👉 Overview
We ensure you receive the payment for trips by using Authorize & Capture for credit cards. Before the trip, we place a hold on the user's credit card for the estimated fees. Once the reservation is complete, we capture the actual invoice amount from the user's credit card.
Learn more about the process directly from Stripe here
🚗 Examples
Example 1: Carsharing with fees for mileage and duration
Minimum amount: | 10,- |
Dynamic reservation calculation: | ✅ |
Additional fixed amount: | 0,- (because no miles are included.) |
Minimum mileage per reservation: | 50 mi |
Average hourly mileage: | 10 mi |
Minimum amount + additional fixed amount ensures that the provider can cover the actual expenses incurred as far as possible. The final reservation cost may exceed the estimated amount. Setting an additional fixed amount ensures that the full amount will be authorized on the initial try in most cases.
Example 2: Rental with miles included
Minimum amount: | 120,-- |
Dynamic reservation calculation: | ✅ |
Additional fixed amount: | 100,-- |
Minimum mileage per reservation: | 0 (because some miles are included.) |
Average hourly mileage: | 0 (because some miles are included.) |
We use the vehicle and user specific reservation rates to estimate how much the entire trip will cost. An amount is calculated according to the reservation duration (→ check cost calculator when placing a reservation). If the calculated amount is less than the minimum amount, we will still block the minimum amount. If the estimated costs are higher, we will authorize an amount that matches the estimated trip cost.
📚 Explanations
Payment delay
The capturing takes place after the payment delay. By defining a payment delay you will have time to intervene and stop an invalid payment transaction. The payment delay can also be 0, which means that the capturing happens immediately.
✅ Dynamic reservation calculation
Pre-authorize estimated reservation cost based on the user's rate plan and the mileage inputs below.
Additional fixed amount
It’s a fixed net amount added on top of the estimated reservation cost. It only makes sense in combination with the dynamic reservation calculation.
Minimum mileage per reservation
Minimum distance [mi] per reservation considered for reservation fee calculation.
Average hourly mileage
Estimated average distance [mi] driven per hour during a reservation.
Skip authorization for zero-amount calculated reservation fee
When enabled, the additional fee and minimum authorize amount will be skipped.
🤷 Questions & Answers
Is there a minimum amount for authorization that should be considered?
The minimum amount will be authorized even if the estimated reservation cost is less than this amount. A good amount would be 30,-- $ USD. It must be higher than the minimum charge amounts that Stripe allows.
What happens when a user changes a reservation?
This does not change the authorized amount.
Why is the authorization amount not adjusted when the reservation is changed?
Because for debit cards, some banks cancel the authorization days later. An updated authorization could therefore appear as a separate, additional transaction while the original transaction is still authorized. Having multiple transactions could lead to confusion among users, or concern that their account balance is being overdrawn.
When does the authorization happen?
A typical amount for the authorize lead time would be 24 hours before the reservation starts.
Q: What happens when a new reservation is scheduled to start now (before the authorize lead time kicks in)?
A: Then the authorization is done immediately.
What happens when the payment authorization fails?
Then the user retrieves an email that contains a "Send email to support" button.
The organization admins receive a payment authorization failure notification (short plain text).
When the switch notifications on failed payments is activated then the users and the organization admins get an HTML email. This email looks like this:
How can I prevent a user from starting a reservation?
To prevent the user from starting a reservation the option prevent starting reservation can be activated.
What happens when the capture fails?
Then the organization admins receive a notification email.
What happens if the authorization amount is greater than the actual invoice amount?
In this case, the authorization is not canceled, but only the actual invoice amount is captured. The remaining balance of the original authorization will be released.
Are there fees that are not authorized?
Yes.
One-time fee of a rate plan
💡 Example: One-time nonrefundable application fee
The one-time fee will be captured immediately when the user confirms the registration by clicking the confirmation link in the email that is sent when the user signs up.
Which fees will be captured with the monthly invoice run?
- Fee of a rate plan will be billed depending on the billing frequency (monthly or annual)
💡 Example: Monthly membership fee or annual membership fee.
- Package that might be regularly billed (monthly / annual. Billing start, Billing end)
💡 Example: Enroll in Damage Waiver Program
- Manual payment that is only billed once
💡 Example: A fine for polluting the car
Do I have to pay an extra fee for Authorize & Capture?
No, there’s no extra fee for authorizing.
Do we waste money?
No.
There’s a fee for every Stripe payment (payment intent). See the Stripe fees here.
To save costs we minimize the number of captures.
💡 Example:
- We authorize 10,-- but the fees finally are 50,--.
- Instead of capturing the 10,-- and doing another capture for the rest 40,-- we try to capture the full amount of 50,--
- If that is successful we cancel the authorization of 10,--
- If it’s not successful we capture the 10,-- and have to try to capture the rest 40,--
Q: What if the rest is lower than the Stripe minimum amount for that currency?
A: Then we re-balance both amounts - the authorized amount and the rest - so that the rest is exactly the minimum amount that Stripe allows.
When will the hold on the credit card be released?
It depends on your bank / credit card provider when the hold will be released.