---
title: "Payment stages"
description: "Learn about the payment stages and when funds are added to or deducted from the balance account."
url: "https://docs.adyen.com/issuing/payment-stages"
source_url: "https://docs.adyen.com/issuing/payment-stages.md"
canonical: "https://docs.adyen.com/issuing/payment-stages"
last_modified: "2019-12-06T14:44:00+01:00"
language: "en"
---

# Payment stages

Learn about the payment stages and when funds are added to or deducted from the balance account.

[View source](/issuing/payment-stages.md)

Each payment on the Balance Platform goes through a series of events. Most of the events are triggered by the processing merchant, the business that processed the card payment. These events then result in funds being deducted from or added to the balance account. We inform you of these events through:

* [Webhooks](/development-resources/webhooks/configure-and-manage)
* The [Transfers](/issuing/payment-stages/check-details-payment) page in your [Customer Area](https://ca-test.adyen.com/).

The following diagram shows an overview of the payment flow and the payment stages.

![](/user/pages/docs/07.issuing/23.payment-stages/payment-stages.svg?decoding=auto\&fetchpriority=auto)

This page provides information about payment stages and how these affect funds in the balance account. When you are already familiar with payment stages, you can refer to [Payment-related events](/issuing/webhook-types/payment-events) for specific webhook types and examples.

## Payment request received

When a cardholder pays with an Adyen-issued card, the processing merchant sends a payment request to the card issuer (Adyen). When Adyen receives the payment request, we send the [balancePlatform.transfer.created](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/transfer-webhooks/latest/post/balancePlatform.transfer.created) webhook that contains information about the received payment request, such as the amount and which merchant initiated the payment.

## Payment authorised

When the processing merchant sends a payment authorisation request to the card issuer, Adyen approves or declines the payment based on your [relayed authorisation decision](/issuing/authorisation/relayed-authorisation), the outcome of [transaction rules](/issuing/authorisation/transaction-rules), and other [validations](/issuing/validation-checks). Adyen sends a [balancePlatform.transfer.updated](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/transfer-webhooks/latest/post/balancePlatform.transfer.updated) webhook to inform your server of the payment authorisation request and of the result.

When the payment is authorised, the payment amount is reserved but not yet deducted from the balance account. When you check the balance account details, the payment amount is reflected as a [reserved](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/balanceplatform/latest/get/balanceAccounts/_id_#responses-200-balances-reserved) amount.

The processing merchant can then proceed to capture the payment, cancel the payment, or let the authorisation expire.

### Authorisation adjusted

The processing merchant may adjust the previously authorised amount, for example, to add a tip when the cardholder pays at a restaurant. In this case, Adyen triggers a [balancePlatform.transfer.updated](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/transfer-webhooks/latest/post/balancePlatform.transfer.updated) webhook to inform your server of this event.

### Authorisation expired

A payment authorisation expires when the processing merchant fails to capture the payment after the set expiry period of 7 days. In the balance account, the previously [reserved](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/balanceplatform/latest/get/balanceAccounts/_id_#responses-200-balances-reserved) amount is added back to the [available](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/balanceplatform/latest/get/balanceAccounts/_id_#responses-200-balances-available) amount.

Adyen triggers a [balancePlatform.transfer.updated](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/transfer-webhooks/latest/post/balancePlatform.transfer.updated) webhook to inform your server of this event.

### Authorisation canceled

The processing merchant can cancel a payment authorisation up until the moment the funds are captured. In the balance account, the previously [reserved](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/balanceplatform/latest/get/balanceAccounts/_id_#responses-200-balances-reserved) amount is added back to the [available](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/balanceplatform/latest/get/balanceAccounts/_id_#responses-200-balances-available) amount.

Adyen triggers a [balancePlatform.transfer.updated](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/transfer-webhooks/latest/post/balancePlatform.transfer.updated) webhook to inform your server of this event.

## Payment captured

The processing merchant can capture the authorised amount in full or in parts (partial captures). Capture is when the authorised amount is deducted from the balance account. In case of partial captures, the authorised but not yet captured amount can still [expire](#expired) or be [canceled](#cancelled).

In the balance account, the payment amount previously reflected as a [reserved](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/balanceplatform/latest/get/balanceAccounts/\(id\)#responses-200-balances-reserved) amount is now deducted from the [balance](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/balanceplatform/latest/get/balanceAccounts/\(id\)#responses-200-balances-balance).

Adyen triggers a [balancePlatform.transfer.updated](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/transfer-webhooks/latest/post/balancePlatform.transfer.updated) webhook to inform your server of this event. In case of multiple partial captures, Adyen also sends multiple webhooks—one for each capture request.

## Payment refunded

The cardholder may ask to get their funds back. When the processing merchant initiates a refund, Adyen triggers a [balancePlatform.transfer.updated](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/transfer-webhooks/latest/post/balancePlatform.transfer.updated) webhook to inform your server of the refund request.

![](/user/pages/docs/07.issuing/23.payment-stages/refund.svg?decoding=auto\&fetchpriority=auto)

## Next steps

[required](/issuing/authorisation)

[Configure authorisation](/issuing/authorisation)

[Approve or decline payments by using transaction rules or relayed authorisation.](/issuing/authorisation)

[required](/development-resources/webhooks/configure-and-manage)

[Set up webhooks](/development-resources/webhooks/configure-and-manage)

[Receive payment updates through webhooks.](/development-resources/webhooks/configure-and-manage)

[required](/issuing/webhook-types/payment-events)

[Payment-related events](/issuing/webhook-types/payment-events)

[Learn which webhook types to expect.](/issuing/webhook-types/payment-events)
