Pre-Authorisation

What Is Pre-Authorisation?

Pre-authorisation is also known as deferred payments or deferred processing. When shoppers place an order from your site, pre-authorisation reserves the funds against the credit or debit card used, rather than taking full payment immediately as with full-authorisation - the processing and payment are deferred until such time as you (the merchant) manually complete the transaction.

Shoppers will make their purchases from your web site in the normal way - your use of the deferred payments system is totally invisible to the shopper. You then have about 5 days in which to manually complete the transaction. During this time you can carry out anti-fraud checks, order more stock, contact the shopper to confirm the order, or anything else you need to do.

When Can I Use Pre-Authorisation?

Pre-authorisation is ideal for situations in which you do not wish to complete the transaction instantly. Some examples are:

• if you receive an "abnormal" order
• if you receive a suspicious order in which AVS or CVV numbers show "not matched" (which often suggests a fraud)
• if you are unable to dispatch goods immediately

If you feel the order is fraudulent or you are unable or unwilling to supply the goods, you can simply allow the transaction to lapse. No transaction charges are incurred unless you manually complete the transaction. If you fail to complete a transaction that may be fraudulent, you avoid the risk of chargebacks.

Pre-authorisation can be set up on your WorldPay Internet Merchant Account very quickly and easily and free of charge, simply by sending WorldPay an email requesting that they set up pre-authorisation.

How Much Does Pre-Authorisation Cost?

Nothing. WorldPay will set up pre-authorisation on your account free of charge. In fact, pre-authorisation saves you money because you don't pay transaction fees unless you manually complete the transaction.