Understanding declined payments

This page explains why payments might be declined, how to get more information about declines, and strategies to reduce payment declines.

Understanding declined payments

There are several possible reasons why a customer's payment might be declined. When a charge is submitted to your customer's bank, they have automated systems that determine whether to accept the charge. These systems take various signals into account, such as your customer's spending habits, account balance, and card information like the expiration date and card verification value (CVV).

These signals are constantly changing, so a previously successful card might be declined in the future. Even if all of the card information is correct, and your customer previously had a successful payment, a new charge can still be declined by a bank's fraud systems.

Getting more information about declines

We display as much information as we receive from your customer's bank about a decline in the order history. Most declines are generic, so we don't have much information as to why a charge was declined.

If the card information seems correct, then it's best to have your customer contact their bank, ask for more information, and ask for future charges to be accepted.

Reducing payment declines

The customer’s bank primarily uses the card number, expiration date, and CVV to decide whether to approve a transaction. Other data that you collect, such as the billing address or cardholder name, has different levels of influence depending on the card brand. For example, only American Express uses the cardholder’s name in its checks.

If you use Shopify Payments, then your transactions are automatically routed to the payment processor most likely to authorize them. This smart routing helps reduce declines without any extra work from you.

Prepaid gift credit cards

Customers can use prepaid gift credit cards from Visa, Mastercard, and American Express with Shopify Payments. However, these cards might be declined during checkout due to missing information or insufficient funds.

Common reasons for prepaid gift card declines

Prepaid gift credit cards might be declined for the following reasons:

• Missing billing information: If the cardholder hasn't registered their card online with a billing address and zip code, then the transaction might be declined.
• Zip code verification activated: If you have zip code verification activated, then cards without registered zip codes are declined.
• Insufficient balance: The card doesn't have enough funds to cover the full transaction amount, including any shipping costs or taxes.