Looking to significantly reduce your risk of credit card fraud and theft while streamlining your payment experience for your customers? Credit card pre-authorisation is the payment solution for you! With credit card pre-auths you can quickly validate a card isn't blocked (due to being stolen) and has enough credit on it to cover the cost of your services.
Wondering how you can start taking credit card pre-authorisations? Before you go ahead and jump right into using credit card pre-auths, there are some important operational actions to tick off first:
1. Make sure you know the rules
There are some rules and regulations laid out by the credit card schemes you must abide by if you choose to use credit card pre-auths. It's best to check with your acquiring bank (the bank that provides your merchant facility) for the latest standards.
2. Implement a process for managing pre-auth numbers
To recall a pre-auth for completion on a Verifone terminal connected to the Verifone network you need any 4 or more digits from the TRAN number or Invoice Number. Similarly, on the Worldline network you'll need the 'Invoice Number'. These can be found on the merchant or customer receipts. On the Verifone Network you can also use the last four digits of the customer's card
To make sure your customers aren't left waiting for you or your staff to hunt down the right number, you'll need to set up an accurate, efficient means of storing and looking up the right number for the right transactions.
3. Make sure you're familiar with the solution
Take the time to show your team how to process, cancel, recall and complete a pre-auth on your EFTPOS terminal. See our Help Centre for step-by-step instructions.
4. Make sure you know how to explain pre-auths to customers
The last thing your customers want when they check their credit card statements is a surprise! That's why we recommend explaining that when a credit card pre-auth is processed there may be two transactions listed: a temporary authorisation hold and the final payment. The authorisation hold may show as ‘pending’ for a few days until the funds are released by their bank, but there’s no need to worry.
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