Payment Gateway Error Messages (Explained)

A payment can fail due to many reasons, such as the card having insufficient funds, the card has been compromised, the payment gateway's risk model preventing the transaction, and many more.

In this article, you will learn what to do when a payment fails based on the type of error.

When you get a call about a customer saying their card declined, or you see on the order page that the transaction failed, follow the next steps:

1. Find the order. To do this, log into the RevolutionParts platform an click on "Orders". Once there, you can search by any of the following: order number, phone number, first and last name, or the part they were trying to buy. This should bring up the results you are looking for. If not, you can also search by time stamp using the order filter.
   When searching for payment failure, it's also important to know that a payment failure can be present on 2 cases:
   1. On an existing order when you try to collect funds. ex: the card was authorized yesterday. you're trying to collect funds today and it fails.
   2. On an abandoned order (an order that was never completed).
      
      
2. Once you've found the correct order, you want to scroll down to the "transaction history" and search for the "failed" line.
   
   
   Note: If you do not see a "fail" line on the transaction history, this means the card was never run, or you are in the wrong order. Return to step 1.
   
   
3. On the right-hand side of the same error row, you'll see "Details". Click on that.
   
4. A pop-up window will appear telling you why the payment failed. Scroll down until you see a "message" line. The message line will tell you why the payment failed, and it'll determine the next steps.
   
   Find below a list of the most common failed messages:

• • Message = Insufficient Funds - This message refers to users not having enough funds to pay for the transaction.
    • Next steps:
      • If it's an abandoned/failed order, call the user and ask them to re-place the order with a different card.
        
        
      • If it's an existing order, click on "collect money" -> charge new credit card -> call the user and ask them for a new card. If they do not want to provide a new card, you can always cancel the order and send them a quote, or ask them to place another order. 
        
        
  • Message = The transaction was refused. - the payment declined by your Payment Gateway's AVS Risk Controls Setting.  RevolutionParts Support does not have the ability to configure your risk control settings. You will need to reach out to your Payment Gateway.
    
    • • Note: The transaction was declined because of a merchant risk filter for AVS. Specifically, the merchant set the filter to decline a transaction when the AVS returns a no match (AVS = N). 
    • Next steps:
      • Call the user and ask them to re-place the order with a different card.
      • Call your Payment Gateway and adjust your risk control settings.
        
        
  • Message = This transaction cannot be processed - This message refers to the processor declining the transaction. 
    • • Note: The transaction was declined by the issuing bank, not RevolutionParts nor your Payment Gateway. The user should attempt another card.
    • Next steps: There is nothing RevolutionParts Support or you can do. The user must take action to resolve this issue. There are, however, different options you can suggest to the user:
      • • Ask the user to re-place the order with a different card.
        • Ask the user to re-place the order on a different browser or device.
        • Ask the user to call their bank.
        • Send a new quote.
          
          
  • Message = This transaction cannot be processed. Please enter a valid Credit Card Verification Number.
    • Next steps:
      • Ask the user to attempt to place the order again with the correct CVV.
      • If it's an abandoned order, the user must place another order, but if it's an existing order where the capture failed, you can click on "Collect Money" -> call the user to get the credit card information again -> process the transaction.

PRO TIP: In some cases, looking up the numeric error code is more helpful because it gives you a more detailed explanation on why the payment failed, which you can find in the transaction details section.

Example:

Once you have that error code, visit the following sites depending on your payment gateway:

1) PayPal:
https://developer.paypal.com/api/nvp-soap/errors/

2) Authorize.net:

 https://responsecrmv3.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047227074-Authorize-net-Error-Code-Responses 

 https://support.authorize.net/knowledgebase/Knowledgearticle/?code=000001398

3) Braintree:

https://developer.paypal.com/braintree/articles/control-panel/transactions/declines

4) Cenpos: 
If your payment gateway is CenPos, you can reach out to them directly as there are no public records of their codes.