Is delayed credit card processing possible?

Hi there. I've been doing a lot of reading but can't seem to get a clear answer on how to do this...

I have a small business where the goods (fishing flies) are hand-made to order. Because I'm a one-man business, in the case of a large order it may be several weeks before I can complete and ship it. In the past I've only taken payment by check but now I'd like to begin accepting credit cards through my web site. The thing is, I assume that I shouldn't be charging a customer's card until the order is ready to go. Is it possible to accept credit cards through a web site but delay charging the card until you're ready? Are there specific shopping cards or ecommerce hosts who support this while others do not?

Any advice on how best to do this would be appeciated.

BTW, I've been in business for a long time and have a well-established client base. I've sold flies to George Bush Sr. and Jimmy Buffet. So my customers understand who they're dealing with and that most orders take a little while to fill.

Yes there is certainly a way to do this through any merchant account. I use Authorize.Net to process cards and I can either simply authorize a card which doesn't charge it or I can authorize and capture which does charge it. When you are ready to ship, simply capture the card you have authorized.

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Originally Posted by roban

Yes there is certainly a way to do this through any merchant account. I use Authorize.Net to process cards and I can either simply authorize a card which doesn't charge it or I can authorize and capture which does charge it. When you are ready to ship, simply capture the card you have authorized.

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Thanks roban, that's great news. So in the case where you're later capturing a card that you've authorized, who is storing the cc #? Authorize.net? That's been one of my big concern, safe storage. And when you're doing the subsequent capture, where are you doing it exactly? Do you log into Authorize.net's web site or something? Sorry to appear confused (though obviously I am :-) )

Authorize. Net stores the information and you can then capture the card using your virtual terminal on the Authorize.Net control panel.