Tern builds credit card authorizations from the trip you've already planned. You don't create invoices from scratch. Each priced activity becomes a booking with a payment your client can authorize from their itinerary.
​

When your client authorizes a payment, two things happen. They consent to be charged, and their card details are stored securely for you.
​

An authorization is not a bank hold. Submitting the form does not charge or verify the card. For most bookings, the card is charged when you process the payment with your supplier. Because of that, an authorization can be completed even if the card is later declined.
​

​

The 30-day rule works like this:

Authorizations are added to the trip automatically when you publish. Clients with Full Access see an Authorize Payments button on their itinerary (after your client has made any itinerary selections).
​

Jump to a section:

Tip: Using Trip Packages? Packages get one authorization for a group of activities at a single price. Read the Trip Packages section before you set up pricing.

Set these up once before you collect your first authorization.
​

Go to Settings, then the Security tab. Tern requires 2FA for payment authorizations.

If 2FA is turned off, payment authorizations stop working on your account. When you turn 2FA back on, payment authorizations are restored automatically.
​

Go to Settings, then Business Settings. Your business name appears on the client's authorization form and as the sender of their confirmation email. Your logo appears at the top of that email.
​

Upload your logo as a PNG or JPG. SVG logos don't display in email.
​

Go to Settings, then Waivers & Agreements. Your clients agree to these Terms & Conditions when they authorize. For setup details, see Agency Terms & Conditions.
​

Go to Trip Settings and find "Allow authorizing payments more than 30 days before the payment due date."

The default depends on when your account was created. If it was created after this setting launched in late 2025, the setting is off. If it was created before that, the setting is on.

Authorization only appears once your trip is narrowed down to one itinerary. If your trip has multiple itinerary options, have your client approve one before you expect authorizations to appear.

Go to Trip Settings and check that Payment Authorizations is turned on. If it's off, no payments show as ready for authorization.

Set up each activity you want your client to authorize. These details also protect you if a client disputes a charge later.
​

If the activity is inside an option block, the client needs to resolve the option block first.
​

Use a name your client will recognize on their statement and in their trip. The date you need depends on the activity type:

Activities priced at $0 are not included in authorization.

Go to the Credit Card Authorization & Payment section of the activity's Booking & Pricing tab.

For splitting payments across travelers or cards, see How to Split Payments on a Trip.

Add the Booking Supplier, the supplier's Terms & Conditions, and their Cancellation Policy. Your client sees these when they authorize.
​

If you use an agency supplier, these policies can fill in automatically. See Managing Agency Suppliers.

Packages have their own Booking & Pricing page with the same fields: supplier, Terms & Conditions, Cancellation Policy, and payment schedule. Set these on the package, not on the activities inside it.
​

On an activity that's part of a package, the Booking & Pricing tab shows a Package card. Click Edit package to go to the package page.

Make sure the package's supplier and price match what you'll charge to your client's card for the whole package.

The authorization status indicator shows whether the activity is ready.

When the status is blue, publish the trip. Ready payments appear to your client as soon as you publish.

Exclude a payment if you don't need your client to authorize it.

Your client won't be asked to authorize that payment, and it isn't included in the total on their authorization form. It still appears on their Pricing tab with its due date. To hide a payment from your client completely, remove it from the payment schedule.

To undo this, open the same menu and select Include in authorization.

Exclude a payment when:

You'll find active authorizations in two places:

The payment appears in Payment History. Click it to see the authorization details.

Note: Project Expedition activities log their payments automatically. On those activities you won't see Log Payment, Edit Payment, or the three-dot menu. To stop reminders on a cancelled Project Expedition activity, hide it. See Hiding Activities from Travelers.
​

Delete an authorization when you need your client to authorize again. For example, the price changed or the card was declined by your supplier.

The amount becomes ready again, and your client can authorize it. Deleting an authorization doesn't affect payments you've already logged.

Tern doesn't expire or delete an authorization when you edit the booking. If any of these change after your client authorizes, you'll see an alert when you log a payment from that authorization:

The alert flags a possible chargeback risk. If the price changed, see Updating an Authorization After a Price Change.

After 30 days an authorization shows as "expired" in Payment History, and you can no longer see the full card number.
​

If you didn't log a payment against it, that amount becomes ready to authorize again. Your client re-enters only their CVV. You can always see what was authorized, when, and the last 4 digits of the card.
​
That information stays on the expired authorization in the Payments tab, on the PDF receipt in the trip's Documents tab, and on any invoice generated from the Pricing tab.

Use Log Payment to record any payment that isn't tied to an authorization, such as a deposit your client paid before the trip was in Tern.
​

Log Payment is on each activity's Booking & Pricing tab, not on the trip's Payments tab. To get there, click Bookings in the trip's left sidebar, then open the activity.

