The Payments screen allows you send a settlement request to the payment gateway or manually add a payment.
Simply check the “Process Payment” checkbox when updated a Payment and the settlement request will be sent to the payment gateway.
Note: You should only use the “Process Payment” option if you have the setting titled “Authorize Only” in the Payment Setup settings.
Note: Most ecommerce sites are set up for automatic credit card settlement so you will not have to worry about manually settling (capturing) the credit card authorization.
Authorize Only checked - When “Authorize Only” is checked in the cart admin settings all successful orders in the cart are sent to Authorize.Net with an “Auth Only” flag.
Settling the credit card transaction initiates the deposit of money to your bank account.
Authorize Only not checked (Default) - When “Authorize Only” is not checked in the cart admin settings all successful orders in the cart are sent to payment gateway with an “Auth + Settle” flag indicating auto settlement. Auto settlement is the most common way to setup your credit card processing because it requires the least amount of maintenance.
Note: Depending on if you meet the cutoff time for your credit card processor your funds will be deposited within 24 hours.
The reason you might want to setup credit card processing for “Authorize Only” is because some states require that you physically ship product before settling a credit card transaction.