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Toast has implemented a change for all customers, where guests’ cards with smart chips (i.e. Europay/Mastercard/Visa [EMV]) will need to be dipped or tapped for running bar tabs instead of swiping magnetic strips.
To save time, we recommend dipping instead of tapping when initiating a bar tab. Dipping will automatically populate the cardholder’s name as the tab name. However, tapping will not, due to limitations set by the card networks. If you choose to tap, the tab name will need to be manually updated to avoid confusion or potential disputes.
Turn EMV on for all terminals to ensure that this dip/tap functionality will be automatically accepted on all running bar tabs once the functionality is available. Setup takes 30 seconds with these step-by-step instructions: EMV Payments FAQ. Your staff will be informed on their displays, but be sure to let them know of this change in advance.
Dip/tap tabs are not yet available for dual reader setups (including some guest-facing displays). Until that functionality is added, you will still need to pre- authorize on your Magnetic Stripe Readers (MSR) as a swipe when using a dual reader setup.
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Credit/debit card pre-authorization is a feature commonly used in high-volume bars and nightclubs. This feature allows bartenders and waitstaff to swipe a card on a customer’s order, save that information as their bar tab, and verify the validity of the customer’s bank account while also checking for funds.
To learn more about how to configure your Toast terminals with pre-authorization, please review the FAQ, then refer to this article: Card Pre-Authorization Configuration & Device Setup
To learn more about how Toast defines pre-authorization, how it relates to your POS system, and how it benefits bars and nightclubs, check out our Tech Tips blog post here.
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When swiped, the card will either get pre-authorized for the configured pre-authorized amount as set within the Payment options in Toast Web, or it will run as payment for whatever items have been added to the check.
Pre-authorizing a card does not guarantee that the customer will have sufficient funds to cover the entire check. Pre-authorization will only work if the card is swiped while there are no items added to the check. If there are any items on the check, the card will be charged as if it were a normal payment.
Yes. In Toast Web you can configure a minimum pre-authorization amount. If a card is swiped on a check that doesn’t contain any or enough items to meet the minimum pre-authorization amount, it will be pre-authorized for the amount of your choosing (see configuration). If the guest's check is greater than the minimum pre-authorization amount, Toast will pre-authorize the card for the greater amount by default.
Many restaurants will set their minimum to be the average price of an alcoholic beverage.
No. You must have a pre-authorization minimum of at least $0.01.
If a guest doesn't have enough funds to complete the actual transaction, the payment will be declined at close-out. If a guest has insufficient funds for the pre-authorization itself, then the transaction should be declined outright.
In addition to starting a tab for the customer, swiping a card before any items have been added to a check will still verify the customer’s bank account and save the card information to be used as a form of payment when closing the check. It will not check the customer’s bank account for sufficient funds unless you’ve set a minimum pre-authorization amount.
No. Cards must be present and swiped on the order screen for pre-authorization to take place.
At this time, pre-authorization only works by swiping a card. Toast will soon implement a change for all customers, where guests’ cards with smart chips (i.e. Europay/Mastercard/Visa [EMV]) will need to be dipped or tapped for running bar tabs instead of swiping magnetic strips. This change has already been implemented for some customers, who were alerted in their Toast Web account. Please continue swiping to run bar tabs until this change has taken effect for you. For more information, please see the disclaimer at the top of this article.
Yes. While the ability to pre-authorize cards is a global setting in Toast Web, individual devices can be configured to disable pre-authorization in Device Setup (see Card Pre-Authorization Configuration & Device Setup). This means that if a credit card is swiped on the order screen on a device that has pre-authorization turned off, that credit card will be charged.
Yes. A check that has a pre-authorized card attached to it can still be paid for with another form of payment. A pre-authorized card is simply an additional payment option. For example, if a check has a saved card attached to it, but another guest wishes to pay for the balance of the check on a different credit card, the new credit card can be swiped on the payment screen as the form of payment. There will not be an impact on the pre-authorized cardholder’s bank account. Checks with pre-authorized cards can also be closed to cash, gift cards, or any other forms of payment accepted.
