Overview
Pre-authorizing a payment places a temporary hold on a customer's credit or debit card to confirm they have enough funds to cover the job. The hold reserves the amount without charging it. After the job is complete, you can capture the payment to finalize the charge. If a job does not go ahead, you can void the pre-authorization to cancel the hold and release the reserved funds back to the customer.
Before You Start
Pre-authorization must be enabled for your account. To get started, book a call with Theo at Remedy Payments to set up your account.
Voiding or deleting a pre-authorization requires the Refund or delete payment permission. Running a pre-authorization and capturing one do not.
How To Tell Before Booking Whether a Card Is on File
Pre-authorization runs against a saved card, so an opportunity booked with no card on file has nothing to authorize. SmartMoving warns you before you book.
When pre-authorization is enabled for your account and the customer has no saved card, a warning appears in the estimate header: Credit/Debit Card NOT Saved on File
Hovering the information icon beside it shows: "Pre-authorization is charged against the customer's saved card. Contact the customer to add a card on file before booking."
Save a card to the opportunity to clear the warning. The warning appears while the opportunity is a New Lead, Lead In Progress, or Opportunity, and clears once the job is booked.
You will also see a warning inside the Cards tab if you turn on Auto Pre-authorize this opportunity before saving a card: "This customer doesn't have a saved card yet. Add one to this opportunity. Once it reflects in the opportunity, try turning this on again."
How to Pre-authorize a Payment
Step 1: Save a Card on File (If Needed)
Pre-authorization places the hold on a card saved to the opportunity, so save one first if the customer does not have one. See How to Save a Credit or Debit Card on File for an Opportunity.
Saved cards appear in the Cards tab of the Payments card on the opportunity.
Step 2: Run the Pre-authorization
Open the opportunity and click + Payment in the Payments card header.
Select Pre-authorize Payment. The Pre-authorize Payment dialog opens.
Choose a payment method:
Under Saved Payment Methods, select a card already on file.
Under Payment Options, select Credit Card or Debit Card to key in card details for this pre-authorization. Debit Card appears when debit card payments are turned on for your account.
Review the hold amount. A confirmation message displays the amount that will be held and the card it will be placed on.
Click Pre-authorize. The hold is placed on the card.
The payment entry appears in the Transactions tab of the Payments card with a Pre-authorized badge, along with the date, card details, and the amount held.
Note: When a card fee is configured for your account, it applies to credit cards only. A debit card carries no card fee, and the Waive credit card fee? option does not appear for one.
Which Card Gets Pre-authorized
Automatic pre-authorization places the hold on the card tagged Pre-auth in the Cards tab of the opportunity.
If a card is tagged Pre-auth and it is still active, SmartMoving uses that card.
If no card is tagged, SmartMoving uses the most recently saved active card on the customer.
If the tagged card has been removed, SmartMoving uses the most recently saved active card instead.
To choose the card yourself, tag it in the Cards tab.
Note: When you run a pre-authorization manually with + Payment then Pre-authorize Payment, you pick the card in the dialog, so the Pre-auth tag does not apply to that run.
How to Capture a Pre-authorized Payment
After the job is complete, capture the pre-authorized payment to finalize the charge.
In the Transactions tab of the opportunity's Payments card, find the payment entry with the Pre-authorized badge.
Click the three-dot menu (⋮) on the pre-authorized payment.
Select Capture Payment. The Capture Payment dialog opens.
Enter the Amount to capture. The capture amount can match the pre-authorized amount or be higher if the final invoice came in above the estimate.
Click Capture. A confirmation message indicates the payment is complete.
The payment status updates from Pre-authorized to show the captured amount as paid.
Note: If the capture amount is higher than the pre-authorized amount, SmartMoving first charges the pre-authorized hold, then charges the difference to the same card. If the card does not have enough funds for the difference, the remainder will decline and you will need to collect the balance from the customer using another form of payment.
How to Void a Pre-authorized Payment
Voiding a pre-authorization cancels the hold on the customer's credit card before the payment is captured. SmartMoving cancels the pre-authorization with the card processor before the charge settles, and the hold is released back to the customer's available balance. No money moves and the customer is never charged.
You can void a pre-authorization only while the hold is active: the payment entry shows a Pre-authorized badge and has not been captured, has not expired, and has not already been voided.
In the Transactions tab of the opportunity's Payments card, find the payment entry with the Pre-authorized badge.
Click the three-dot menu (⋮) on the pre-authorized payment.
Select Void Pre-Authorization. A confirmation dialog opens.
Review the confirmation message: "This will cancel the pre-authorization with the card processor and release the hold on the customer's card. This action cannot be undone."
Click Void. SmartMoving cancels the pre-authorization with the card processor and releases the hold on the customer's card.
After you void the pre-authorization, the payment entry stays in the Transactions tab with a Voided badge, so you keep a record of it.
Capture Payment and Void Pre-Authorization are no longer available on that entry, and Delete remains available if you want to remove the entry from the screen. SmartMoving records an activity entry on the opportunity, for example: "Pre-authorization of $500.00 voided by Jordan Lee."
