Glossary
Pre-authorisation
A pre-authorisation is an authorisation placed to reserve the cardholder's funds before the final amount is known: a hotel reserves the estimated stay, a car rental a deposit, a marketplace the order before stock is confirmed. The amount can be increased or extended with incremental authorisations where the scheme allows, and the payment is completed by a capture for the actual sum, which may be lower, or released by a void.
Pre-authorisation and a plain two-step payment
Technically both are an authorisation followed by a capture; the schemes distinguish them by indicator and by rules: a pre-authorisation may be kept longer, up to 30 days in some categories, may be incremented and must be flagged as estimated, and it carries the fees and the dispute rights of its category. A plain authorisation for a known amount has a shorter window and must be captured for the same or a smaller amount.
Where it is used
Hospitality, car rental, fuel pumps, deliveries whose final amount depends on weight or time, marketplaces and travel platforms that confirm availability after the payer has committed. In each case the payer sees a hold and the merchant collects later.
On the platform
Pre-authorisations run under the acquirer’s rules through the provider that holds them; Tranzify records the authorisation and the later capture with their amounts in the journal, so the reserved and the collected sums are both visible in the trace.
Updated: 2026-11-08