Overview
This article will show you how you can choose to Authorize a card at order placement and charge a credit card when an order is processed/shipped. If your payments are set to Authorize Only, your Payment Gateway only verifies that the funds are available.
To learn how to process authorized payments see: How to: Process Payments
The Setup
Browse to Settings > Payments > Gateways and select the desired payment gateway and click the edit button. To create a new gateway, use the New button in the top-right.
Once inside the payment gateway editor, scroll down until you see Options section. In this section you will see the Authorize Only check box. Select the check box and hit save in the top, right corner.
This will set your payment processing to authorize only at order placement.