Partial authorisation

Learn how to allow partial payments for card transactions.

Use partial authorisations to request approval for a portion of the originally requested amount for a card transaction when the available balance is insufficient to cover the full amount. This allows your customers to use the available balance on their card (such as a debit card), then use an alternative payment method to pay the remaining balance.

Before you begin

First, decide how you want to handle the portion of the originally requested amount that isn’t covered by the partial authorisation. You can create a separate PaymentIntent for another form of payment, cancel the entire PaymentIntent, or capture only up to the partially authorised amount. Make sure you clearly communicate with your customer about how you’re proceeding with the transaction and any potential impact on them.

Compliance

You’re responsible for your compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and network rules when using partial authorisation. Consult the rules for the card networks that you want to use this feature with to make sure your sales comply with all applicable rules, which vary by network. For example, as of May 2024, American Express restricts usage of the feature to only debit and prepaid and doesn’t permit its use with recurring or cross-border transactions, while Visa requires you to use the feature across card types. The information provided on this page relating to your compliance with these requirements is for your general guidance, and isn’t legal, tax, accounting, or other professional advice. Consult a professional if you’re unsure about your obligations.

Availability

IC+ feature

You can access partial authorisations on IC+ pricing. Contact your sales representative or support to enable this feature.

Partial authorisations have the following restrictions:

• You can only use partial authorisations for online card payments.

• Only Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and Amex support partial authorisations.

• The issuer and card type determine whether they’re supported.

• Due to network restrictions, you can’t capture more than the authorised amount using overcapture if a transaction amount has been partially authorised.

• If you process charges on behalf of your Connect account using a transfer_amount , Stripe limits it to the partially authorised amount when the transfer _ amount is greater than the partially authorised amount.

• Stripe enforces a minimum charge amount on partially authorised charges, declining any PaymentIntent that falls short.

Use manual capture to create and confirm PaymentIntents

To enable partial authorisation for specific PaymentIntents, set if_available to the request_partial_authorization parameter.

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Verify partial authorisation status

Review the payment_method_details field on the latest_charge in the PaymentIntent confirmation response to determine whether the networks applied partial authorisation for the payment:

• partial_authorization.status : Displays one of the following authorisation statuses: partially _ authorized , fully _ authorized , declined , or not _ requested .
• amount_requested : Confirms your originally specified request amount.
• amount_authorized : Determines the authorised amount.

The example response below shows that the transaction is partially authorised for 70 USD, which is less than the originally requested 100 USD.

Example PaymentIntent confirmation response

{
 "id": "pi_foo",
 "amount": 7000,
 "amount_capturable": 7000,
 "amount_received": 0,
 "capture_method": "manual",
 ...
 // if latest_charge is expanded
 "latest_charge": {
 "id": "ch_foo",
 "object": "charge",
 "amount": 7000,
 "captured": false,
 "payment_method_details": {
 "card": {
 "amount_authorized": 7000,
 "amount_requested": 10000,
 "partial_authorization": {
 "status": "partially_authorized",
 }
 }
 }
 },
 ...
 "status": "requires_capture"
}

If the card issuer declines the authorisation, this response returns a card_declined error.

Capture the partially authorised PaymentIntent

You can capture an authorised PaymentIntent up to the amount (or amount_capturable) that’s returned in the confirmation response.

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A successful capture returns the PaymentIntent object with updated fields:

Successful capture response

{
 "id": "pi_foo",
 "amount": 7000,
 "amount_capturable": 0,
 "amount_received": 7000,
 "capture_method": "manual",
 "latest_charge": "ch_foo",
 ...
 "status": "succeeded",
}

Optional Use auto-capture to confirm and capture a PaymentIntent

Optional Increment with partial authorisation

Test your integration

To trigger a partial authorisation while testing, use the partial authorisation Stripe test card with any CVC, postal code, and future expiry date. Make sure you set request_partial_authorization to if_available to trigger partial authorisation with the test card.