Capture and Daily Closing
These two features are extremely important Saferpay features. Depending on the means of payment, the two can be directly associated with each other and they must be carried out for the cash flow to be initiated to the merchant’s account. If no capture and batch has been executed, no money will be transfered.
This is why this dedicated chapter is so important. Here, we'll cover, what the capture is, how it is triggered and how you know, that it must be triggered.
The Capture serves to book and thus to conclude/finalize a payment. As long as a transaction has not passed through the capture, the amount is merely reserved (“authorised”), but it will not be transfered to the merchant account. This is, why the capture is so important.
On the API side, you receive information about the transaction via the Transaction.Status parameter, e.g. through the PaymentPage Assert, or Transaction Authorize. Transactions which have not yet been booked are visible in Saferpay Backoffice as “Reservation", Reservations are marked as "AUTHORIZED" on API-level and have to go through the Capture, to be finalized:
"Transaction": {
"Type": "PURCHASE",
"Status": "AUTHORIZED",
"Id": "MUOGAWA9pKr6rAv5dUKIbAjrCGYA",
"Date": "2015-09-18T09:19:27.078Z",
"Amount": {
"Value": "100",
"CurrencyCode": "CHF"
},
"AcquirerName": "AcquirerName",
"AcquirerReference": "Reference"
}
If a transaction has already passed through, or does not need the capture, the status is changed to “CAPTURED”:
"Transaction": {
"Type": "PURCHASE",
"Status": "CAPTURED",
"Id": "MUOGAWA9pKr6rAv5dUKIbAjrCGYA",
"Date": "2015-09-18T09:19:27.078Z",
"Amount": {
"Value": "100",
"CurrencyCode": "CHF"
},
"AcquirerName": "AcquirerName",
"AcquirerReference": "Reference"
}
{
"ResponseHeader": {
"SpecVersion": "1.14",
"RequestId": "93388d85dc4519ea37595121dd8bd4ae"
},
"Behavior": "ABORT",
"ErrorName": "TRANSACTION_ALREADY_CAPTURED",
"ErrorMessage": "Transaction already captured"
}
Not all payment methods need a separate capture to trigger the cash flow. The respective Payment Method chapter will give you the necessary information, if a Capture is needed. However dynamically reacting on the Transaction.Status parameter is the preferred method, as this enables you to also react to more payment methods, that will be added to your account, down the line, with no, or just minimal code-changes.
Payment methods, that do not need the capture, will return the status "CAPTURED" right away.
The Capture can also be used to change the amount of the transaction. It is generally possible to capture less, than initially authorized. So applying things like voucher codes, or similar is possible. Capturing more than initially authorized however, may result in an error and is not recommended. This however depends on your processor.
It is important to note, that a Capture can only be performed once. The rest of the authorized amount will be released and can no longer be captured, if you capture less.
However certain payment methods do support Multipart Captures, which allow you to claim the money in multiple, smaller chunks. Please refer to the given payment method chapter, to see, if Multipart Captures are supported.
Note, that this does not apply, if you intend on using Partial Captures, as those do work in a different way, also in terms of releasing money! Please read the chapter there, on how to handle Partial Captures.
Please refer to the given payment method chapter for more information, as there may be special cases.
A reservation made through a certain payment processor, may only last for a limited time only. If this timeframe is exceeded, the authorised amount is released and becomes available to the account holder again. This may have the result that the amount can no longer be claimed. We recommend to Capture an authorization as soon as possible. Either by direct API call, or manually via Saferpay Backoffice. If this is not possible, the Capture nonetheless must be done as soon as possible.
The time-frame depends on the given payment method, so there is no rule of thumb. With credit cards, this time-frame is a minimum of 10 days. Everything above that, depends on the card holders bank.
Third party payment methods, e.g. PayPal may treat this differently though, so you may have to ask them for further information.
The daily closing follows the capture once daily, automatically at 22h CEST. During this process, all transactions that have passed through the capture are filed with the payment method processor in order to initiate the cash flow.
It also serves as a "collecting" step, where all captured transactions are filed together, which then can be viewed inside the Backoffice.
If desired, this step can also be triggered via the Saferpay API. The request necessary for this is called Batch Close.
However, before you can use the API, you need to disable the daily closing in the Saferpay Backoffice via "Settings -> Terminals" for the respective terminal.
A Batch Close should be carried out only once a day.
PAYPAL, SWISS POSTCARD, SEPA ELV, BANCONTACT and paydirekt
With these payment methods, daily closing is triggered alongside the capture automatically for each transaction and the cash flow is initiated immediately. With PayPal, this happens because the right is reserved to refuse the payment. For this reason, we demand the money for you immediately. For Swiss Postcard, this is established in the protocol used by PostFinance. Same goes for SEPA ELV ,Bancontact and paydirekt.
Online Banking
giropay, iDEAL, SOFORT, Bancontact, eprzelewy und eps are online-banking solutions, that trigger a transfer and thus the cash flow via the purchaser’s online banking services. A successful transaction is always 100% complete.
Credit Cards via SIX Acquiring
Credit Cards (Includes: VISA, VPay, Mastercard, Maestro) with SIX Payment Services as processor, also execute the Daily Closing with the Capture!
Last modified 10mo ago