An authorization reserves funds. A capture requests collection of the payment. A pending entry in your banking app does not, by itself, mean Dive Gear Express has collected your money.
Authorization, Capture, and Settlement
Authorization: Your card issuer approves a payment request and normally places a temporary hold on the amount. This can reduce your available credit or, for a debit card, your available bank balance. The money may be unavailable for you to spend even though the merchant has not collected it.
Capture: The merchant submits an authorized payment for collection. This is also called submitting the transaction for settlement.
Settlement: The payment is processed through the banking system. Your issuer then displays the completed charge according to its own posting schedule. Capture and the appearance of a posted charge are not necessarily simultaneous.
How Dive Gear Express Processes Your Payment
When you enter your card details directly at our checkout, we request an authorization when you place the order. We normally capture the payment during order processing, shortly before shipment.
Our PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay checkout methods currently request authorization and capture together when the order is placed. These methods should not be assumed to follow the delayed-capture timing of a card entered directly at checkout.
Why Does My Bank Say I Have Been Charged?
Banks may label an authorization as a “pending transaction” or “pending charge.” A text message or app notification may simply show the amount without explaining whether it is an authorization or a completed payment. The reduction in your available balance is real, but a hold and a collected payment are different things.
For example, a $200 authorization can reduce your available balance by $200. When we later capture that same payment, the authorization normally becomes or is replaced by the posted $200 charge. It is not a second purchase.
You may temporarily see both a pending entry and a posted charge while your issuer updates its records. Multiple checkout attempts can also produce more than one pending authorization. Neither situation alone establishes that you have been charged twice. If you see two posted charges for the same order, contact us so we can investigate.
What Happens When an Order Is Cancelled?
If the payment has only been authorized, we can void the authorization. This cancels our request to collect it; it is not a refund because there is no settled payment to return. An unused authorization can also expire.
If the payment has already been captured, the available action depends on its processing status. It may still be possible to void it before settlement; otherwise a refund is required. A refund returns a collected payment and is normally shown separately in your transaction history.
Your card issuer controls when a pending hold disappears and your available balance is restored. A void does not guarantee an immediate release. Timing varies by issuer and payment method, so we cannot promise a specific release date. Contact your issuer if you need to know when the funds will become available.
Why Is There a Hold After a Declined Checkout?
A bank can approve an authorization before the payment processor rejects the transaction during address, card-security-code, or other security checks. A pending hold can therefore appear even though checkout did not complete. The processor may send a void request, but your bank may take time to recognize it.
A bank notification is not an order confirmation. If you are unsure whether your order was placed, contact us before making repeated payment attempts.
Who Can Help?
Contact Dive Gear Express to confirm whether an order exists and whether its payment was authorized, captured, voided, or refunded. Please provide your order number, if available, and the transaction date and amount. Do not send your full card number or security code.
Contact your card issuer about a pending hold, your available balance, or when a void or refund will appear in your account. We can confirm what we submitted, but we cannot directly change your bank’s records.