Preauth vs Final sale
Purpose: Choose the right way to put a card on a check, a hold you finalize later, or a charge you take now.
When to use this: Every time you start a card payment and need to decide whether to authorize a hold or charge in full.
The two choices
There are two ways to put a card on a check:
- Final sale (a charge). Press the card sale button, or Authorization & Pay, for a known amount. It authorizes and captures in one step: the money is taken now and the check closes. Use it when the total will not change, retail, a set menu, paying in full at the end of service. A tapped mobile wallet (Apple Pay or Google Pay) is fine for a final sale.
- Preauth (a hold). Press CC Auth. It places a hold for an amount you expect to change, and you capture it later with CC Final. Use it for bar tabs, open tabs, and anything you will increment, decrement, or finalize with a tip. Insert a physical card for a preauth; a tapped wallet is unreliable once you start incrementing.
Side by side
| Preauth (hold) | Final sale (charge) | |
|---|---|---|
| Money moves | Later, when you finalize | Now |
| Amount Due drops | Only when finalized | Immediately |
| Use it for | Tabs, anything that will change | Fixed totals paid in full |
| Card to use | Insert a physical card | Tap, insert, or swipe |
| Finalize step | Yes, CC Final | None, done at the sale |
The point to remember
A preauth does not pay the check by itself. It is a hold that you must finalize, and the check's Amount Due does not drop until you do. If a check has open authorizations and you want to add a gift card, house account, or another tender, finalize the card holds first: Close every auth before adding another tender.
Verify
- A final sale closes the check immediately.
- A preauth leaves an Authorization line on the check that you finalize later.
