Costs and account terms

Compare the authorization deadline with the fulfillment date

Compare the capture deadline written for this authorization with the date you can fulfill the order. On a Stripe charge, the hold document says the capture_before value indicates when that authorization expires. If you do not capture in time, Stripe says the funds are released and the payment status becomes canceled. Stripe's card-not-present table is not one number: it differs by brand and by whether the payment is classified as customer-initiated or merchant-initiated. The Visa merchant-initiated cell is listed as 5 days, with a footnote that the exact window is 4 days and 18 hours. The Visa customer-initiated cell is listed as 7 days, without that footnote. The WooCommerce Stripe extension's capture-later document states a different rule for that extension: seven days after the order was placed, then the authorization expires, the held funds are returned, and the order status is set to Failed. Use only the deadline that belongs to the integration on this order. If you cannot find one, the deadline is unknown. Describe the work you need. Prism will confirm scope, responsibilities, fees, and terms before work begins.

For: An owner or authorized representative of a business that sells peptides for laboratory research use only and ships after checkout while a card authorization is still open.

Updated 2026-09-21

The deadline has to belong to this charge

Find the authorization time on the payment and the capture deadline the same payment exposes. Stripe tells API users to read payment_method_details.card.capture_before on the charge. That value is the expiry Stripe shows for that authorization. A table on a help page is not a substitute when the charge already has the field.

This question is about the time before capture. It is not about how long settlement takes after a successful capture, and it is not about a payout that has not reached the bank. Stripe's hold document also says ACH Direct Debit does not support separate authorization and capture. An ACH payment that is still awaiting acknowledgement is not this expiry problem.

Two Stripe-related documents do not share one number

Stripe's hold page publishes card-not-present windows that differ for Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, and that differ again between merchant-initiated and customer-initiated classification. Stripe says it and the card network classify that status from signals of cardholder participation, not only from an API flag. The same page says an extended authorization can be requested for certain eligible payments, and that a Japan-based account can have a different window for specified JPY transactions. This guide does not restate those eligibility rules. The charge's own deadline is the one that applies.

The WooCommerce Stripe extension document says the extension captures immediately unless you enable capture later. If you do, it says you have seven days after the order was placed, and that other payment methods are hidden. That seven-day sentence is the extension's instruction to its users. It is not the brand-by-brand table, and the table is not a correction you should type over the extension without asking which deadline the installed version enforces. If the two documents disagree for your order, the disagreement is a question for the provider. It is not a number to average.

Put the deadline next to the fulfillment commitment

The fulfillment date is the date your order record says you will ship or otherwise complete the order. Compare that date with the capture deadline from the charge or from the integration document that applies. You can see whether the commitment falls before the deadline only when both dates are known. If either date is missing, you cannot yet say the authorization expires first.

WooCommerce's order-status guide says an order can sit On hold when a gateway separates authorization from capture, and that you should read the order notes and the gateway's documentation. On hold is not itself the expiry time. Do not treat the age of the order as the deadline.

What those documents say happens when the authorization ends

Stripe's hold page says an expired authorization releases the funds and sets the payment status to canceled. The WooCommerce Stripe extension page says that if the charge is not captured within its seven days, the held funds are returned to the buyer and the WooCommerce order status is set to Failed. It also says you can cancel earlier by setting the order to Cancelled or by cancelling the authorization in the Stripe Dashboard, which releases the hold. Expiration and cancellation are different actions in that document: expiration is automatic, cancellation is manual.

Neither document says you may silently create a new authorization after expiry, and this page will not add that step. Whether a later capture, a cancellation, or a new payment is available is a question for the provider that holds the authorization. Ask it about this charge, and include the deadline you found or say that you could not find one.

What you can resolve before you ask

You can resolve which document governs the integration you run, whether that document or the charge states a deadline, and whether your fulfillment date is earlier. You can ask the provider the remaining question in those words. You cannot choose a seven-day rule, a brand row, or an extended window for a provider the document does not cover.

