Square provides a feature called “Delayed Capture” which allows you to authorize a payment and capture it at a later time. This can be useful in situations where you want to ensure funds are available but don’t want to charge the customer until the service is provided or the event takes place.
The time threshold for capturing a payment varies depending on the type of payment. For card payments, you have 36 hours for in-person payments and 7 days for online payments to capture the payment. After this period, if the payment isn’t in a terminal state (COMPLETED, CANCELED, or FAILED), Square automatically cancels the payment.
During this period, the funds are not held on the customer’s card, but the authorization ensures that the funds are available.
As for the limit on the funds you can receive at any one time, Square does not specify a maximum limit for transactions. However, unusually large transactions may trigger a review by Square’s risk evaluation system.
Please note that while the payment is in the “Delayed Capture” state, it cannot be voided using the VoidTransaction endpoint. Transactions are captured using the Payments API on a backend service.
This answer was reviewed by @Bryan-Square.