Increment an authorisation
Incremental authorisation allows you to increase the authorised amount on a confirmed PaymentIntent before you capture it. Before capture, each incremental authorisation appears on the credit card statement as an additional pending entry (for example, a 10 USD authorisation incremented to 15 USD appears as separate 10 USD and 5 USD pending entries). After capture, the pending authorisations are removed, and the total captured amount appears as one final entry.
Availability
When using incremental authorisations, 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 authorisation and in-person payments made using Terminal, see Incremental Authorisations.
IC+ feature
We offer incremental authorisations 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 authorisations on payments that fulfil the criteria below. You can find your user category in the Dashboard.
Attempting to perform an incremental authorisation on a payment that doesn’t fulfil 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 transport, 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 & campsites, 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 |
Networks with limited support (beta)
Best practices
When using incremental authorisation, proactively notify your end customer with the details of any authorisations for estimated amounts, which might be followed by incremental authorisations that increase those amounts. Here are some best practices for doing so:
- Disclose that an authorisation is for an estimated amount and that subsequent authorisation 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 authorisation. 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 authorisation, and prohibit the use of incremental authorisations for transactions where the transaction amount should be known at the time of authorisation (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 a professional if you’re unsure about your obligations.
Create and confirm an uncaptured PaymentIntent
You can use the request_incremental_authorization
parameter to specify the PaymentIntents you plan to increment.
All PaymentIntents can be incremented by default. Use the if_available
or never
parameters to determine when to start incrementing a PaymentIntent:
if_available
: The created PaymentIntent allows for future increments based on incremental authorisation support availability.never
: The created PaymentIntent doesn’t allow for future increments.
You can only perform incremental authorisations 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 authorisation or not. (If you didn’t request incremental authorisation 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 authorisation
To increase the authorised amount on a PaymentIntent, use the increment_authorization endpoint and provide the updated total authorisation amount to increment to, which must be greater than the original authorized amount. This attempts to authorise for a higher amount on your customer’s card. A single PaymentIntent can call this endpoint multiple times to further increase the authorised amount.
You have a maximum of 10 incremental authorisation 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 authorisation succeeds, it returns the PaymentIntent object with the updated amount. If the authorisation fails, it returns a card_declined error instead. The PaymentIntent object remains capturable for the previously authorised 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 authorisation fails.
The underlying Charge object for the PaymentIntent contains an amount_updates array field that’s appended with the results of the incremental authorisation. It shows whether the authorisation succeeded or failed, and any details associated with the result.
Incremental authorisation has a maximum cap of either +50 USD (or local equivalent) or +50% of the previously authorised amount (whichever is higher) for each individual increment. If you need access to higher limits, you can contact support.
Capture the PaymentIntent
Whether you increase the authorised amount on a PaymentIntent with an incremental authorisation or not, you need to capture the funds before the initial authorisation expires – incremental authorisations don’t extend the validity period. To capture the authorised amount on a PaymentIntent with prior incremental authorisations, 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 authorisation succeeds, it returns the captured PaymentIntent object with the updated amount. If the authorisation fails, it returns a card_declined error instead. The PaymentIntent isn’t captured, but it remains capturable for the previously authorised 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 authorisation fails.
Test your integration
Use the incremental authorisation Stripe test card with any CVC, postcode, and future expiry to trigger incremental authorisation while in test mode:
First create the PaymentIntent using the test card in the create and confirm PaymentIntent step above.
Perform the incremental authorisation with the parameters specified in the perform an incremental authorisation step above, and use the test card to trigger an incremental authorisation.
Number | Payment Method | Description |
---|---|---|
pm_card_debit_incrementalAuthAuthorized | This increases the authorisation amount to the amount provided in the request. |