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Why do your online payments fail? Common causes explained

Failed payments are an integral part of the purchasing process on an e-commerce site. Find out what you can do to combat failed payments!

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25

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10

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2022

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Payment failures are an integral part of the purchasing process on an e-commerce site. They exist with all payment solutions, even if most of the time they are not presented to the merchant. Easytransac has opted for transparency and displays them on your back-office.

This information is intended to help you choose your payment methods and optimize your conversion rates. It's impossible to avoid payment failures.

But being able to understand them can help you get around the problems that cause them. Understanding this information is crucial to better managing the purchasing process, making it clearer and easier for your customers. The aim is to avoid transaction failures due to customer error.

Customer errors: What are the most common reasons?

Here is a list of examples of the most common failures.

To view them, simply click on a failed transaction.

"The customer left the page without attempting to pay":

Your customer has consulted the payment page, but has not attempted to pay. This is a common behavior observed during certain purchase journeys, as some customers hesitate to finalize the order when they reach the payment page. They often try again later. In this situation, there are no problems to report. If you wish, you can contact your customer again.

"Your customer's bank has refused payment":

There are many possible reasons for this, but it's definitely your customer's bank's decision. In this situation, you can recommend that your customer ask his bank advisor for more information.

"Transaction declined (limit exceeded)" or "Transaction declined by authorization system":

This reason for failure usually means that the spending limit on the card has been reached, or that your customer has no money left in his bank account. In this situation, your customer should check their authorized spending limit, or contact their bank advisor for more information.

"3-D Secure authentication failed":

3-D Secure authentication was required to complete the payment, but your customer did not complete it. In this case, the difficulty lies solely with your customer, as 3-D Secure is managed entirely by the card-issuing bank. You can recommend that they contact their bank, or try another card. The cause of this failure may be as follows:

  • Your customer's card does not benefit from this functionality. - Your customer has not entered the code received by SMS (for example, he didn't have his cell phone with him).
  • Your customer waited too long before entering the code (the 3-D Secure window remains open for only a few minutes).
  • The customer's bank's 3-D Secure server is experiencing a temporary malfunction.
  • Your customer uses a banking application to validate authentication, but is unable to get it to work, or the application malfunctions.

"This payment method is not supported":

the payment has been rejected by the bank's anti-fraud system. Your customer should contact his bank advisor to find out more.

"The card information is incorrect (card number, test date or CVV)" :

your customer uses a card that is not compatible with our platform. As a reminder, we accept all Visa and Mastercard cards, as well as French national bank cards.

"You have cancelled the transaction":

this reason for failure is possible when you cancel a payment request.

"The payment has been cancelled by the customer":

once on the payment page, your customer has clicked on the "cancel" button.

"Suspicion of fraud on this payment":

the card-issuing bank informs us that the card has been declared "stolen" by its legitimate holder. It is therefore unusable. There is no need to contact the customer again.

The bank detects an abrupt change in the consumer's purchasing behavior that does not correspond to their habit and knowledge of their customer, and preventively blocks the payment.

"Payment from a high-risk country":

the payment has been detected by banking intermediaries as originating from a high-risk country. This could be the country of the card, or the IP address from which the transaction was made. Unfortunately, in this situation, we don't have the details. There's no point in following up your customer.

What can be done about failed payments?

When payments fail, it is important to analyze the cause and put things into perspective. the first reflexes should be :

Knowing the cause of failure

Go to your transactions and select the failed payment. Do the failed payments come from the same customer or the same bank?

Check that a failed payment is not followed by a successful payment. One of the most frequent reasons for this is that the 3DS has been seized. This may be due to incorrect handling, lack of reaction or time, or simply because the phone was out of range during the transaction. The customer tries again a few minutes later and the payment is successful.

Consult our Wiki to find out what you can do.

It's important that you communicate directly with your customer, because the solution lies on their side.

Who we are

With more than 60,000 customers, Easytransac capitalizes on a decade of expertise in various payment solutions (distance selling, ecommerce, convenience selling, cashless, mobile payment...).

A recent addition to and strategic alliance with InEvents, Easytransac is at the forefront of innovation in the ecosystem of electronic payments and hybrid and cashless solutions that meet the requirements of e-tailers, event professionals and SMEs.

Our platform simplifies transactions and enriches the user experience, thanks to an intuitive interface and real-time tracking, while ensuring security at every payment.

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