, before purchase.
- Base estimated amounts on a genuine estimate of what the total transaction amount will be.
These best practices might be required under applicable network rules, depending on the network.
Compliance
You’re responsible for your compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and network rules when using incremental authorization. Consult the network rules for the card networks that you plan to use this feature with to make sure your sales comply with applicable rules, which vary by network. For example, most card networks restrict how you can calculate estimated amounts included in the initial authorization, and prohibit the use of incremental authorizations for transactions where the transaction amount should be known at the time of authorization (for example, charges for recurring subscriptions).
The information provided on this page relating to your compliance with these requirements is for your general guidance, and isn’t legal, tax, accounting, or other professional advice. Consult with a professional if you’re unsure about your obligations.
Create and confirm an uncaptured PaymentIntent
You can use the request_
parameter to specify the PaymentIntents you plan to increment.
Use the if_
or never
parameters to determine when to start incrementing a PaymentIntent:
if_
: The created PaymentIntent allows for future increments based on incremental authorization support availability.available never
: The created PaymentIntent doesn’t allow for future increments.
You can only perform incremental authorizations on uncaptured payments after PaymentIntent confirmation. To adjust the amount of a payment before confirmation, use update method instead.
In the PaymentIntent confirmation response, the payment_method_details field on the latest_charge contains available
or unavailable
based on the customer’s payment method and the availability criteria mentioned above, which determines whether a PaymentIntent is eligible for incremental authorization or not. (If you didn’t request incremental authorization in your PaymentIntent confirmation request, it will be unavailable
.)
// PaymentIntent Response { "id": "pi_ANipwO3zNfjeWODtRPIg", "object": "payment_intent", "amount": 1000, "amount_capturable": 1000, "amount_received": 0, ... // if latest_charge is expanded { "latest_charge": { "amount": 1000, "payment_method_details": { "card": { "incremental_authorization": { "status": "available" // or "unavailable" } } } ... } } }
Perform an incremental authorization
To increase the authorized amount on a PaymentIntent, use the increment_authorization endpoint and provide the updated total authorization amount to increment to, which must be greater than the original authorized amount. This attempts to authorize for a higher amount on your customer’s card. A single PaymentIntent can call this endpoint multiple times to further increase the authorized amount.
You have a maximum of 10 incremental authorization attempts per PaymentIntent.
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents/{{PAYMENT_INTENT_ID}}/increment_authorization \ -u
: \ -d "amount"=1500sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
If the incremental authorization succeeds, it returns the PaymentIntent object with the updated amount. If the authorization fails, it returns a card_declined error instead. The PaymentIntent object remains capturable for the previously authorized amount. Any potential updates to other PaymentIntent fields (for example, application_fee_amount, transfer_data, metadata, description, and statement_descriptor) aren’t saved if the incremental authorization fails.
Incremental authorization has a maximum cap of either +500 USD (or local equivalent) or +500% of the previously authorized amount (whichever is higher) for each individual increment.
Capture the PaymentIntent
Whether you increase the authorized amount on a PaymentIntent with an incremental authorization or not, you need to capture the funds before the initial authorization expires–incremental authorizations don’t extend the validity period. To capture the authorized amount on a PaymentIntent with prior incremental authorizations, use the capture endpoint as usual.
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents/{{PAYMENT_INTENT_ID}}/capture \ -u
:sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
If the incremental authorization succeeds, it returns the captured PaymentIntent object with the updated amount. If the authorization fails, it returns a card_declined error instead. The PaymentIntent isn’t captured, but it remains capturable for the previously authorized amount. Any potential updates to other PaymentIntent fields (for example, application_fee_amount, transfer_data, metadata, description and statement_descriptor) aren’t saved if the incremental authorization fails.
Test your integration
Use the incremental authorization Stripe test card with any CVC, postal code, and future expiration to trigger incremental authorization while in test mode:
First create the PaymentIntent using the test card in the create and confirm PaymentIntent step above.
Perform the incremental authorization with the parameters specified in the perform an incremental authorization step above, and use the test card to trigger an incremental authorization.
Number | Payment Method | Description |
---|---|---|
pm_ | This increases the authorization amount to the amount provided in the request. |