Prism can help you describe the store and the provider's question. Any account action requires the merchant’s authorization and the provider’s supported process. The merchant remains responsible for its release decision. The consultation is not a processing application. The fee, if any, for an extended authorization is unknown here. Stripe's hold page points eligible accounts to a separate extended-authorization document, and this page does not copy its windows.

Authorization and fulfillment timing

Use the order that is waiting to ship. The deadline may come only from that charge or from the integration document that applies to it. Do not copy seven days, or a brand window, from a different product. Worksheet entries are not submitted by this worksheet or saved by this site. Use only non-sensitive summaries; do not enter credentials, government identifiers, card or bank-account numbers, private receipt links, or customer details.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

Authorization and fulfillment timing. The last column is for temporary notes.
Timing fact	Where the date is allowed to come from	If that source is missing	Your order
Which integration authorized the payment	The gateway or provider named on the order, such as the WooCommerce Stripe extension or another provider's dashboard.	Do not apply either Stripe document to an unnamed provider.	Which integration authorized the payment: Your order
Authorization time	The timestamp on this payment.	Leave the comparison blank. An order date is not a substitute until the payment record confirms it.	Authorization time: Your order
Capture deadline	The capture_before value on a Stripe charge, or the deadline sentence in the integration you actually run. The WooCommerce Stripe extension document says seven days after the order was placed for its capture-later setting.	Write unknown. Do not borrow the other document's number.	Capture deadline: Your order
Why this deadline is not a general rule	Stripe's card-not-present windows differ by brand and by customer-initiated or merchant-initiated classification. The extension's seven-day sentence is a different document. Extended and Japan-specific windows are further exceptions on Stripe's page.	A disagreement between documents is a provider question, not an average.	Why this deadline is not a general rule: Your order
Fulfillment commitment	The ship or completion date on this order.	If the order does not promise a date, you cannot yet say the authorization expires first.	Fulfillment commitment: Your order
Which date is earlier	Compare only the two dates you recorded above.	Write unknown when either date is unknown.	Which date is earlier: Your order
Documented result if the authorization expires	Stripe says the payment status becomes canceled and the funds are released. The WooCommerce Stripe extension says, for its seven-day rule, that funds are returned and the order becomes Failed.	Do not describe a new charge, a longer hold, or a capture method the document does not list.	Documented result if the authorization expires: Your order
Question for the provider	Ask which deadline applies to this charge, and which action that provider documents if fulfillment is later than that deadline.	Do not ask the provider to honor a window you selected from the other document.	Question for the provider: Your order

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. The consultation form does not include these entries.

Limits

A Prism consultation can help you organize the facts and discuss the website or processing question. The payment provider decides eligibility, pricing, reserves, and whether an account is opened or closed.
No capture window on this page applies to a provider other than the Stripe integration described in the cited document.
This page does not give a way to create a new authorization after expiry or to extend a hold that the account does not already allow.

Related guides

Sources checked 2026-09-21

Stripe authorization windows — checked 2026-09-21. capture_before shows when a Stripe authorization expires. Card-not-present windows differ by brand and by customer-initiated or merchant-initiated classification. The Visa merchant-initiated footnote says the exact window is 4 days and 18 hours. Expiry releases the funds and sets the status to canceled. ACH Direct Debit does not support manual capture.
WooCommerce Stripe capture later — checked 2026-09-21. That extension's capture-later setting gives seven days after the order was placed. After that, the authorization expires, held funds are returned, and the order status is set to Failed. Cancellation is a separate manual action.
WooCommerce order statuses — checked 2026-09-21. On hold can be used when a gateway separates authorization and capture. The order notes and the gateway's documentation say what that status means for the order.
Prism solutions — checked 2026-09-21. Prism can help prepare a provider question. The provider decides account terms. Any requested assistance with authorization behavior requires a defined scope and authorized access.
Prism contact — checked 2026-09-21. The consultation request is followed up by email and is not a processing application.

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