Credit card declined in online store

[Chrishawaii3619]

I have at least two customers tried to purchase our products in our Square online store but their credit cards got declined.  However, when they came to the store to pay for it in person with the same credit cards, there were no problem with their cards.

Could it be related to the setting of our online store?

[#2]

Hi there @Daphnescloset + @Ryan_H - there are many reasons why a card may decline.

I've moved your post here where @AshleyK provided some tips.
Feel free to get in touch with our team directly if you think this may be related to your account.

[AshleyK · Accepted solution]

Hi! Did the customers swipe their cards when they came to pay in person? That could have a lot to do with it as we require a correct CVV and ZIP code for online store payments. It's possible these two did not enter the correct ZIP and/or CVV, but when swiping the cards, that information is conveyed through the swipe. I hope this makes sense, but please let me know if you have any other questions. 

[Chrishawaii3619]

Hi @AshleyK 

Thank you for the information.  I'll let the customer know. 

Chris

[PhilaBeeCo]

We had a similar incident happen tonight.  I had a client on the phone give me two separate credit cards, with cvv and zipcodes.  After that didnt work another client emailed and said their card would not go through.  

Is there something else that could be causing this?

[jilliansays]

I have had the same issue with two different clients.  They went to my online store, tried two different credit cards, both were declined.  Your banner says this - 

We're currently experiencing issues

Performance Issues: Square Online Store & API Payment Services

I'll just have to have them send me the funds by Venmo to get around this issue.  Hopefully, you can fix this soon.  Who knows how many people did not contact me directly and just walked away from the order.  

[AshleyK]

@jilliansays I'm really sorry to hear the frustration regarding your online store payments. This specifically was a known issue, but it should have been resolved by now. If it hasn't then please contact Support so they can take a look at the details of your account.

[BethanyReynolds]

This seems to be an ongoing issue, and it is extremely frustrating. I have an email coupon campaign going on, and three times in the past few days, a customer has contacted me to report that their card has been declined (in one case, two different cards). I reported this to Support the first time via chat and got a pretty dismissive response. But after three times, I am getting fed up. Iʻve resolved it in each case by preparing a Square invoice for the customers, and they were able to pay those immediately using the same cards that were declined on the shopping cart page.

This is a huge frustration and waste of time for me, and more importantly, my customers. Luckily these three were repeat customers who like my products enough to persevere. No way of knowing how many just give up. Customer trust in the payment system is absolutely vital for online businesses. Square really needs to address this ASAP!

[Chrishawaii3619]

At beginning, I thought the reason was that customers entered the wrong information (like zip code) online but there have been more than 20 customers telling me about this problem so far.  All their cards were declined online but if they use the same cards in person, there were all approved.  

I think it’s a problem that needs to be solved immediately.

[justintotennis]

This is still happening with my customers and more frequently in the online store.  Anybody have a contact number for square?!?!

[ashc]

Heya @justintotennis,

Declines typically come from the customer's bank or card issuer's end. It could be misentered zip code, security code, or just that the card is flat out expired. 

We only get the generic decline message on our end so our Support team wouldn't be able to see the exact reason but the customer can contact their bank to see exactly why it was declined. 

[BethanyReynolds]

Sorry, but I don’t believe that is what’s going on here. See my comment above. These customers are able to pay with the same card via Square invoice, within a few hours of having it declined by the shopping cart. Their credit card issuers show the charges as pending- NOT declined- but the message they get in the shopping cart just says “payment declined”. Sometimes on more than one card! 

I have screenshots from one of them that I can provide. 

It really sounds like this is a glitch with the checkout page. And I am tired of Square passing this off onto the customers or the banks. Prior to this I would easily have recommended Square to other merchants, after using it for years myself. Lately, I am not so sure!

[justintotennis]

Well this was not a problem a few months ago for me.  I had NO declines and now it's been about 20 in the past week.  It's not a particular item because some decline and some do not.  And the customer's banks are not the issue because they don't see it on their end.   I've been using square for about 7 years now and this is the first time happening.  

Someone at Square better fix this OR give me a number to call so I can get in touch and fix it with them or I see using Stripe in my future.  I can't lose any more business because of a credit card processing error.  

Justin

[TallulahSue]

I am experiencing this same issues.  It just started last week. We are still very small so every sale matters and I have had three customers in the past week message me to say their card was getting declined, two of the people are friends and tried multiple times. I worry about the folks that don't know me and aren't going to go the extra mile to contact me about the problem.  

I know they are not putting their information in incorrectly and would like to know how Square is going to resolve this. If this continues I will be quickly changing to a different service.  If people can't buy my products what is the point!!!

Heidi

[dftoregon]

My online site sales has accepted credit card info and payment in the past. While setting up an online item today  credit card entry box is greyed out and not accepting entry of info. In checking existing online items - they are not accepting the input of cc info either. 

[sayra]

Hey @dftoregon - I was able to add the "A6. Honey Nuts Acai Bowl" to the cart and add my credit card number at checkout. Is this the correct website? Can I please have the name of the exact item you saw this happening with? I would also advise checking out an item on an incognito browser as a test. 

I'll be on the lookout for your reply. Have a great day! 

[Lucio]

I have the same issue, none of my clients can process the payments through credit cards on my weekly site, not with square, PayPal or google pay ( that appears on the bottom)  

[AshleyK]

@Lucio if you've already confirmed that the seller is using the correct ZIP and CVV and the payments are not generally declining, then I would still contact support so that you can get up and running. 

You can reach out directly to Customer Success at [Redacted]. Please keep in mind, you will need a customer code to get an advocate on the phone. Here is the link to get that code: squ.re/contactsqsupport

[Daphnescloset]

Square Online keeps declining customer cards. How to fix this issue?

[Ryan_H]

i have customers complaining about the same thing

[Valentina]

Hi there @Daphnescloset + @Ryan_H - there are many reasons why a card may decline.

I've moved your post here where @AshleyK provided some tips.
Feel free to get in touch with our team directly if you think this may be related to your account.

[PatB123]

I just searched "credit cards declined" and found you all here.  Our new store is having this same issue, and I can't tell you how dismayed I am to have to tell my boss it is a Square problem.  I am going to try to call the support team and see if perhaps it's a setting???