Declined payment, step by step
Who really declines the transaction, what sits behind the words «card declined», and the order in which to check your own side.
Card payment errors
Six explainers on how an online payment authorization works and why it ends in a refusal: who makes the decision, what 3-D Secure and AVS check, where the difference in the charged amount comes from, how ad platform threshold billing works and which limits apply to a card.
Articles
Explainers in this cluster
3-D Secure: how confirmation runs
Frictionless versus challenge, one-time codes, SCA rules in the EEA and UK, and the usual failures at the confirmation step.
AVS: the card billing address
What AVS really compares, why the postcode matters more than the street, and how a billing address differs from a delivery address.
Conversion: why the amount differs
The network rate, cross-border fees, DCC and the gap between the amount held and the amount finally charged.
Threshold billing explained
Thresholds and billing periods, why the threshold rises, verification holds at linking, and why a threshold charge fails.
Card limits and large payments
Four different limits, holds, partial authorization and how to prepare a card for one large charge.
A card ready for the transaction
One USD balance, cards in USD, EUR and GBP, loads from $50 and funds returned to the balance at 0%.