Pre-auths allow you to reserve funds in advance of a future transaction and can be generated whether the cardholder is present or the cardholder is not present. During this time, while no funds have actually left the customer's bank account, these reserved funds are unavailable to spend. You can view current pre-auths by navigating to Guest Journey, Billing, then GuestPay pre-auths. The pre-auth can be adjusted, completed or cancelled after generating the pre-auth. If no action is taken on the pre-auth, the reserved funds are automatically released back to the cardholder after 30 days or for Amex cards 7-10 days depending on the acquirer.
PED cancel a Pre-auth
⚠️Important: The process below is only possible if the terminal is unpaired. Once the steps below have been completed, the terminal can be paired back to the system.
To cancel a pre-auth with the cardholder present, follow the steps below:
On the main screen, tap the Menu icon (3 horizontal lines) and select Completion.
Enter the amount of 0.00, then press the Tick.
Enter the Auth code (located on the merchant receipt or shown on the MYST token under Transaction), and press Tick.
Enter the Sequence code (located on the merchant receipt or shown on the MYST token under Acquirer within Acquirer transaction ref), and press Tick.
Once successfully cancelled, the receipts will print and the funds released back to the the cardholder.
Troubleshooting
Pre-auth released instead of charged by mistake: If the pre auth was released then the authorisation is now complete, so you cannot charge it. If the customer has a card within the Reservations' Guarantee tab then you could try to take the payment from there. Alternatively, the guest would need to be contacted for payment