Extended authorizations
Capture a confirmed Stripe Terminal payment later.
Extended authorizations allow you to capture a confirmed PaymentIntent up to 30 days later, depending on the card brand and whether your business is in an eligible category. This is helpful if you need more than the typical 48 hours (or 5 days for Visa) between authorization and payment capture. For example, a hotel authorizes a payment in full when a guest checks in, but captures the payment when the guest checks out.
Availability
Extended authorization is available on Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. Extended authorizations aren’t supported on single-message payment methods like Interac and eftpos.
Note
You can contact support if you’re unsure about the eligibility of your merchant business category. If you’re a Connect user, set the merchant category code for your connected accounts to match their businesses.
Request extended authorization support
When you create a PaymentIntent, you can request to extend the capture window of the payment. Set the request_extended_authorization field to true and the capture_method to manual.
Command Line
Select a language
cURL
Stripe CLI
Ruby
Python
PHP
Java
Node.js
Go
.NET
No results
In the response, the capture_before field indicates the time when the authorization expires. Failure to capture the payment by this time cancels the authorization and releases the funds. When this happens, the PaymentIntent status transitions to canceled.
Authorization validity
Every card network and card brand has a different rule for how long an authorization is valid. With Terminal, an authorization for in-person payments is valid for at least two days. Because authorization rules can change without prior notice, use the capture_before field to determine the validity window for an authorization.
Note
The capture_before field is located on the Charge, so it’s only present after the PaymentIntent is confirmed.
| Card brand | Merchant category | Extended authorization validity window |
|---|---|---|
| Visa | Hotel, lodging, vehicle rental, and cruise line | 30 days* |
| Visa | Aircraft rental, bicycle rental (including electric scooters), boat rental, clothing and costume rental, DVD and video rental, equipment and tool rental, furniture rental, motor home rental, motorcycle rental, and trailer parks and campgrounds | 10 days** |
| Mastercard (not including Maestro or Cirrus cards) | All merchant categories | 30 days |
| American Express | Lodging and vehicle rental | 30 days*** |
| Discover | Airline, bus charter/tour, car rental, cruise line, local/suburban commuter, passenger transportation including ferries, hotel, lodging, and passenger railway | 30 days |
- The exact extended authorization window is 29 days and 18 hours, to allow time for clearing processes. ** The exact extended authorization window is 9 days and 18 hours, to allow time for clearing processes. *** While your validity window is extended to 30 days, you must capture the authorized funds no later than the end of the duration of your customer’s stay or rental.