Transaction Lifecycle
When you use an Airwallex issued card to make a purchase, an authorization request is initiated by the merchant which reaches Airwallex via the card scheme i.e., Visa. Airwallex performs a number of checks to ensure that the authorization is genuine and meets any authorization controls you have previously set up.
There are two types of authorization scenarios:
Dual message (DM): In this scenario, the merchant’s bank initiates an authorization request to the issuer to reserve funds for later clearing. The reserved funds will be shown in your reserve balance. The funds are only deducted when the merchant sends the clearing request. If the clearing request is not initiated in a timely manner, the transaction is reversed and the funds are released back to you.
Single message (SM): The authorization and clearing requests are effectively combined into one final message and the requested amount will be deducted from your balance straight away.
Transaction types
The following transaction types are supported on your issued cards.
| Transaction Type | Description |
|---|---|
| AUTHORIZATION | An authorization request is sent to the issuer to determine the validity of the card for making a payment. This request can either be approved or declined. |
| CLEARING | A clearing request is sent to the issuer to complete the settlement of a previously approved authorization request. The clearing request can be sent to settle: - a partial amount of previously approved amount - the exact amount of previously approved amount - a greater amount of previously approved amount up to a certain percentage based on the card scheme rules. |
| REVERSAL | A reversal request is sent to the issuer to reverse a previously approved authorization request or a previously cleared transaction. The reversal request can be sent to reverse: - a partial amount of previously approved amount or cleared amount - the exact amount of previously approved amount or cleared amount. |
| REFUND | A refund request is sent to the issuer to refund a previously cleared transaction. This can either be a merchant refund or a dispute refund. For merchant refund, the request can sometimes be linked back to the original transaction. For dispute refund, the request can always be linked back to the original transaction. |
| ORIGINAL CREDIT | A credit request is sent to the issuer to facilitate money movement from the merchant to the cardholder. |
Lifecycle ID
We provide a unique identifier lifecycle_id to group transactions in the same lifecycle together. This identifier is available on our Get transactions API and Get authorization status API endpoints.
In the case of unmatched refunds, a new lifecycle_id would be created.