Authorization and honor period

PayPal checkout supports both one-step and two-step payment flows. In a two-step flow, you first authorize a payment to place a hold on funds, then capture the payment later when you're ready to settle. This approach is common for merchants who need to verify inventory, confirm shipping, or perform fraud checks before finalizing a transaction.

When to use two-step payments

Two-step payments are designed for merchants who fulfill orders after the point of sale — such as e-commerce businesses that ship physical goods, service providers who confirm availability before charging, or marketplaces that need to validate seller readiness. If you collect payment and deliver value simultaneously (digital downloads, in-person transactions), use the default one-step payment flow instead.

Authorization and capture periods

When you authorize a payment, PayPal places a hold on the buyer's funds for a 29-day authorization period. Within this period, there is a 3-day honor period starting from the authorization date. PayPal recommends capturing funds within this 3-day honor period for the highest likelihood of success. After the honor period expires, capture success depends on risk assessment and fund availability on the buyer's payment method.

Key concepts

• Authorization — Places a hold on the buyer's funds. Valid for 29 days.
• Honor period — The first 3 days of an authorization, during which capture success rates are highest.
• Reauthorization — Generates a new authorization ID and restarts the honor period. Available after the initial honor period expires, within the 29-day window.
• Capture — Settles the payment by collecting the authorized funds.

Reauthorization

After the initial 3-day honor period expires, you can issue multiple reauthorizations within the 29-day authorization window. Each reauthorization generates a new authorization ID and restarts the honor period. Perform any subsequent capture against the new authorization ID, not the original.

Capture rules

• You can capture less than or equal to the full authorized amount for any payment type.
• You can capture up to 115% or $75 USD more than the original authorized amount, whichever is less.
• Partial captures are supported during a single authorization period. For PayPal payment authorizations, you must enable partial capture on your PayPal account.

See also

• Set up payments
• Authorize a payment now and capture funds later

Resources

• Orders API reference — Full API reference for creating and managing orders.
• Payments API reference — API reference for authorizing and capturing payments.