Help with Authorization Variable

[HSstudio]

Hi there -

I am setting up a fundraising site for people to pre-order a book which will go to print only if we raise enough funds to cover the printing costs.  So I want to be able to authorize the charges but not actually capture them until we know if we have enough buyers.

Paypal customer support told me to create a "buy now" button through the normal form (the Option 1 tab in Merchant Services) and then at the bottom of the "Step 3" section, check the "Add Advanced Variables" checkbox and paste the term: paymentaction="authorization" into the field.  

I pasted the resulting html code for the button into my webpage and saved it.  When I then go to the page and click the button, I get the following error message:

Unknown pmtaction value.

and a note to go back to the merchant's website and try another option.

Any idea how to make this work? 

Thanks!

Judy

[HSstudio]

Oh and if there's a different way to accomplish the goal of setting up paypal to do this kind of authorization with delayed capture, I'm happy to try something else.

Thanks!

Judy

[snowshoe · Accepted solution]

There's no HTML extras, just the name of the variable, an equal sign and the value.

paymentaction=authorization

Just something to consider is the time frame.  How long do you plan to hold the funds?   Using this method, you have 29 days to hold the funds. You can reauthorize a transaction only once, up to 115% of the originally authorized amount (not to exceed an increase of $75 USD).  In other words, increase the original amount but, not more than $75.

After a successful authorization (or reauthorization), PayPal will honor authorized funds for three days, but PayPal cannot ensure that 100% of the funds will be available.  A day is defined as the start of the calendar day on which the authorization or reauthorization was made (from 12AM PST to 11:50PM PST).

You can settle without a reauthorization from day 4 to day 29 of the authorization period, but PayPal cannot ensure that 100% of the funds will be available after the three-day honor period.

Other thoughts:

PayPal will not allow you to capture funds if the buyer’s account is restricted, locked, or a fraudulent case occurs, or if your account has a high restriction level. You can use Authorization & Capture only when your account has a low restriction level.

If you attempt to capture funds outside the honor period, PayPal applies best efforts to

capture funds. However, funds may not be available at that time.



The accounts of buyers and merchants cannot be closed if there is a pending (unsettled)

authorization.

Last:

There are other types of services you may want to look into, i.e.,  "Crowdfunding", suggest doing some searching.

[HSstudio]

Thanks Snoeshow - removing the quotes did the trick!  

Thank you also for the additional details about how the authorization with delayed capture actually works.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your help!

Best,

Judy

[snowshoe]