Down Payments & Authorizations

Authorize a card without collecting funds, then capture or release the hold from the dashboard.

A down payment in Resytech is a card authorization -- a hold placed on the customer's card that reserves funds without collecting them. The operator can later capture the hold to collect the funds, or release it to void the hold entirely.

This is useful for:

Requiring a card on file before confirming a booking
Holding funds for damage deposits or no-show fees
Reserving a spot while deferring payment to a later date

How It Works

Down payments use Stripe's manual capture feature. When you create an authorization-only payment, Stripe places a hold on the customer's card for the specified amount. No money moves until you explicitly capture.

Step	What Happens	Balance Impact
Authorize	A hold is placed on the card. Funds are reserved but not collected.	None
Capture	The held funds are collected from the card.	Balance decreases by the captured amount
Release	The hold is voided. The customer is not charged.	None

Authorization Lifecycle

Every authorization is tracked as a payment record with a card network status that reflects its current state:

Status	Meaning
`authorized`	Hold is active. Funds are reserved on the card but not collected.
`captured`	Funds have been collected. This is now a regular completed payment.
`released`	Hold was voided. The customer was not charged.

Standard card payments that are charged immediately have a status of captured from the start.

Authorization Expiry

Stripe authorizations expire after 7 days for most card networks. If you do not capture or release the hold within that window, Stripe automatically releases it and the customer's funds are freed. You should capture or release well before the 7-day limit to avoid unexpected expiry.

Partial Capture

When capturing an authorized payment, you can capture less than the original authorized amount. For example, if you authorized $500 for a damage deposit and no damage occurred, you could capture only $100 for a cleaning fee and the remaining $400 hold is automatically released.

You cannot capture more than the authorized amount.

Down Payments in the Transaction List

Authorized payments appear in the booking's payment history alongside regular payments. The Status column shows authorized (amber), captured (green), or released (gray) so you can see at a glance which holds are still pending action.

From the transaction list, authorized payments show two action buttons:

Capture (dollar icon) -- Collect the held funds
Release (X icon) -- Void the hold without charging

Create a Down Payment -- Step-by-step guide to authorizing, capturing, and releasing holds
Process a Payment -- Charge a card or record a manual payment
Issue a Refund -- Refund a captured payment