Sandbox PayOrder completes Order while both linked payments remain APPROVED

Questions
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1

We have a Square Sandbox Orders/Payments API case (API version 2026-08-19) involving two delayed-capture payments linked to one order. Both payments were APPROVED before the PayOrder request. After PayOrder, RetrieveOrder returned status COMPLETED with exactly the two expected tenders, but RetrievePayment still returned APPROVED for both linked payments more than 45 minutes later. Their payment updated_at timestamps had not advanced to the Order completion time.

Our integration has held the bill for reconciliation rather than treating the completed Order as proof that the payments were captured. We have not created a replacement charge or refund.

Is this a known Sandbox limitation? In this state, does Order COMPLETED guarantee capture of either payment? What is the supported safe recovery or reconciliation procedure without risking duplicate collection? Could the Square team inspect the exact order/payment IDs privately? Please indicate a secure channel, and we can provide the application, merchant, location, order and payment IDs plus UTC timestamps. This is separate from the Sandbox refund PENDING issue discussed in another topic.

4

We had some issues with the sandbox yesterday, could you try again and see if the issue persists?

In production there is nothing to recover. A completed order with the expected payments means the funds were captured. If sandbox is still not working for your flow I would recommend testing in a production account. You can create a test account and process CASH or External payments for free there.