Q: My payment keeps failing, why is this happening?
Answer:
When attempting to complete your order via checkout you may encounter the message "card decline error" or similar. When this happens, your payment has failed verification but a charge may still temporarily appear on your bank statement as 'pending' before being removed later*.
To resolve this problem:
- Ensure the billing address postcode matches the address your card is registered to
- Ensure the CVV number (3-4 digits usually on the back of your card) is entered correctly
- Check for a verification code (by email or text message from your bank), and enter the code if prompted to do so at checkout
- Ensure there are sufficient available funds in your account
Finally, if you have checked all of these and you are still unsure, please contact your bank to see whether your transaction has been blocked by them for any reason.
If you retry your order, you may see a second charge appear on your statement. Don't worry, the first (failed) charge will eventually disappear and funds will only be taken once for a successful transaction.
For further assistance, you can also contact us and we can check for any further information to explain why the transaction is failing.
*Shadow Transactions
Normally, if you attempt payment and
1. The website does not confirm a 'thank you' or 'order confirmation' on screen
plus
2. Your payment provider confirms a charge is taken
It's highly likely that we have in fact rejected the funds offered from your payment provider. A hold will have been put in place for the transaction, by your bank, and this will show as 'pending' in your records.
To establish why this occurred, first check your personal data registered with your payment provider and confirm whether that matches the information you provided to our website (including your full name, shipping address and card/ payment type). If there's a match and you have enough funds, you may retry the order via checkout once more, or for subscribers you may update your account data and contact our team to re-request an order attempt on your behalf.
If the second attempt fails authorisation, then we would recommend for you to take a photo/ screenshot of the webpage that this appears on. Speak directly to your payment provider who may enable you to find out if there is something that affects the security clearance of your payment type.