Hotels and rental counters do it all the time: swipe the card, place a hold, and settle the real amount later. So it’s reasonable to ask the same of Altru. You might want to hold a card for a school group that hasn’t confirmed its final headcount, a facility rental with a damage deposit, a stroller or wheelchair loan, or a no-show fee on a sold-out program. In every one of those cases you want the card authorized without the money actually moving.
The short version: as far as we know, Altru doesn’t offer a separate “authorize only” option when you swipe a card in daily sales or advance sales. A card payment taken there goes through as a sale. Below we explain what that means in practice, how to confirm it for your own setup, and the workarounds organizations actually use.
Authorize vs. charge: what the difference actually is
When a card is charged, the processor authorizes the amount and then captures it. The capture is what sends the money to your merchant account. Most point-of-sale systems do both steps together, and that’s what you see at an Altru register.
An authorization only stops after the first step. The cardholder’s bank reserves the funds, and nothing settles until someone captures the hold, usually within a limited window set by the card networks and your processor. If nobody captures it, the hold drops off on its own.
Supporting this takes more than a checkbox. The software needs a place to store the pending authorization, a way to capture it later (possibly for a different amount), and a way to void it. It also needs accounting rules for revenue that exists but hasn’t settled. Altru’s daily sales and advance sales workflows are built around completed transactions that post to revenue and batches, which helps explain why an auth-only mode isn’t there.
Confirm it for your own setup
Payment options depend on your merchant account, your processor, and your Altru configuration, so don’t rely on our read alone:
- Ask Blackbaud support directly whether authorization-only or delayed capture is available for card-present transactions in your environment, and whether that answer differs between daily sales, advance sales, and other areas like group sales or web forms.
- Ask your merchant services contact whether your processor supports auth-only at all, and how long an authorization stays valid on your account.
- Test in a sandbox if you have one, rather than running a trial on a guest’s card in production.
Workarounds that hold up
None of these is a true authorization hold. Each one handles the reason you wanted the hold, and each has a cost.
1. Charge now, refund later
For equipment loans and damage deposits, the simplest approach is to charge the deposit and refund it when the item comes back. It’s clean in Altru, because the payment and the refund both show up on the constituent’s record and in your batches. The downsides: refunds can take days to reach the guest’s statement, you may pay processing fees on the original charge, and staff have to remember to issue the refund. Keep a short daily report of open deposits so none get missed.
2. Take a non-refundable or partial deposit
For groups and rentals, a deposit policy often works better than a hold. Charge a fixed deposit at booking, state clearly what’s refundable and by when, and collect the balance once the final count is set. Guests understand deposits, and your revenue matches what actually happened.
3. Book now, pay later
Some organizations reserve the group or program in Altru with a balance due and collect payment closer to the date. Whether this works cleanly depends on how your organization sets up group sales and advance sales, so check how outstanding balances show up in your reports before you depend on it. It doesn’t protect you from no-shows, so pair it with a written cancellation policy.
4. Use a separate terminal for holds
A few sites keep a standalone card terminal (from a processor that supports auth-only) just for holds, then record the final payment in Altru once it’s captured. It works, but it means two systems handle money for the same guest. Your finance team will have to reconcile them, and the hold won’t appear in Altru at all. Talk to your business office before you set this up, and don’t keep card numbers on paper or in notes to make it work.
Choosing among them
Start with the reason you want the hold:
- Getting something back (equipment, keys, rental spaces): charge and refund, with a daily check of open deposits.
- Locking in a booking (groups, private programs): a deposit with a written refund deadline.
- Discouraging no-shows on free or low-cost registrations: a small prepaid fee is usually easier to run than a hold, and much easier than trying to charge a card after the fact.
Whichever you pick, put it in your desk procedures and in the confirmation the guest receives. Most disputes about deposits come from guests who didn’t know the rules, not from the payment method.
Quick answers
Can I void a card sale in Altru instead of refunding it?
Whether a same-day void is possible, and how it behaves, depends on timing and on how batches are handled at your organization. Ask Blackbaud support how voids and refunds differ in your environment before you train staff on either.
Is it okay to write down a guest’s card number to charge later?
No. Keeping card numbers on paper, in notes, or in spreadsheets creates PCI compliance risk. Use one of the approaches above instead.
