Recording Payments When You Use Card Authorizations

Most agencies never hold their client's money. The client authorizes a card, and you use it to pay the cruise line, tour operator or hotel. Every payment ends up with the supplier. So the question JourneyFuse asks is not where the money went, but whether the payment went through you.

That gives you two cases, and only two:

The one rule to teach a new advisor: tick Client pays on their own only when the client pays the supplier without you. If you ran their authorized card, it is Paid, even though the money went straight to the supplier.

The everyday flow

1. Build the trip. Add each booking with its price and commission on the Bookings tab. A package with hotels inside it counts once, at the package price.
2. Send the invoice. The Payments tab's Set up what [client] pays drafts the deposit and final payment from the bookings and sends it in one step.
3. The client authorizes. They sign the card authorization on the invoice. Signing does not charge the card.
4. You pay the supplier with the authorized card.
5. Record it.
   • For one payment, on the Payments tab click Collect → Mark the next payment paid.
   • When the balance is done, open the invoice and click Mark invoice paid. It lists exactly what it will record before saving anything, leaves out anything marked Client pays on their own, and only emails your client if you tick the box.
6. Something added later? Add it on the Bookings tab with its price, commission and due date. It goes onto the trip's open invoice, so you can send the updated invoice for the client to authorize.

Reading the money strip

The Bookings tab, the Payments tab and the invoice editor all open with the same strip:

• Sold: every active booking's price.
• Paid: every payment you have recorded, including authorized cards you ran at the supplier.
• Due: what is left for the client to pay through you.
• Client pays on their own: shown so the trip total is right. It is not part of the balance.

If Paid looks low after you ran a card, the usual cause is a booking marked Client pays on their own that the client actually authorized. Untick it on the booking.

Related

• Card Authorizations
• Final Payment Workflow
• Invoices
• Booking Due at the Property