Authorization

The first stage of the payment processing.

It's done to verify if the card details are correct, if the cardholder has enough funds on their account to cover the transaction, if their card is reported as stolen or lost, or if it has expired.

While the funds aren't transferred immediately, they are "reserved" for a specific merchant. The funds are deducted from the customer's account when their financial institution receives a capture request from the merchant (see: Authorization Capture).

You can read more in Authorizations and capture requests.

Capture

The second stage in the payment processing.

After a financial institution successfully verifies the card, and receives a capture request from the merchant, the transaction is captured, that is, funds can be transferred from the cardholder account.

Depending on your setup, an authorization capture can take place automatically, or manually. Each manual capture needs to be confirmed by the merchant with a request to Straal API. In such case the merchant gains the ability to send a capture request when it's convenient for them, for example, when their product has been shipped.

You can read more in Authorizations and capture requests.

Card

An object which represents a credit card. When you create a new card object, Straal requires the card number, CVV and expiry date.

To create a card object in Straal, you need a card with a valid number and an expiry date in the future. The server response will contain the card's unique ID (a 13‑character alphanumeric string), which you can use as a token in recurring transactions.

You can read more in Cards.

Chargeback

It's initiated by the Cardholder and can be performed by the cardholder's bank to reimburse the funds transferred from the cardholder's bank account or credit card. Depending on your bank and credit card issuer, a chargeback might result in a financial fee.

Chargebacks are mentioned in Security.

Customer

The merchant's client, for example, the shopper.

This object corresponds to a customer in the merchant's service (for example, an online shop). Besides a unique ID generated by the Straal API, it also accepts a reference object where you can store your unique reference.

Retaining a customer object allows viewing summaries and statistics per customer, such as, their subscriptions, cards, Lifetime Value (how much money they have brought you until a given moment). Storing this object correctly will make it easy to use the features of Straal Kompas, our intuitive dashboard.

Merchant

A shop or a service provider that accepts and processes debit and credit card transactions, SEPA, and so on.

Refund

Return of funds to the customer, initiated by the merchant.

It's possible to perform multiple refunds for one transaction. However, they can't exceed the total amount of the original transaction. Refunds are used for example when the merchant decides to return only a part of what has been paid by the customer.

You can read more in Refunds.

Subscription

An object representing a recurring billing.

It requires the merchant to get the cardholder’s permission once in advance, then continues until the cardholder withdraws permission. A subscription has to be linked to a specific plan and either to a card or a bank account. Although a subscription makes recurring transactions possible, charge frequency is defined by a plan.

You can read more in Subscriptions.

Subscription Plan

It contains subscription configuration.

A plan defines how often and what amount will be taken off customer's account during the subscription's lifetime.

You can read more in Plans.

Transaction

A set of operations for a card or a bank account. It's initialized by an authorization.

A transaction consists of various operations, such as captures or refunds, and collects information about them in one object.

You can read more in Transactions.

Verification Authorization

A payment to enable the merchant to verify if the card provided is active and linked to an account with funds.

A minimum amount is authorized (that is, reserved for payment). Typically it's the main currency unit (1 EUR/USD/GBP etc.), although a different amount can be agreed on with the Payment Service Provider.

Then, depending on your configuration, one of the following things will happen:

• an automatic authorization capture request will be sent — the funds will be transferred to your account, and then a refund will take place
• the authorization will be voided, so no further capture will be allowed, and the amount will be unblocked automatically (the waiting period may vary between banks)
• the system will do nothing — the amount will be unblocked automatically (the waiting period may vary between banks)

A Verification Authorization is often done when creating a new subscription with a trial. First, a Verification Authorization takes place, and after the trial is over, the customer is charged according to plan.

You can read more in Authorizations and capture requests.