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How it works · Payments

How a payment works.

Seven steps separate a tap on Pay from money in your bank account. Most take milliseconds; only the payout to your bank waits for the next business day. Here is each one, what you see in the dashboard, and what can go wrong.

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Checkoutpay.sparkio.site/northlight

Simulated hosted checkout for Northlight: Studio Lamp, $249.00, Card selected.

1Qty 1
Northlight

Studio Lamp

$249.00

Email

Payment method

  • Card
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • PayPal
  • Bank (ACH)

Powered by SparkIOTermsPrivacy

Simulated — no real money moves.

Same integration. Checkout adapts per country.

Step by step

Seven steps, in the order they happen.

Timings are typical, not promises. The exact figures for your account are in the dashboard, per method and country.

Timings and amounts are placeholders, not commitments.

  1. Checkout

    At the customer's pace

    The customer picks a payment method on your checkout, whether hosted, embedded or built on the API. The page already shows their currency, language and the methods common in their country. A payment record exists from this moment, but nothing has been charged.

    You seeCreated

  2. Tokenization

    ≈ 50 ms

    Card details travel from the customer's browser straight to SparkVault and come back as a token. Your servers never hold a card number, which is what keeps you outside PCI scope. For returning customers we also request a network token from the card scheme, which keeps working when the plastic is reissued.

    You seeTokenized

  3. Risk and 3-D Secure

    ≈ 100 ms · longer with a challenge

    The gateway scores the payment on velocity, device and history, then decides whether to authenticate. Where strong customer authentication applies, 3-D Secure 2 runs; most customers pass without seeing anything and only the risky ones get a bank challenge. A payment that fails risk stops here and is marked declined.

    You seeAuthenticating

  4. Authorization, routing and fallback

    ≈ 200 ms

    We send the authorization through the best route for that card and country. The issuing bank answers yes or no and, on yes, holds the amount on the customer's card. If the first route returns a soft decline, a timeout or a 'try again', we retry through a second route before you see anything. A hard decline, such as a stolen card, is never retried.

    You seeAuthorized

  5. Capture

    At authorization, or up to 7 days later

    Capture tells the network to move the money. Most merchants capture in the same call as authorization. If you ship later, you capture when the order leaves, for the full amount or less. An authorization you never capture expires on its own and the hold disappears from the customer's card.

    You seeCaptured

  6. Settlement

    At capture · days for bank debits

    Because SparkIO is the acquirer, captured funds land in your balance without passing through another company. The fee is deducted and itemized on the same line, in your settlement currency. Cards, Pix and UPI settle the moment they are captured; bank debits and vouchers show as Pending until the money arrives.

    You seeSettled

  7. Payout

    Instant, T+1 or on your schedule

    Payout moves your available balance to your bank account on the schedule you set: the next business day (T+1), a day of the week, or instantly for a fee set in your pricing. Each payout lists the payments it contains, so matching it against your bank statement is a filter in the dashboard, not a spreadsheet.

    You seePaid out

Where the money is

Authorized is a promise. Settled is money.

Finance teams trip on this one: an approved payment is not cash yet. Your balance shows each amount in the state it is actually in, so the number you can pay out is never a guess.

  • Authorized amounts are held on the customer's card, not in your balance
  • Cards settle at capture; bank debits show as Pending until the money arrives
  • Available is what you can pay out right now
  • Refunds and disputes draw from Available first, then from pending funds
Payout schedules
BalanceUSD · simulated

Available

$1,101.47

Pending $408.70

Next payout · Thu, Oct 22

Authorized, not capturedBen Ortiz· #20417
$89.00Authorized
Held on the card until it ships. Not in your balance.
Pending, still clearingJonas Weber· #20396
110,00 €EURPending
Bank debits take a few business days to arrive. This one is in the EUR balance.
Settled, availableMaya Chen· #20418
$249.00Settled
Cards settle at capture. Pays out Thu, Oct 22 (T+1).
Paid outChase •••• 6789· po_2Fh7Kc
$2,896.05Paid out
Arrived at your bank on Tue, Oct 20.

Simulated balance. Each line is a filter in the real dashboard.

When things go wrong

Every path that is not Approved, and what happens on it.

Each case has a status, a reason and a next action in the dashboard. None of them needs a support ticket to understand.

  • Soft declines and retries

    Timeouts, 'do not honor' and issuer errors are retried through a second route inside the same request. If that fails too, the payment is declined and the reason is on the record.

  • Hard declines

    Stolen card, closed account, invalid number. These are final and never retried; retrying would only hurt your standing with the issuer.

  • Refunds

    Full or partial, from the dashboard or the API. The money returns along the route it came: Pix is instant, cards take a few business days to show it on the statement.

  • Disputes

    A cardholder asks their bank to reverse a payment. The amount is held, you get the deadline and an evidence form in the dashboard, and the card network decides.

  • Expired authorizations

    An authorization you do not capture within the network's window lapses on its own. The hold drops off the customer's card and nothing is charged.

  • Partial captures

    Ship two of three items, capture two thirds. The rest of the authorization is released, and the customer is charged only what you captured.

Questions

Questions finance asks.

When is the money actually mine?
At settlement. Authorization is a hold on the customer's card; capture is your instruction to move it; settlement is when it lands in your balance. Payout is you moving it on to your bank.
Why was a payment declined when the customer says the card works?
Issuers decline for many reasons besides funds: an unusual location, a merchant they have not seen before, an authentication rule. The decline reason is on the payment record. Soft declines were already retried through another route; hard declines are final.
Do I have to handle 3-D Secure myself?
No. The gateway decides when to authenticate based on risk and the rules of the customer's market, and runs any challenge inside the checkout. You only see the result.
Can I authorize now and capture later?
Yes. Authorize at order time and capture when you ship, for the full amount or part of it. Authorizations you never capture expire after the card network's window and nothing is charged.
What happens to the fee on a refund?
The refund returns the amount you choose to the customer along the original route. How the original processing fee is treated is set out in your pricing agreement, and the refund shows as its own line on your statement.

Run the whole path with a test card.

Sandbox keys and test cards for every step, including declines and disputes.

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