Note: Voiding a pre-authorization cannot be undone. To place another hold after voiding, run a new pre-authorization on the opportunity.
When Void Pre-Authorization is not available: Void is only available while the pre-authorization is active.
If the payment entry shows a Captured status, the payment was already finalized, so process a refund instead.
If the entry shows Expired, the hold was already released after the 5-day capture window passed, so no void is needed.
If the entry shows Voided, the pre-authorization was already voided and cannot be voided again.
Void vs. Delete on a Pre-authorization
The three-dot menu on a pre-authorized payment includes both Void Pre-Authorization and Delete. The table below shows what each action does and whether a record is kept.
Action | What it does | Record kept |
Void Pre-Authorization | Cancels the pre-authorization with the card processor and releases the hold on the customer's card. No funds move. | Yes. The entry stays visible with a Voided badge. |
Delete | Removes the pre-authorization entry from the opportunity's Transactions tab. | No. The entry is removed from the screen. |
Use Void Pre-Authorization when you want to cancel the hold and keep a record of it for accounting. Use Delete when you want to remove the entry from the Transactions tab.
How to Capture a Pre-authorized Payment in the Crew App
When a customer has a pre-authorized card on file, the Crew App highlights that card on the Take Payment screen so crews can capture the held amount directly.
The pre-authorized card displays a PRE-AUTH tag next to the card label, along with the held amount and the date the hold was placed. The card is pre-selected by default when the crew opens the Take Payment screen.
How to Capture
Open the job in the Crew App and tap Take Payment.
Confirm the pre-authorized card is selected. The card displays a PRE-AUTH tag, the held amount, and when the hold was placed.
Tap Capture Payment to finalize the charge against the existing hold.
Choosing a Different Payment Method
Other saved cards remain available below the pre-authorized card. To use a different payment method, select it from the list. The button label changes to Add New Payment, and the charge is processed as a standard payment, not a capture of the existing hold.
💡 SmartTip: Selecting the pre-authorized card and tapping Capture Payment applies the charge to the existing hold. Selecting a different card processes a separate charge and does not release the pre-authorized hold automatically.
Best Practices
Pre-authorize the customer's card before the job date to confirm they have sufficient funds and reduce the risk of payment issues on moving day.
Have your crew finalize the job in the crew app as soon as the move is complete. After 5 days, you will no longer be able to capture payment from the pre-authorization.
Capture the pre-authorized payment as soon as the job is finalized to avoid missing the 5-day window.
Know the typical variance between your estimates and final invoices, and set pre-authorization amounts accordingly. If the capture amount exceeds the hold, the difference is charged to the same card and can decline if funds are short.
Select the pre-authorized card on the Crew App Take Payment screen to capture the existing hold. Selecting a different card processes a separate charge without releasing the hold.
Save a card to the opportunity before booking, so pre-authorization has a card to run against on the job date.
Tag the card you want in the Cards tab rather than relying on which card was saved most recently.
Troubleshooting
The Pre-authorize Payment option does not appear.
Pre-authorization may not be enabled for your account. Book a call with Theo at Remedy Payments to get set up.
The pre-authorization failed.
Verify that the card details are correct and that the card has sufficient available credit for the hold amount. If the issue persists, try entering the card details manually instead of using a saved card.
The capture declined for the amount above the pre-authorized hold.
When the capture amount is higher than the pre-authorization, SmartMoving charges the hold first and then charges the difference to the same card. If the card lacks funds for the difference, that portion declines. Collect the remaining balance from the customer using another form of payment.
The pre-authorized payment shows as Expired.
The hold was not captured within the 5-day window and is no longer valid. Hovering the badge shows "This pre-authorization is no longer valid. Please create a new one for this opportunity." Run a new pre-authorization or take a standard payment.
The Void Pre-Authorization option is unavailable or grayed out.
Void Pre-Authorization is only available while a pre-authorization is active. Check the badge on the payment entry. If it shows Captured, the payment was already finalized, so process a refund instead. If it shows Expired, the hold was already released. If it shows Voided, the pre-authorization was already voided.
Voiding the pre-authorization failed.
The hold may have already been captured or expired, or the card processor returned an error. Refresh the Transactions tab to check the current badge on the entry. When a void fails, no changes are saved and the entry stays in its previous state. Try again, or process a refund if the payment has already been captured.
Automatic pre-authorization did not run on a job.
Check the opportunity's activity log. When the customer has no active saved card, SmartMoving records "Failed to auto pre-authorize due to customer lacking a stored payment method." and notifies the salesperson on the opportunity. If the log shows only "Failed to auto pre-authorize.", the card was on file but the hold did not go through, so check the card with the customer. In either case, confirm Auto Pre-authorize this opportunity is on in the Cards tab.
SmartMoving will not let me create a second pre-authorization.
SmartMoving shows "Duplicate Pre-authorization Payment" with the message "This opportunity already has a pending pre-authorization. Please delete or capture the existing pre-authorization to create a new one." Capture, void, or delete the existing pre-authorization first.