How to take a preauth and increment/decrement
Purpose: Open a tab as a card hold, raise or lower what you eventually charge, and keep the authorization in a state the gateway will accept.
When to use this: Bar tabs and any open tab where the final amount is not known when the card goes on.
Take the preauth
- Start the payment and press CC Auth.
- Have the guest insert a physical card (not a tap, see the caution below).
- Enter the hold amount (the opening tab limit).
- The hold is placed and an Authorization line appears on the check. Service Total to keep the check open.
The hold does not reduce Amount Due. It is money promised, not taken, until you finalize it. See Preauth vs Final sale.
Increment (raise the hold)
As the tab grows you may need more room than the opening hold.
- The reliable way: run a brand-new authorization on the same inserted card and treat it as a fresh hold, rather than topping up the same authorization again and again.
- Topping up the same running authorization repeatedly can put it into a state the gateway cannot continue. It comes back declined or as a parsing gateway error even though the card is fine. See Workstation · Declined while adding to a running tab.
Use an inserted physical card for any tab you will increment. Incrementing a tapped mobile wallet (Apple Pay or Google Pay) on Mastercard, Discover, or Amex throws 662, 783, or 702. Visa wallets do increment, but inserting a card is the dependable path for every brand. Details: Error codes.
Decrement (settle for less than the hold)
You do not have to lower the hold to charge less. When you finalize, capture the actual amount, and the bank releases the rest of the hold on its own. To close it out, finalize the authorization: How to close a preauth.
Verify
- The tab carries one current Authorization line.
- Finalizing captures the real amount and any unused hold is released by the bank.
