What is the role of column "IS CLOSED" in magento's transactions area?

Question

I can see that the capture has been processed successfully:

But then on the "transactions" screen, "Is Closed" column is saying "no" next to capture. I think I just don't understand the role of this column. Can someone help explain it to me?

Answer 1

A little background on the credit card payment transaction process flow helps make sense of this. These are the basic flow actions of the transaction lifecycle:

1. Authorization
2. Capture
3. Settlement

These flow actions are broken down into more specific operations that can be called against the payment gateway. Here are some basic ones that are relevant:

Authorize (AUTH_ONLY):

Run the card for a given amount and obtain a unique authorization code. The amount will be put on hold and you are guaranteed these funds as long as you use the authorization code in a Capture transaction within 30 days. (How long before an authorization code expires varies by company. Check with your payment gateway)

Customers don't see the authorization as a charge on their statement, but they will see their available funds decrease by the amount you ran the authorization for.

If you don't use the authorization code in a follow-up Capture transaction, the authorization is "dropped", funds returned to the customer's balance and you can no longer use it.

Capture (PRIOR_AUTH_CAPTURE):

Use a previously obtained authorization code to complete the transaction.

The amount captured can be lower than the originally obtained authorization amount (this is useful in cases like our example where you don't know the total order amount ahead of time).

Source: http://www.softwareprojects.com/resources/conversion-traffic-to-cash/t-processing-payments-authorize-vs-capture-vs-settle-2030.html

Settlement: This is the process merchants must complete ... to be paid for their transactions.

The product or service must be delivered or performed before settlement can take place. In the case of mail order/telephone order, this specifically means the goods must be shipped before the settlement process is performed.

Source: http://www.shift4.com/insight/glossary/

In Magento, the is_closed flag signifies that a transaction is settled and no other operations may be performed against it. The reason a transaction would be left open until settlement is so that you can do partial shipments of goods (multiple captures), as well as void or refund the transaction.

To use Magento’s Mage_Authorizenet_Model_Directpost as an example, the capture() operation leaves the current transaction open, while void() and _refund() operations close it.