Payments glossary
Capture
Capture is the step that turns an approved card authorisation into an actual charge. The merchant confirms the final amount to be taken - immediately for digital goods, or later on dispatch - and the transaction is submitted for clearing and settlement.
Authorise now, take the money later
Capture is the merchant's confirmation that an approved authorisation should actually be charged. The two-step design exists because approval and fulfilment often happen at different times: a card is authorised at checkout, but the goods might ship days later. Until capture, the customer's funds are held but not taken; at capture, the transaction joins the day's batch for clearing and settlement.
Immediate, delayed and partial capture
Digital goods and services are typically captured immediately - authorise and capture in a single call. Physical retail often captures on dispatch, in line with the card schemes' expectation that customers are charged when goods actually ship. Partial capture handles split shipments: a merchant might authorise R1,500.00 for an order and capture R980.50 when only part of it leaves the warehouse, with the uncaptured remainder of the hold released back to the customer.
Capture windows and good hygiene
Authorisations do not wait forever. Scheme rules set a capture window - commonly around seven days for standard purchases - after which the hold lapses and the original approval may no longer be honoured. Capturing promptly, and voiding authorisations that are no longer needed, keeps customer statements clean and avoids stale-authorisation declines. On LekkaPay's gateway, authorise-only, immediate capture, partial capture and void are all standard per-transaction operations.
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