Force-post

Submitting a transaction for settlement without obtaining a valid online authorization, or after an authorization has been declined. Universally penalised by acquirers and triggers Visa 11.2 / Mastercard 4808 chargebacks. Generally only used for offline-environment exceptions with documented compliance.

In practice.

Force-posting, capturing without a valid authorization, is one of the fastest ways to lose a merchant account. Issuers return these transactions, the acquirer sees a compliance breach, and repeated cases read as fraud. If an authorization expired, re-authorize rather than force the capture.

Related terms: Authorization · Soft decline