Intelligent Payment Capture for Failed Authorizations
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Solution Overview
Problem
In the context of point-of-sale (POS) transactions, there is a challenge in capturing payments when a payment instrument is declined, especially in offline-to-online scenarios where network connectivity issues or authorization delays lead to missed opportunities for payment capture, resulting in potential losses for merchants.
Innovation Solution
Implementing intelligent payment-capture techniques that include authorizing payment instruments with respect to available balances, re-attempting authorization at future times when the balance is expected to increase, and communicating with customers to resolve declined transactions, allowing merchants to capture at least a portion of the transaction cost.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the system attempts to authorize payment instruments in real-time during transactions, then transaction processing speed is improved, but payment authorization success rate deteriorates due to network connectivity issues or authorization delays
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by attempting authorization before the transaction is fully completed, and by proactively monitoring payment instrument balances. When a payment instrument is predicted to have insufficient funds, the system notifies the customer in advance, allowing them to add funds or provide alternative payment before the transaction fails, thus maintaining both speed and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring payment instrument balances and authorization outcomes. When authorization fails or is predicted to fail, the system provides feedback to the customer about the insufficient funds status and allows for real-time correction, thereby improving authorization success rate without significantly impacting transaction processing speed.
2Reliability
If the system implements comprehensive payment capture techniques including balance monitoring and re-attempt authorization, then payment capture success rate is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs self-service mechanisms where the payment instrument itself provides balance information through automated queries. The system automatically monitors balances, predicts potential insufficiencies, and initiates re-attempt authorizations without requiring complex manual intervention or highly sophisticated external systems, thereby improving capture success rate while limiting complexity growth.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters dynamically by adjusting authorization attempt timing and frequency based on predicted balance changes. Instead of using a fixed complex algorithm, the system modifies authorization parameters (when to retry, how often to monitor) based on simple predictive criteria, achieving improved payment capture success rate with controlled system complexity.
3Reliability
If the system monitors payment instrument balances and predicts future balance changes, then payment authorization reliability is improved, but information processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial monitoring by focusing only on the most critical payment instruments and balance change patterns. Rather than comprehensively analyzing all possible balance change scenarios, the system monitors key indicators and makes predictions based on sufficient (but not excessive) information, improving authorization reliability while limiting information processing requirements to necessary levels.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques and arrangements for capturing payments in cases involving a failed authorization. In some instances, a point-of-sale (POS) device may process a transaction while operating in an offline mode, and then send information regarding the transaction to a remote service after transitioning to an online mode. The remote service may attempt to authorize a payment instrument tendered to satisfy a cost of the transaction. In instances in which the payment instrument is declined, one or multiple payment-capture techniques may be utilized to capture a payment that satisfies at least a portion of the cost of the transaction.