Pre-Auth with Pin Payments

A Pin Payments pre-authorisation, or pre-auth, temporarily reserves funds on a customer's card without receiving the money as a payment.

In HirePOS, pre-auth is commonly used for a bond taken at or shortly before the start of a hire.

If the equipment is returned in good order, the pre-auth can be released. If the bond needs to be charged, the pre-auth can instead be captured as a payment.

These are three different things in HirePOS.

Changing or removing the Bond Required amount does not automatically refund a payment or release a pre-auth.

A pre-auth is useful when you need card security for a short hire but do not want to collect the bond unless required.

A common workflow is:

1. The customer pays their normal hire charges.

2. At or shortly before collection, you process the bond using Bond (Pre-Auth).

3. Pin Payments temporarily reserves the bond amount on the customer's card.

4. When the equipment is returned:

   • Void the pre-auth if the bond is no longer required.

   • Capture the pre-auth if the authorised amount needs to be charged.

For short hires, it is usually better to void an unused pre-auth once the goods have been returned rather than waiting for it to expire naturally.

Pre-auths should normally be created and managed from HirePOS.

1. Open the relevant Booking or Invoice.

2. Ensure the required bond amount has been entered.

3. Open Card Payment (Pin Payments).

4. Check the customer and card details.

5. Select Bond (Pre-Auth).

6. Process the pre-auth.

HirePOS records the authorisation as a Pending Payment with a Pre-Auth status.

Because the funds have only been authorised and have not been collected, the pre-auth does not count towards the Invoice's normal Amount Paid.

A pre-auth reserves part of the customer's available card balance.

How this appears in the customer's banking app or card statement depends on their card issuer. It may look similar to a pending card transaction even though the funds have not been captured by your business.

If the authorisation is voided or expires, Pin Payments releases the reserved funds. The customer's bank controls how and when that change becomes visible to the cardholder.

Void the pre-auth when you no longer need to hold the customer's funds, for example after the equipment has been returned in good order.

From the original Booking or Invoice:

1. Open Card Payment (Pin Payments).

2. Select Void/Capture Pre-Auth.

3. Locate the relevant pre-auth.

4. Click Void.

Voiding releases the authorisation and prevents it from later being captured.

A void is not a refund. No money was collected from the customer, so there is no payment to refund.

Capture the pre-auth if the authorised bond needs to become an actual payment.

From the original Booking or Invoice:

1. Open Card Payment (Pin Payments).

2. Select Void/Capture Pre-Auth.

3. Locate the relevant pre-auth.

4. Click Capture.

Once captured, the authorised amount becomes an actual Pin Payments card payment and HirePOS records it as a received payment.

The current HirePOS pre-auth workflow captures the full authorised amount.

If money later needs to be returned, use the normal Pin Payments refund process.

Pin Payments authorisations remain available for up to seven days from when they are created.

If the authorisation is not captured within that period, Pin Payments automatically expires the authorisation and releases the reserved funds.

When a pre-auth expires:

• Your business does not receive the money.

• The authorisation can no longer be captured.

• No refund is required because the funds were never collected.

• The customer's bank may take additional time to reflect the released funds in their available balance or transaction history.

The seven-day period is not seven business days.

For a short hire, you can void the pre-auth as soon as the goods are returned rather than waiting for the seven-day period to end.

If you need card security for longer than seven days, do not rely on the original pre-auth remaining available. A new authorisation or another suitable payment workflow will be required.

HirePOS creates and manages the pre-auth through Pin Payments, but Pin Payments ultimately controls the card authorisation itself.

An expired authorisation may still appear as a Pending Payment in HirePOS because expiry occurs at Pin Payments.

If you are unsure whether a pre-auth is still active, check the transaction in your Pin Payments Dashboard.

Pin Payments is the best place to confirm whether the authorisation itself is:

• active

• captured

• voided

• expired

Where possible, use HirePOS to capture or void a pre-auth so the HirePOS payment record is updated at the same time.

If you make a change directly in Pin Payments, the corresponding Pending Payment in HirePOS may not automatically update to match.

If the two systems show different states, contact HirePOS Support so the records can be checked.

A bond that has already been paid is different from a pre-auth.

For example, if the customer used the HirePOS online payment page and paid the hire charges plus the Bond Required amount, the bond has been processed as an actual card payment.

The seven-day pre-auth expiry does not apply.

If the bond is due back to the customer, use the normal Pin Payments refund process.

Do not:

• wait for the payment to expire

• use Void Pre-Auth

• remove the Bond Required amount and expect the money to be returned

Changing the Bond Required amount changes the HirePOS sales record only. It does not refund an existing card payment.

See Refunding a Pin Payment in HirePOS for instructions.

Take care when a Booking or Invoice is issued well before the hire begins.

If a Bond Required amount is already on the sales record, HirePOS can include that bond in the customer's outstanding balance.

HirePOS does not delay the bond based on the future hire start date.

This means a customer paying online may pay the bond months before collection. If they do, it is processed as a normal captured card payment, not as a pre-auth.

If your process is to collect the hire charges in advance but only place a temporary card hold for the bond near collection, the actual pre-auth should be processed using Bond (Pre-Auth) at or shortly before the start of the hire.

Pin Payments can securely store a customer's card so it can be used later for permitted payments or bond security.

To store a card without receiving a payment:

1. Go to Sales/Hire > Customer Overview.

2. Find the customer.

3. Click Credit Card.

4. Enter and save the card details.

Card details are securely stored by Pin Payments and cannot be retrieved from HirePOS for use elsewhere.

When the stored card is no longer required, return to the customer's Credit Card screen and use Destroy to remove it.

If a pre-auth does not appear to be behaving as expected in HirePOS, you can also check the transaction directly in the Pin Payments Dashboard.

While an authorisation is still active, Pin Payments allows it to be:

• Voided to release the reserved funds

• Captured to collect the authorised funds

Normally, use HirePOS to perform these actions.

Using the Pin Payments Dashboard directly can be useful for confirming the actual card transaction state if HirePOS appears to show an old Pending Payment or the authorisation has already expired.

If an action is performed directly in Pin Payments, check HirePOS afterwards. The HirePOS Pending Payment may not automatically change to match the Pin Payments status.

Use the transaction type to determine the correct action.