Why payment was authorized by paypal first before captured?

[arielinthehouse]

From Oct 18th, my customers' payment was first authorized by paypal before captured. What happened? Before 18th,  payment was just processed immediately, no need to be authorized and then captured. Is there anyone help? I am very worried. I didn't edit any of my payment setting. 

[Don]

Hi there @arielinthehouse!

If you haven't already, take a look at this order in the order timeline to see all info available from the Shopify side of things.

Outside of this info, you'd need to reach out to PayPal for more info on how their service works. 

I managed to find some info on their site here on how authorisation works for payments though again, it would be best to reach out to PayPal support directly for confirmation on their processes and what has happened with this specific payment. 

All the best!

[SnowyDay]

I have the same problem with my shop since 18 October. I did not make any changes to my payment setting. PayPal payments were usually completed as soon as the order is placed. However, out of a sudden since 18 October,  they were first authorized by PayPal before captured. I have contacted PayPal Support and they said my shop has set up authorization as the payment method, which I did not. I believe this is a Shopify problem. And I don't think it has anything to do with Timeline.

Here's PayPal's response:

"I could see that your website has set up authorization as the payment method for the checkout from your online store. If you have further inquiry about authorization system on your online store, please kindly contact your website service provider."

[arielinthehouse]

Hello, I did contact the PayPal support too, and they replied exactly same content. I am really confused. I didn't do anything to my payment setting, and could not find any update news from Shopify. I am worried whether this change will affect customer's payment. 

[codyyymc]

Do you need to go onto paypal and do anything to capture the payment to get the money? Or is it all automatic still. the 'expiration date' scares me haha

Little confused

[SnowyDay]

I was panicked as well when I saw the 'expiration date'. But later I realized the payment was automatically captured around 3 seconds after the authorization.

I saw these 2 lines under each order, so I guess the payment went through successfully:

$XXX USD was captured on PayPal Express Checkout.

$XXX USD was authorized on PayPal Express Checkout.

[codyyymc]

Ah, I see now on shopify activity. Perfect, thanks! PHEW lol

[arielinthehouse]

This is exactly what I got as a result. I did check the activity and they were same as you wrote. So I think the payment should go through successfully too. I didn't try to contact either the shopify or paypal again, since they never reply...