capture
Capture is the step after authorisation in which the business instructs its acquirer to collect the payment. It can happen at once or later, for the full authorised amount or part of it. Capture triggers settlement; until it happens, the money is only reserved.
Authorisation asks the cardholder's bank whether the payment can be made. Capture says: take it. Most retail payments authorise and capture in one step. Many business models separate them: capture on dispatch rather than on order, capture the final bill rather than the estimate, capture a deposit now and the balance later against a stored card.
For a software platform this is where a payment stops being a transaction and starts being a product. A bookings platform that authorises at booking and captures at check-in has built a no-show policy out of two API calls. A job management platform that captures the invoiced amount against a card authorised at quote has removed a chase. These are the features that make a customer prefer the platform's built-in payments over a separate card machine, and they are what we mean by payment products.
What to watch: authorisations lapse, typically within days, and a late capture may be declined or treated as a new transaction at a worse rate. Partial captures and multiple captures against one authorisation are supported by the schemes but not by every provider, so check what the regulated acquiring partner supports before the product promises it.