Is there a way to pre-auth a credit card? I am trying to figure out a way to run a deposit without actually charging the guests. Can this be done ?
I would love to know how to do this as well, if it’s possible. Especially considering that we can’t use customer credits on the POS to handle deposits.
I’ve never found a way to do this, and I’ve also been looking for quite some time.
We just charge the card and refund when the deposit is to be returned.
You really want to take the funds for a deposit. I don’t know your locality, but here in CA at least if you don’t take the funds within 7 days you could lose.
Not to mention the reasons in general to take a deposit: 1) to establish that your client means it; 2) to protect yourself in the event they don’t clean up after themselves; 3) to receive minimal compensation if they cancel. Etc.
Hi Kevin,
You there are ways to pre-authorize credit cards, however this is dependent on the company you use for your credit card authorizing and/or processing. For example, we use Authorize.net which has a tool that allows me to “Authorize Only”. I am sure that depending on what you use for credit card processing you will be able to find a similar feature.
However, I agree with El Jefe, since the customer can do any number of things with the credit card after it has been authorized (lose it, cancel it, etc.) I would suggest billing the deposit. What we have done is, is to create two products, “Event-Deposit” and “Event-Payment” that way if there is an agreement for a flat deposit or as percentage deposit we can accommodate it without having to build the whole event and do partial payments.
Hope this helps.
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