If you see a pending charge on your statement even after cancelling an order, the pending charge is still there because there is an authorization hold on your account that is in the process of being reversed. You are NOT being charged for the cancelled order.
What is an authorization hold?
When you use a credit card to pay for a transaction, your issuing bank places a hold on your account while it checks and sees if you have enough funds to pay for the transaction.
When you use a credit card for a transaction, the following steps occur:
- You swipe a payment card or enter in payment information.
- The issuing bank places an authorization hold equal to the cost of the entire order on your account to ensure you have enough funds to pay for the transaction.
- If your account has enough funds, the bank approves of the authorization.
- Once your package ships out, your credit card is charged the cost of the items in the shipped package.
- If your order is shipped in several packages, each subsequent package will be shipped and charged individually, up to the amount of the authorization.
What do I do if I still see a pending charge for a cancelled order?
Authorization holds are automatically removed when you cancel an order. However, it will still take some time, usually between 3 to 5 business days, for the authorization hold to be removed.
If you still see a pending charge after cancelling an order, please wait a few days for the authorization request to be reversed. Once it is, you will no longer see the pending charge and no money will be taken from your account.