A preauthorization hold is the temporary hold of a specific sum on a customer’s card to ensure the funds are available before a transaction is processed and the payment captured at a later time. This type of pending transaction is typically used for large purchases, installments, reservations, or security deposits for rentals.

In Retail POS, you can enable preauthorization, capture preauthorized payments, set up email reminders for expiring holds, and manage holds from the Preauthorization report page.

Authorization periods may be up to 30 days but vary by credit card brand, nature of business, and region.

Preauthorization is only available on transactions where a card is present. It is not available on manually processed card or invoicing transactions.

Setting up preauthorization and email reminders

1. Navigate to Settings > Payment Processing.

2. Scroll down to Preauthorization and toggle on Allow preauthorization.

   

3. (Optional) Toggle on Expiration reminders to receive email reminders before preauthorizations expire.
   1. Enter an Email recipient, select a location (if applicable), and press enter to add.
   2. Click + Add recipient to add additional employees.
4. Click Save changes at the top of the page.

Setting up preauthorization receipt templates

To offer customers more transparency around their preauthorized payments, you can create custom receipts templates that feature preauthorization hold details:

1. After enabling print templates, follow the steps to add a custom receipt template.

2. If the print template field is not listed, click the +New PreAuthorizationReceipt button at the top of the page.

   

3. Customize the print template as needed.
4. Click anywhere outside the print template field to save your changes.

Preauthorization details will be shown on receipts when the template is used.

Using preauthorization at the register

1. On the Current Sale page, add a customer to the sale.

   A customer must be attached to the sale to use preauthorization.

2. Add items to the sale.

3. Click Preauthorize.

   

4. If needed, click Change terminal or Cancel preauthorization in the popup window. Otherwise, pass the terminal to the customer to complete the preauthorization.

5. Proceed with the sale as per usual. At the top of the preauthorization confirmation page, you’ll see a note with Charge: $0.00 and the Preauthorization hold duration information.

   

   A line item will also be created in the preauthorization report (Report > Preauthorization).

   

Capturing preauthorized payments

To finalize a sale with a preauthorization hold:

1. Open the appropriate sale by navigating to:
   • Reports > Preauthorization > click Process next to the sale, or
   • Sales > scroll down to Preauthorization > click View all, or
   • Sales > Sales History > Continue sale, or
   • Sales > New Sale > attach a customer with a pending preauthorization.
2. Click the Preauthorization tab.

3. Check the item boxes that will be included in the sale.

   

4. Enter the amount the customer needs to pay in the To Capture fields of each item. Refundable items like security deposits can be selected and entered at $0, if applicable.

   Card issuers limit the amount you can over-capture to +15%. If you go over this amount, you will see a warning message and will need to adjust your input.

5. Click Capture and finalize the sale.

Cancelling preauthorized payments

To cancel a preauthorization hold:

1. Open the appropriate sale by navigating to:
   • Reports > Preauthorization > click Process next to the sale, or
   • Sales > scroll down to Preauthorization > click View all, or
   • Sales > Sales History > Continue sale.
2. Click the Preauthorization tab.

3. Click Cancel preauthorization.

   

4. In the popup window, click Cancel preauthorization.

   The funds will be released on the customer’s card and you won’t be able to capture the funds in the future. This action can’t be undone.

   

5. (Optional) Click Print receipt.

To cancel the sale:

1. Click Cancel sale.

   

2. In the popup window, click OK.

The cancelled sale information will be available on the Sales page in the Cancelled section for 24 hours. You can also view details in Reports > All Transactions report and your Lightspeed Payments merchant portal.

Managing preauthorization holds

To manage preauthorization holds:

1. Navigate to Reports > click Preauthorization under Other Transactions.

   You can also access preauthorizations from the Sales page > Preauthorization section > View all.

2. Click the Active tab to view preauthorization holds that haven’t been captured yet. Holds that are expiring soon will have red Capture deadlines.

   • Click the Capture deadline column header to arrange by expiration date.
   • Click the Customer name to access the customer’s page.
   • Click Process to open the associated sale and capture payment.

   

   It’s recommended to regularly review your preauthorization page for expiring holds.

3. Click the Cancelled tab to cancelled preauthorization holds.

   • Click the Cancelled date column header to arrange by cancelled date.
   • Click the Customer name to access the customer’s page.
   • Click View sale to open the associated sale.

   

4. Click the Expired tab to view preauthorization holds that expired before payment was captured.
   • Click the Expired date column header to arrange by expiration date.
   • Click the Customer name to access the customer’s page.
   • Click View sale to open the associated sale.