Charging a credit card in Direct Ordering always happens in two steps: authorization and capture. This article explains how that two-step process works, why it benefits customers, when a payment can still be canceled, when a card is reauthorized, how orders move through their states, and how settlement completes the transaction.

Authorization and Capture: A Two-Step Process

Charging a customer's credit card always occurs in two steps.

Step 1: The Credit Card Is Authorized

When a customer places an order, the credit card is first authorized. Authorization confirms that the card is valid and has sufficient funds for the order amount.

Step 2: The Credit Card Is Captured

Capture occurs when an order is closed in Direct Ordering, which depends on the backend settings for each store and revenue center. An order is closed when it is sent to the POS, either automatically or manually. For non-catering orders, automatic closing is the most common option.

When an order is closed, the authorization from step 1 is captured, which means the customer's card is actually charged. The transaction is then settled by the credit card processor later that day or overnight. Settlement is handled entirely by the processor (see the settlement section below).

For ASAP orders, authorization and capture occur in rapid succession, but it is still a two-step process every time. For future orders, more time passes between authorization and capture, which is helpful when an order needs to be edited: the original authorization can be voided and the card reauthorized, rather than charging and refunding the customer multiple times. In many cases, no reauthorization is needed at all when an order is edited.

Benefits of the Two-Step Process

Authorizing and then capturing a transaction, rather than charging the card immediately, supports a better customer experience because authorizations can be voided while captures cannot. This matters most for future orders that may be edited several times, such as catering orders.

If every transaction were captured at order placement, each edit that changed the order total would require refunding the original capture and creating a new charge, producing two entries in the customer's transaction history per edit. That creates a repeated, unnecessary burden for the customer.

Direct Ordering lets both restaurants and customers edit upcoming orders until they are sent to the POS. Authorizations make this possible: they confirm the availability of funds without creating a permanent charge. An authorization usually appears as a "pending" charge in the customer's transaction history. Voiding the authorization removes that pending charge entirely, which prevents the confusion of repeated charges and refunds. In short, authorizations prevent customers from being charged before an order is final.

When It Is Too Late to Cancel a Credit Card Payment

Once a payment is captured, it can no longer be canceled or voided.

A payment that has only been authorized can be canceled or voided before the customer is charged. In the authorized state, the customer sees a "pending" transaction. If the order is canceled or voided before capture, the pending transaction disappears and the customer is never charged. For the steps, see Canceling (Voiding) an Order.

A payment that has been captured has already been charged and can only be refunded, in full or in part. An order can be partially refunded multiple times, but a refund cannot be reversed once initiated. For the steps, see Processing and Calculating Refunds.

When a Credit Card Is Reauthorized

Direct Ordering voids a prior authorization only when necessary. Many order modifications made by the customer or restaurant (changes to date or time, service type, guest count, notes, and similar) do not change the order total, and in those cases the existing authorization is preserved. An authorization is voided only in two scenarios:

Change in Order Total

When a modification changes the order total (adding or removing items, surcharges from a service-type change, adjusting the tip, and similar), Direct Ordering automatically voids the original authorization and reauthorizes the new total.

Merchant Account Modification

When an order is transferred to a store that uses a different payment processing merchant account, Direct Ordering automatically voids the original authorization and reauthorizes the payment under the new merchant account. Most brands give each store its own merchant account, though it is not required, so voiding and reauthorization are not always necessary.

How It Works in Practice

For most restaurants using Direct Ordering, an order moves through the following states in the Direct Ordering Admin Panel:

1. The order enters the Admin Panel in an Open and Authorized state, where it remains cancelable or editable until it is closed.
2. The order is marked Closed and Paid when it is sent to the POS.

For ASAP orders these steps happen in rapid succession: the order is sent to the POS, and therefore closed and charged, within 60 seconds of being placed, which leaves very little time to cancel or edit. Future orders allow ample time to cancel or edit.

Alternative Approval Workflow

Some restaurants prefer to approve orders before they are accepted and opened in Direct Ordering, which is more common for catering orders. In that case, an order moves through these states:

1. The order enters in a Pending and Authorized state until it is manually approved, and remains editable and cancelable.
2. Once approved, the order becomes Open and Authorized and remains editable and cancelable.
3. The order is marked Closed and Paid when it is sent to the POS.

For the setup, see Setting Up Catering Order Approval. In all cases, Direct Ordering closes and charges an order when it is sent to the POS.

Updating a Saved Credit Card

Customers occasionally encounter issues when updating a saved credit card, especially during a performance issue or a temporary communication problem with the card processing service. In rare cases this prevents adding or replacing a saved card through the Direct Ordering interface. If a customer reports an error while updating a card:

1. Confirm the issue by attempting a card update on the same store or site.
2. Review any browser or console errors. For example, a 400 Bad Request from the customer credit-cards endpoint may indicate malformed or rejected data.
3. If a technical issue is confirmed and persists, escalate to Checkmate Support with relevant screenshots, browser error logs, and the customer's account information.

Uncharged Orders: When Credit Card Capture Fails

On rare occasions the capture step fails because the payment processor prevents capture of the original authorization. This usually stems from a temporary processor issue, and capturing the transaction again later typically succeeds. If it does not, the customer must be contacted to collect payment outside of Direct Ordering.

A failure like this leaves the order in a Closed state, so it is still sent to the POS by default, but with an Authorized payment status. The payment can be retried from the Direct Ordering Admin Panel. For the steps, see Uncharged Orders.

The Credit Card Settlement Process

One final step happens outside of Direct Ordering: settlement. Settlement is when money actually changes hands, and it typically happens once per day. It gathers funds from card-issuing banks for all transactions captured in the past 24 hours, tallies the settled amounts, and deposits them into the restaurant's bank account for reconciliation. In other words, settlement transfers funds from customers' bank accounts to the restaurant's bank account.

Settlement is managed by the chosen payment processor and occurs at the settlement time specified in the merchant account.