The terms Authorization, Capture, and Sale refer to different transaction types that you can perform.

Authorization

An authorization, provided by the customer’s card-issuing bank, confirms the cardholder’s ability to pay. You submit an authorization request in response to a customer credit card purchase request. The card-issuing bank verifies the customer's ability to pay by checking their available funds. If they are sufficient, the bank reduces the cardholder's available credit balance by the amount of the authorization and responds to the authorization request with an approval.

Capture

After providing a service/product to the customer, you request a capture of the authorization in order to receive funds by referencing the the approved authorization in a capture (sometimes referred to as settlement) request. Your processor uses the capture request to initiate settlement, resulting in a funds transfer between the customer's credit card account and your checking account.

Sale

A sale combines the authorization and capture process in one transaction. Credit card associations require that you submit a sale transaction request only when you fulfill an order immediately; e.g., selling an item over-the-counter in a retail store. Transactions that include physical shipments are not fulfilled until shipment and do not qualify as sales transactions.

For more information on processing credit card payments, refer to Appendix A - Processing Credit Card Payments within the Business Center User's Guide.