I got my "we're about to ship" email on Thursday and there was the usual purchase authorisation of about a quarter of what the final charge will be (it showed up in my bank statement on 7th February). However, there have since been two more holds of roughly similar amounts (the differences probably explained by exchange rate fluctuations) on the 8th of February.
I've got some preorders and stuff, but they're not for a while. There was also a couple of books in my sidecart which merged, but I dont remember multiple authorisations before and it seemed odd to me - I wondered if there's some issue with the subscription run. Or is it just a thing that happens when multiple orders are merged?
I hate how authorizations work. Whenever there's an error it ends up with my account showing less money available and another payment inevitably bounces because someone accidentally put two auths through (then resulting in a bank fee for a bounced payment) and the extra one hasn't been reversed yet.
They (the banking/card transaction industry) really need to find a better way to do it.
Generally I havent had any issues - there's one hold which generally subsides before the bigger, actual charge goes through. Even here, the total hold from the three transactions is less than the final order will be (or about the same), so it's unlikely to cause me any issues.
I was more worried my order might have spawned three times or something - if I get three shipments and three final charges it will be annoying.
Oh, I've had multiple partial charges from Paizo before, adding up to aroundabout the order total. Especially when I've done something to change my order from a straight sub delivery (such as putting something in the sidecart or splitting the order). Always seems to work out in the end.
Ah, thanks. Maybe I just havent been paying attention.
Thanks, Sara. I was just curious, really.