[PeterisP]

It's a very specific notion of "done" - you can record an offline authorization event; so the customer-visible part is done, but the actual payment is not.

The merchant is not going to have any access to that money whatsoever until/unless connectivity is restored. They can't pay their suppliers or employees with that money while they're offline.

It's pretty much the digital equivalent of scribbling "Bob authorised to pay me $12.34" on a notebook that you're going to bring to the bank afterwards.

[fyfy18]

Even if the transaction is online, you don't see the money in your bank account straight away. It takes a few days for card payments to settle, and usually the payment processor will have a predefined schedule as to when you get paid. The context of my comment was on the payment terminal being offline for a day or two.