Payment Failed - Merchant FAQs

When a payment fails, it will automatically reschedule for 2 days later. If the payment fails 3 times in a row, the plan will go into default. The customer is emailed for each event.

If the plan defaults, a reopen button will appear on the plan so you can reopen it when ready. Depending on your settings under Settings > General > Payment Plans, the customer may also be able to reopen the plan with a new schedule or pay the entire remaining balance from the customer portal. See How to Reopen a Defaulted Plan for details.

If you want the customer to have more retries before defaulting, you can navigate to Settings > General, switch to the Payment Plans tab, and edit the field number of retry attempts before defaulting plan.

Why payments fail

Payments fail for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is the customer's bank blocking the payment, requiring the customer to contact their bank.

To view the reason for a failed payment, click the details link next to the payment.

The Error from Stripe message

For more details on what a decline message means, see: Stripe Payment Decline Codes

If the message simply says the card was declined, the customer will need to contact their bank.

The customer has another payment method on their account.

If the customer has another payment method on file, you or the customer can select it from within the plan using the drop-down menu next to the payment method. Merchants may need to click the Update button if updating on the customer's behalf.

The customer needs to add a new payment method.

Customers can update their payment method at partial.ly/customer.

Backup payment method

In the Payment Methods section of the customer's account, you and/or the customer will see the option to designate another card on file as a backup method in case the default card fails.