Integration Guide

Using Authorization & Capture
Basic Authorization & Capture Scenarios
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322 September 2008 Website Payments Standard Integration Guide
After a successful authorization (or reauthorization), PayPal will honor authorized funds for
three days, but PayPal cannot ensure that 100% of the funds will be available. A day is defined
as the start of the calendar day on which the authorization or reauthorization was made (from
12AM PST to 11:50PM PST).
You can settle without a reauthorization from day 4 to day 29 of the authorization period, but
PayPal cannot ensure that 100% of the funds will be available after the three-day honor period.
However, PayPal will not allow you to capture funds if the buyer’s account is restricted,
locked, or a fraudulent case occurs, or if your account has a high restriction level. You can use
Authorization & Capture only when your account has a low restriction level.
The honor period and authorization period for authorizations are described below:
z If you attempt to capture funds outside the honor period, PayPal applies best efforts to
capture funds. However, funds may not be available at that time.
z The accounts of buyers and merchants cannot be closed if there is a pending (unsettled)
authorization.
Supported PayPal Payment Products
You can use Authorization & Capture with the PayPal products listed in Table 8.1 , “PayPal
Products Supporting Authorization & Capture.”
By default, these products assume that a transaction is a final sale. You must explicitly specify
that a transaction is a basic or order authorization.
N OTE: You must capture and void orders and order authorizations using the Authorization &
Capture APIs. That is, you cannot process order authorizations on the PayPal website
(
https://www.paypal.com). The PayPal website supports processing only basic
authorizations, not order authorizations.
Basic Authorization & Capture Scenarios
Included here are examples of some common scenarios you might encounter when
implementing basic authorizations and captures.
TABLE 8.1 PayPal Products Supporting Authorization & Capture
Product Typical Usage
Website Payments paymentaction="authorization"
Buy Now paymentaction="authorization"
Donations paymentaction="authorization"
Shopping carts paymentaction="authorization"