Taking a card directly on the Order Screen will result in the following:
- The payment card will be pre-authorized as a valid form of payment and will ensure that sufficient funds are available to cover the pre-authorized amount.
- The card will be securely kept in Toast to be used as a form of payment when closing the check from the payment screen.
- A tab will be created using the name and payment card information of the cardholder.
- From the main menu on the POS, navigate to Setup > Device Setup.
- Scroll to Payment Processing. For the Credit Card Pre-Authorization setting, choose Yes.
When using Table Service and Quick Order mode, accepting a card on the order screen with pre-authorization turned off will take the card as the form of payment, and the card will be charged. Cards can only be pre-authorized by acceptance on the order screen. Acceptance of the payment screen will charge the card as the form of payment.
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Use a Pre-Authorized Card for Payment
Pre-authorization occurs directly on the order screen by taking a card on an order with or without items/balance due. Cards with smart chips will need to be dipped or tapped on EMV-enabled readers; cards without them can be swiped. We recommend dipping over tapping smart chip cards to avoid manual name entry and speed up the tab process. Once a card is taken, an indicator highlighted in green labeled Pre-authorized will appear on the check. If a check doesn't contain the Pre-authorized indicator, it means that the check does not contain a saved CC that has been pre-authorized. The example below is from a Toast Go® 2.
The banner will not show if the balance of the check is $0 and the check is in Paid or Closed status.
If a card is fraudulent, expired, has insufficient funds, or the account has been canceled or closed, you'll see an error message pop-up that says "Pre-Authorization Failure. Unable to pre-authorize this card. Please try another card."
On the payment screen, a check with a pre-authorized card will have a button labeled Saved CC. Just like any other form of payment, this button is used to close out the check using the pre-authorized card. The card does not need to be present since the payment card information has been saved from being used on this check.
Like any check, a check that contains a pre-authorized card remains in Open Checks until it is paid for, regardless of the form of payment used to close the check.
If the saved payment card is used as the form of payment on the check and you don't have digital receipts enabled, it moves to Paid Checks so a tip can be added before it is closed out.
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Partial Payments
To use a saved payment card to pay for a portion of a check, enter the amount desired into the Amount Tendered text field and then select Saved CC.
A pop-up will appear to confirm that the charge made to the saved payment card is less than the balance of the check.
The remaining balance can be closed to any form of payment, including cash, another payment card, gift cards, house accounts, etc.
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Add a Tip to a Saved CC Transaction
This workflow is the same as adding a tip to any payment card transaction. Highlight the card payment and enter the tip amount into the Tip text field. Select Update. Close the check completely by selecting Close.
Looking up a tab that contains a pre-authorized payment card is the same workflow used to look up a tab that was obtained by reading the card — using the Tab button on the order screen. Select the magnifying glass on the payment terminal to search for checks.
You can swipe the payment card when prompted, then choose the tab that’s associated with the pre-authorized card.
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Toast has introduced new messaging to indicate that a pre-authorization request on the POS is processing, and the server can choose to cancel the payment/workflow. This would be in the case of payment processors, slow internet, or other issues that delay an authorization but don't put the POS into a declared outage (learn more: Service Disruption Resource Center). A new, updated message will persist at the bottom of the screen until the pre-authorization is successful or the user cancels payment via a button.
When a guest uses a credit card linked to their loyalty account during a pre-authorization transaction, Toast will apply their account to the order. An accrual ("add value") will be logged at the time of pre-authorization. When the payment is saved and the new amount is applied to the payment, Toast will record a "void add value" and a new "add value" to recalculate points earned.
