Google Checkout Credit Card Authorization and Capture

When a customer places an order, the new order will appear in your Inbox in your Merchant Center account with the REVIEWING status. As long as the order's status is REVIEWING, you will not be able to charge the customer for the order. During this time, Google Checkout will authorize the customer's credit card for the amount of the purchase and run risk checks to protect you from potentially fraudulent purchases.

After the payment has been authorized, the order's status will update from REVIEWING to CHARGEABLE. You can then charge the customer for any amount up to the authorized amount. You can charge the customer in the Merchant Center by clicking the CHARGE button that appears next to the order.

You can also instruct Google Checkout to automatically charge orders as soon as they become chargeable. To activate this feature, log in to your Google Checkout account and click on the Settings tab. Then click the Preferences link in the menu on the left side of the page. Under the Order processing preferences header on the Preferences page, check the option for the auto-charging feature.

Note: You should not ship the ordered items to the customer until the order's status has updated to CHARGEABLE.

If a credit card authorization fails, Google will email the buyer to request updated credit card information or a new credit card. If the buyer updates her credit card information, Google will try to authorize that card. However, if the buyer does not supply a new credit card within 72 hours after the email is sent, Google will cancel the order. Google will email you to notify you of canceled orders.