Yes. As with any transaction, a partial amount can be entered on the payment screen, and Saved CC can be selected for the partial amount (see workflow). A prompt will appear to confirm with the employee that the amount being paid is less than the balance of the entire check.
Yes. Although Toast immediately voids the pre-authorized amount, the way card pre-authorizations appear in online bank statements will vary depending on the cardholder’s bank. It’s common to see what appears to be more than one charge on the account when pre-authorization takes place, though only one charge for the final amount will remain after credit card batching has occurred. The holds typically disappear one to two business days after the transaction; however, guests may see a charge pending for five or more days depending on their financial institution.
The guest will likely see a pending charge for the amount that was pre-authorized. If a card is swiped on a check with a balance that is less than the minimum pre-authorization amount, the pending charge will be the minimum amount. This will be accompanied by a voided transaction for the pre-authorized amount. Both the hold transaction and the void transaction will disappear the following day.
Another indicator of a pre-authorization is a pending $0 charge, which disappears the next day. Likely, the guest will also see a second pending charge for the final amount of the check. However, the guest will only see one charge on their account for the final amount once batching has occurred (the following day). See examples of online bank statements below.
If your restaurant operates in Quick Order mode with pre-authorization enabled, your employees must understand that you can no longer take a credit card payment by swiping directly on the order screen. This action will only pre-authorize the card. If the check doesn’t require pre-authorization, employees should make a habit of going to the payment screen and then swiping the credit card to take payment.
Yes. Swiping a card on the order screen in Quick Order and Table Service mode will start a tab for the guest, saving the cardholder’s name and credit card information. Guest tabs can be looked up using the Lookup function where the credit card can then be swiped to pull up any checks associated with the cardholder (see workflow below).
It doesn’t. Checks that contain a pre-authorized card are “open checks” in Toast’s payment terminal until they are closed out. If you don’t use digital receipts, closing a check to the pre-authorized card, or “Saved CC,” moves the check to “Paid checks” in the payment terminal so it can be adjusted to add a tip before it is closed out. Just like any credit card payment, a pre-authorized card must be closed out in an employee’s Shift Review before ending a shift.
No. Pre-authorized credit cards will not affect reporting in any way. They will appear as regular credit card payments.
Yes. If a check is closed out using a Saved CC, you may go back into the check and void or adjust the payment as if it were an ordinary credit card payment. Keep in mind that adjustments and voids can only be made once the check has been closed out using the Saved CC.
No. Each check can contain only one pre-authorized card.
Yes. A check can be closed to a Saved CC regardless of which terminal pre-authorized the card.
The first check will keep the pre-authorized payment on it. You may add a pre-authorized card to the additional split checks once they have been split from the original.
If Toast or your internet service provider goes offline, Toast is unable to communicate with credit card payment processors. This means that cards cannot be pre-authorized when Toast is in Offline Mode. However, if a card was pre-authorized before going into Offline Mode, the card information is preserved and can be used as a form of payment when connectivity returns. As with any credit card payment, if you close a check using a Saved CC in Offline Mode that was pre-authorized before going offline, it will be added to the queue and processed in the background after the device comes back online. See Set Up Payment Processing for Offline Mode for more information.
The left column shows the transactions the day pre-authorization occurred and the right column shows how they will appear on the following day.
Wells Fargo Debit:
A check can be closed to a saved credit card within 24 hours of the original pre-authorization.
No, checks must be manually closed to a saved credit card.
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- Pre-authorizing a card does not guarantee sufficient funds to cover the entire cost of the check.
- When using handheld devices in Table Service mode, pre-authorization may decrease the battery life of your card reader at a slightly accelerated rate. This is because pre-authorization requires that the reader is always awake, or “swipe ready,” on the order screen. Before pre-authorization, operating in Table Service required the card reader to be “swipe ready” on the payment screen only. The additional usage of the card reader being swipe-ready on the order screen requires more battery power. Because of this, it is recommended that card readers are plugged in and fully charged on a daily basis.
