[thelist] storing user information and allowing them to"finishlater" and payment issues

[Brian Cummiskey]

Shawn K. Quinn wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-12-02 at 09:45 -0800, Hassan Schroeder wrote:
>   
>> In your situation, you could either
>> 1) charge the card when submitted the first time if payment info is
>>      present, even if the form is incomplete, or
>> 2)  authorize the charge, which will give you a transaction id to save
>>      to use later when the form is completed
>>     
>
> Of the two, the second is highly preferable, but you should make sure
> the user knows this is what you do, and give the user the option of
> saving without the credit card number if this is a problem. Many "credit
> cards" are actually debit cards, and an unexpected hold on funds can
> lead to bounced checks/EFTs and many other financial catastrophes.
>
>   
Yup, #1 cannot legally be done.   You CANNOT charge a card until the 
item is ready to be shipped.  If visa finds you are doing this, they 
will drop you REAL fast.