Handling credit card transactions is a specialised process so we use third party payment partners in our webshop to handle these payments (we use PayPal & Verifone (2Checkout)).
This means that during the order process we will transfer you to one of our third party payment partners, where you will need to enter your credit card information.
When you initiate payment our third party partner contacts your credit card provider to see if the transaction amount is available from the account. Some banks perform 'credit checking' with a 'ghost charge'. This is in no way a real charge, but only a request to your bank to 'reserve' this amount of money. These ghost charges are sometimes visible on your online credit card statement.
If your order is declined, the ghost charge will go away automatically (you will not see it on your next printed credit card statement at the end of the month).
Again, this ghost charge is only a check if your credit card has the funds to allow the order to be made. If no order is made, the ghost-order is not a valid transaction and will disappear before your bank is asked to debit your account.
The Image-Line Support Team