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Incremental Authorization
Incremental Authorization enables merchants to increase the authorized amount on an existing payment without creating a new authorization. This is commonly used in industries where the final transaction amount isn't known at the time of initial authorization, for example:
- Hotels: Guest extends stay or incurs additional charges.
- Car Rentals: Rental period extension or additional fees.
- Restaurants: Adding a tip to the bill.
Instead of creating a new authorization, which would hold additional funds on the customer's card, Incremental Authorization increases the existing hold, providing a better customer experience.
Before using Incremental Authorization, ensure the following:
- Original authorization exists: A valid, approved authorization must exist for the payment.
- Authorization not expired: The original authorization must not be expired.
- Not the final capture: The payment must not have been final captured.
- Currency matches: The incremental amount must be in the same currency as the original authorization.
- Visa amounts non-zero: Visa does not support zero-amount incremental authorizations (Mastercard does).
- Remaining amount non-zero: The authorized remaining amount must be available and not zero.
Incremental authorizations operate on the initial payment transaction using the paymentTransactionId.
| Authorization | Mutation | Input |
|---|---|---|
| Initial | authorizePaymentCard | Normal auth for $800 |
| Incremental | incrementalAuthorizePaymentTransaction | paymentTransactionId + additional $500 |
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
paymentId | String | Yes | ID of the existing payment to increment |
amount | MoneyInput | Visa: Yes, Mastercard: No | Additional amount to authorize |
amount.value | Integer | Yes | Monetary value (e.g., 5000) |
amount.currencyCode | String | Yes | ISO 4217 currency code (e.g., USD) |
idempotencyKey | String | No |
- Handle declines gracefully: If an incremental authorization is declined, consider creating a new authorization.
- Monitor expiration: Authorization validity periods vary by card network and merchant category.
- Currency consistency: Always use the same currency as the original authorization.
Use the incrementalAuthorizePaymentTransaction mutation to increase the authorized amount on an existing payment.
Zero dollar incremental authorization only applies to Single Authorization Multiple Capture (SAMC) payments, a Mastercard feature.
Use the following mutation to run an incremental authorization of zero dollars ($0) and extend the expiration date of the original authorization.