If you have taken a preauthorisation and do not wish to settle the transaction (for example, because the item the customer ordered has become unavailable), you may want to request the release of the authorised amount. If the merchant does not initiate the release of the preauthorisation, the hold will be removed by the issuing bank eventually. Depending on the card type and the issuer's policy, this may take anywhere between one and thirty days. Requesting the cancellation of a preauthorisation proactively means that the funds will become available to the cardholder again without undue delay and reduces the risk of customer dissatisfaction and disputes.
Authorisation cancellation requests can be sent
- through most merchant portals, or
- through the APEXX API (recommended)
Cancellation requests through the API are treated as an update to an existing transaction. They contain a reference to the original transaction and a timestamp. It is not possible to release a partial amount - a cancellation will always apply to the full authorisation amount.
If you are capturing only part of the authorised amount, there is no requirement to release the excess amount manually. In the event of a capture, the authorisation will be released in full.
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