Authorizing card for verification without holding funds?

[sakopov]

I don't understand how this can be done. VISA says that since 2009 every merchant authorization transaction for very small amounts such as $1 or $0.01 is misusing the Authorization System and should be using $0 transactions instead. As far as i can tell, authorize.net does not support $0 transactions. 

How can i verify the card information in authorize only & capture later scenario?

Can i authorize for $0.01 or $1 and void the transaction soon after? This seems clunky and i'm not even sure if this will impact my merchat rating.

I appologize if this has already been discussed. I couldn't find anything substantial.

[TJPride]

Visa supports $0.00 and other cards support $0.01. If your merchant doesn't allow you to process $0.00 for Visa, that would probably be something that needs to be brought up with them - Authorize.net is just the interface layer that sits on top of the merchant process.

[sakopov]

I just contacted my merchant and they said that while the zero-dollar authorizations work for VISA, not every bank supports it. So, the way i understand it is it's out there, but it's pretty much unusable. Moreover, MC doesn't have this at all.

What's my best bet? Can I authorize for $0.01, get response and void the transaction right away? How will this impact my merchant account?

[TJPride]

Well, it's pretty easy to check if the card is Visa or not if you have access to the number (it will always start with a 4). You -could- try charging $0.00 for Visa, see if you get the error, then charge $0.01 if you do. All other cards would be $0.01.

EDIT: This would depend, of course, on whether your merchant account -sometimes- support $0.00 or whether they aren't supporting it at all yet. Also on whether Authorize.net considers "sometimes" the same as "never" (that I don't know).