Charge Types

The Charge Lifecycle section explains a charge, a card transaction, and its lifecycle. However, a merchant may want to submit different types of charges, and we capture these cases in the type structure.

A single charge type comprises four distinct fields: intent, cardEntry, order, and conditional sequence. Below, possible payment scenarios are described, including which fields and values should be set for each.

Authorize a purchase via online check-out. Examples: Goods and downloads, virtual services, event tickets, one-time donations, and gift card purchases.

Reserve an amount in the cardholder account, for example, by booking travel or accommodation (pre-auth).

Check if the cardholder's account is in good standing.

The customer initiated A one-off e-com transaction with payment details on file.

Authorize a purchase via mail order or phone order. Example: Ordering a pizza using the phone with card details.

Unreferenced refund, where a refund is not based on any previous authorization. Example: Cardholder returns a pair of shoe purchase, the merchant agrees with a refund, and cardholder provides (different) account information where the refund goes to.

Monthly or yearly subscriptions. Example: Subscriptions for streaming services.

Regular billing is based on usage. Example: Electricity, water services, or cell phone usage.

A financial arrangement that allows for the division of a larger sum into smaller, more manageable payments over a set period. Example: TV is purchased, and paying the full amount off will take five installments.

Payments are processed using stored card information for transactions that occur irregularly or unscheduled. Examples include shared riding services or services charged ad hoc.

Saving a cardholder's credit or debit card details for future transactions. Example: Store card for ride services.

Merchants ship out a portion of an order while the remainder is held back due to various reasons, such as stock availability issues, production delays, or logistical challenges. Each shipment is a separate transaction. Example: Consumers order goods on the marketplace from various merchants.

A delayed charge transaction is performed to process a supplemental account charge after the original services have been rendered and respective payments have been processed—for example, a Hotel mini bar charge after the cardholder has checked out of the hotel.

A guaranteed reservation ensures that the reservation will be honored and allows a merchant to perform a no-show transaction to charge the cardholder a penalty according to the transaction to charge the cardholder a penalty according to the... Example: Cardholder’s reservation cancellation without providing proper advance notice to the merchant.

A merchant performs a resubmission in cases where it requested authorization but was declined due to insufficient funds after it had already delivered the goods or services to the cardholder. Previous attempts to obtain approval for a transaction have been declined, but the issuer’s response does not prohibit the merchant from trying again later. Example: Insufficient funds, over credit limit response, or transit debt recovery.