In an ideal world, every card transaction follows a stepped, secure flow:
◾a card is presented
◾the authorisation is requested in real time
◾and once approved, the transaction is completed and settled.
But… in reality payments 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 always follow this script (of course!). There are scenarios (i.e. sometimes technical, sometimes operational), where a merchant ends up submitting a transaction for settlement 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 receiving an auth approval. The logic behind it isn’t always flawed. There are indeed reasons why a merchant might force post a transaction:
⚪ 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞: The terminal goes offline or an issuer doesn’t respond in time, but the merchant decides to proceed with the transaction, often manually entering a generic approval code.
⚪ 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐬, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥, 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬: A pre-authorisation is taken at check-in or vehicle handover. Later, when the final amount is charged, the original authorisation has expired or doesn’t match, yet a new auth isn’t obtained.
⚪ 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐎 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: Telephone and mail orders sometimes involve legacy systems or manual entry that bypass authorisation steps.
⚪ 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠: A recurring payment system may try charging an expired or declined card, and force the transaction through when retries fail.
⚠️ Why It’s a Problem
While some of these scenarios may seem justified from a customer service or operations perspective, a force post naturally introduces major risks into the transaction lifecycle because these transactions bypass the standard issuer validation. As a result:
❌ Fraud risk increases because there’s no issuer-side validation.
❌Chargeback exposure spikes, as the issuer can reject liability due to invalid auth data.
❌ Data integrity takes a hit, making it harder to verify and reconcile transaction records.
❌And on top of that there are now scheme fees levied to discourage this practice and encourage a shift toward real-time authorisation in most cases possible.
These may seem like minor occurences because they are often buried in complex statements and broad fee categories, they actually quietly erode the margin that’s critical for any business bottom line.
#paymentexperts, any perspectives to share on the #authorisations frameworks?
—
𝑾𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆? 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺, 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴.
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