The payment appears in Payment History and on the Payments tab, and the remaining expected payments update.
​

If your client already paid this amount, exclude it from authorization too (see Excluding a payment from authorization), so they aren't asked to authorize it again.
​

Note: Logging a payment only records it in Tern. It doesn't charge your client's card or pay the supplier.

When you log or edit a payment, you can add a note. Notes appear to your client on their Pricing tab and on any invoice you generate. The card used for each authorization and payment appears there too.
​

The trip's Payments tab shows expected payments, past payments, active authorizations, and totals in one place.

Note: When you publish, every payment marked "ready" appears to your client.

Your client needs Full Access to the trip. If at least one payment is ready on a published trip, they see an Authorize Payments button on their itinerary.
​

For every authorization after the first, your client selects their saved card and re-enters only the CVV. They aren't asked for the card number, expiration date, or billing address again.
​

Items start unticked, unless there's only one item or your client just selected a travel insurance plan. The Submit Authorization button stays greyed out until at least one item is ticked.
​

If your client leaves an item unticked, it isn't authorized this time. Leaving it unticked doesn't remove the activity from the trip, charge the card, or place a hold. The item stays on the authorization page so your client can come back to it later. This also applies to travel insurance plans.
​

The checkboxes replaced the old Authorize later button (previously Skip).
​

If you want your client to choose whether to add something at all, set it as an optional add-on on the Booking & Pricing tab before you publish.
​

​

When your client authorizes, you and your client each get an email receipt with a PDF confirmation attached.
​

Your client's email carries your branding:

If there's no business name in Business Settings, the email comes from "Tern Travel."
​

The authorization is also logged in Trip Activity, with a separate entry showing your client agreed to your Terms & Conditions.

Note: The branding comes from your Business Settings. If you haven't uploaded a logo, your business name shows instead. SVG logos don't display in email, so use a PNG or JPG. If there's no business name, the email comes from "Tern Travel." For details, see Which emails come from you, and which come from Tern.

To hide all credit card features from you and your clients, go to Trip Settings and turn off Payment Authorizations.

​

Each payment is authorized in the currency set on its activity. Use the currency you'll actually book in, so the amount doesn't move with exchange rates. The calculated total at the bottom of the client's form is converted for reference only.

If you open the authorization page while logged in as an advisor, it shows in preview mode and the form is disabled. This is expected.
​

The status indicator stays yellow

Hover over or click the indicator to see which fields are missing. Complete them, then publish the trip.
​

My client can't see the Authorize Payments button

See Troubleshooting: Client Can't See or Submit a Payment Authorization.

​My client is asked for the full amount instead of the deposit

Check all three of these:

Installments aren't showing on my client's Pricing tab

Installments only appear while they still have an unauthorized balance. If your client already authorized the full amount, the installments are covered and don't appear.

To show them separately, delete the full-amount authorization and republish.

​The supplier declined the card

Delete the authorization and republish the trip. Your client can then authorize again with a different card.

​My client got a payment reminder after I logged the payment

Reminders are recalculated only when you publish the trip, when your client submits a form, or when your client completes an authorization. After you log a payment, republish the trip so scheduled reminders reflect it.

​I logged a payment by mistake

On the activity's Booking & Pricing tab, go to Past Payments and Authorizations. Click the three-dot menu on the payment and select Delete. The balance updates automatically.
​

I see "Invalid Price Input" on a Project Expedition booking

This is a Project Expedition integration error. Copy the exact error message and contact Tern support.

A deposit is logged but the amount due didn't change
The activity is probably still inside an option block. Open the option block, select the activity your client chose, and collapse it to that single activity. The deposit then reduces the amount due.
​

I logged the full authorized amount but only part was paid
Open the payment you logged and click View Details to see the card. Change the logged amount to what was actually paid, and save. After you charge the rest with your supplier, click Log Payment to record the second payment.
​

The deposit amount is greyed out on a package
On packages, the deposit is calculated from the items in the package and can't be edited. To set the amounts yourself, use installments instead of Deposit + Final Balance.

Does my client have to re-enter their card every 30 days?
No. Their card stays saved after the first authorization. To authorize again, they re-enter only their CVV.
​

Does my client's saved card expire after 30 days?
No. Only the authorization expires. The saved card stays on file.
​

How long can I see the full card number and CVV?
For 30 days after each authorization. After that you can still see the authorization record and the last 4 digits.
​

Why is my client being asked to authorize again?
Either an authorization expired before you logged a payment against it, or you deleted it.
​

Do group sub-trips support authorization?
Yes. Authorization happens on each traveler's sub-trip. Parent group trips don't support authorization.
​

Can I enter my client's card details myself?
No. See Can I manually enter credit card information for clients?

​