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I am building a webapp which requires users to regularly top up their account. To allow for this I am exploring the google wallet inapp payments api and have got this working fine. However, I would like users to be given the option to auto-top up when their account balance becomes low. I have looked at the subscription documentation but cannot see whether this is possible or not - it seems you can only have a subscription which draws money at regular intervals. Is there a way to have a user pre-authorise this kind of transaction, and if so could you please point me to any documentation that would allow for this?

user714852
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  • For anyone reading this Stripe has this feature (Just released in the UK). They store a users card for future use and enable you to make future charges. Pretty cool - and the deal breaker between me and google-wallet. – user714852 Aug 17 '13 at 07:34

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I don't believe so. The subscription feature is probably your best bet and should (unless I'm missing something) get you to the "same place".

A "pre-authorization" somewhat says, you'll come back at some later time to charge (aka "capture") the pre-auth. There is no API command that does that (capture/charge) in Wallet for Digital Goods. The process is immediate...

There (is) used to be one in the Google Checkout API where you are given 7 calendar days to charge a pre-auth. However, this product will be retired in November.

EdSF
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  • Hi EdSF. I don't think the subscription feature could get me to the same place. I'm after something like the auto-recharge that Skype has implemented using paypal (https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1042/what-is-auto-recharge-and-how-does-it-work). I can't seen how I could achieve the same thing using GW. – user714852 Jun 21 '13 at 15:52
  • @user714852 Am confused, that **is** "subscription", the charge occurs on specified future dates / intervals.... – EdSF Jun 21 '13 at 22:58
  • Hi EdSF. Apologies - I'm not being clear. The key bit I'm getting at is "Auto-recharge automatically tops up your Skype Credit when your balance falls below a certain figure (typically $2 / €2 / £2)". To me this means (and from experience) I can have multiple payments to Skype in a day if I make a lot of calls. This is different to a 'subscription' which would only charge me on specified future dates / intervals. Am I missing something trivial? – user714852 Jun 22 '13 at 11:02
  • @user714852 Got it, "metering" - quite interesting! Anyway, unless you do this on your own (programmatically do the topping off using your own params, within your app), there isn't anything out of the box... – EdSF Jun 23 '13 at 12:24