If a purchase on your Zip account is shown as ‘pending’, this means the transaction has not been fully processed by the retailer you purchased with.
Generally, a transaction will only remain pending for up to 5 business days. While the transaction is pending, the amount is deducted from your available balance.
Why is there a transaction that has been pending for longer than 5 business days?
Retailers are responsible for processing transactions and different retailers have different timeframes for processing transactions.
The pending state allows retailers to confirm you have funds available for the purchase, without actually collecting the funds from your account.
Example - Pre-ordered item:
If you pre-order an item online, the retailer may only finish processing the transaction when they have shipped the item. This means your transaction will remain pending from the time you make the purchase, until the item is shipped.
Example - Hotel booking:
Hotels will often only finalise a transaction after you complete your stay. This means your transaction may remain pending from the time you book your stay, until after you check-out.
What can I do about a pending transaction?
If you have any concerns about a pending transaction, please contact the retailer you transacted with directly. They will be able to explain why the transaction is pending and offer any options to remove, or finish processing, the transaction.