Automatic refresh authorization for expired payment transaction authorizations
An automatic refresh authorization for payment transaction authorizations that are estimated to be expired can be determined ‘in house’ by a payment service provider without the need for human intervention or additional information from a merchant. If several days have gone by since a credit card payment was authorized (but not settled), a reauthorization can be automatically initiated so that a subsequent capture/settlement request will successfully transfer funds. The threshold number of days/hours can be customized by the payment service and/or merchant and may be directed to certain payment processors with high fees only. If the reauthorization fails, a capture request based on the original authorization can be attempted in order to document the denied capture request for the merchant.
1. A method of refreshing authorizations for expired payment transactions, the method comprising:
receiving, at a payment service provider computer operatively coupled with a memory, an authorization approval message from a payment processor across a network, the authorization approval message confirming that a customer account has money or credit for a payment transaction and that the money or credit has been reserved for a reservation across said network for the payment transaction;
estimating, by the payment service provider computer operatively coupled with the memory, whether the reservation of money or credit across the network has expired by comparing an elapsed time that has elapsed since the authorization approval message was received across the network to a threshold time;
automatically generating, at the payment service provider computer operatively coupled with the memory, a request message for re-authorizing the reservation of money or credit in the customer account for the payment transaction based on the elapsed time exceeding the threshold time, thereby obtaining an estimation that the reservation of money or credit across the network has expired;
automatically sending the request message from the payment service provider computer across the network to the payment processor based on the elapsed time exceeding the threshold time;
receiving from the payment processor an approval or rejection for the re-authorizing of the reservation;
automatically adjusting the threshold time for future payment transactions involving the payment processor based on the received approval or rejection, wherein the threshold time is adjusted downward when the re-authorizing of the reservation is approved, and wherein the threshold time is increased for the rejection; and
sending a subsequent request message to the payment processor for a subsequent payment transaction based on a subsequent elapsed time since a subsequent authorization approval message was received exceeding the adjusted threshold time.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the rejection for the re-authorizing is received from the payment processor, the method further comprising:
automatically sending to the payment processor a capture request corresponding to the authorization approval message based on receiving the rejection for the re-authorizing; and
receiving from the payment processor a response for the capture request.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the rejection for the re-authorizing is caused by the customer account having been closed.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the approval for the re-authorizing is received from the payment processor, the method further comprising:
automatically sending to the payment processor a capture request for the re-authorizing based on receiving the approval for the re-authorizing.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the capture request is bundled with other settlement requests in a batch file.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold time is user-selectable.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the threshold time is user-selectable and is entered by a file.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the comparing the elapsed time to the threshold time includes comparing dates.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold time is between six and seven days.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein each operation is performed in only the order shown.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the request message for re-authorizing the reservation of money or credit omits payor authentication information.
12. A machine-readable non-transitory storage medium embodying information indicative of instructions for causing one or more machines to perform operations comprising:
receiving, at a payment service provider computer operatively coupled with a memory, an authorization approval message from a payment processor across a network, the authorization approval message confirming that a customer account has money or credit for a payment transaction and that the money or credit has been reserved for a reservation across said network for the payment transaction;
estimating, by the payment service provider computer operatively coupled with the memory, whether the reservation of money or credit across the network has expired by comparing an elapsed time that has elapsed since the authorization approval message was received across the network to a threshold time;
automatically generating, at the payment service provider computer operatively coupled with the memory, a request message for re-authorizing the reservation of money or credit in the customer account for the payment transaction based on the elapsed time exceeding the threshold time, thereby obtaining an estimation that the reservation of money or credit across the network has expired;
automatically sending the request message from the payment service provider computer across the network to the payment processor;
receiving from the payment processor an approval or rejection for the re-authorizing of the reservation;
automatically adjusting the threshold time for future payment transactions involving the payment processor based on the received approval or rejection, wherein the threshold time is adjusted downward when the re-authorizing of the reservation is approved; and
sending a subsequent request message to the payment processor for a subsequent payment transaction based on a subsequent elapsed time since a subsequent authorization approval message was received exceeding the adjusted threshold time.
13. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 wherein the operations further comprise:
automatically sending to the payment processor a capture request corresponding to the authorization approval message based on receiving the rejection for the re-authorizing; and
receiving from the payment processor a response for the capture request.
14. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 wherein the operations further comprise:
automatically sending to the payment processor a capture request for the re-authorizing based on receiving the approval for the re-authorizing.
15. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the threshold time is increased when the re-authorizing of the reservation is rejected.
16. A computer system executing instructions in a computer program, comprising:
a payment service provider computer;
a memory storing computer program instructions and operatively coupled with the payment service provider computer, wherein the payment service provider computer is configured to execute the computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising:
program code for receiving, at the payment service provider computer, an authorization approval message from a payment processor across a network, the authorization approval message confirming that a customer account has money or credit for a payment transaction and that the money or credit has been reserved for a reservation across said network for the payment transaction;
program code for estimating, at the payment service provider computer, whether the reservation of money or credit across the network has expired by comparing an elapsed time that has elapsed since the authorization approval message was received across the network to a threshold time;
program code for automatically generating, at the payment service provider computer, a request message for re-authorizing the reservation of money or credit in the customer account for the payment transaction based on the elapsed time exceeding the threshold time, thereby obtaining an estimation that the reservation of money or credit across the network has expired;
program code for automatically sending the request message from the payment service provider computer across the network to the payment processor;
program code for receiving from the payment processor an approval or rejection for the re-authorizing of the reservation;
program code for automatically adjusting the threshold time for future payment transactions involving the payment processor based on the received approval or rejection, wherein the threshold time is adjusted downward when the re-authorizing of the reservation is approved; and
program code for sending a subsequent request message to the payment processor for a subsequent payment transaction based on a subsequent elapsed time since a subsequent authorization approval message was received exceeding the adjusted threshold time.
17. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein the computer program instructions further comprise:
program code for automatically sending to the payment processor a capture request corresponding to the authorization approval message based on receiving the rejection for the re-authorizing; and
program code for receiving from the payment processor a response for the capture request.
18. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein the computer program instructions further comprise:
program code for automatically sending to the payment processor a capture request for the re-authorizing based on receiving the approval for the re-authorizing.
19. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein the threshold time is increased when the re-authorizing of the reservation is rejected.