A card payment didn't go through

Nothing is lost when a card is declined: the job is closed out, its invoice stays open for what's owed, and no money moved. Here's what each place says, and what to do.

At the signing (Tap to Pay or a card reader)

The phone app takes a card in person: on Android with Tap to Pay or a card reader, on an iPhone with a card reader. When a card doesn't go through, the screen says why in plain words, and under it: “Nothing is lost: the job is closed out and its invoice is open for … until it is paid.”

When trying the same card again can help, the screen offers Try again:

When it won't, there's no Try again — ask for another card or another way to pay:

• Declined — not enough funds on the card.
• Declined — the card has expired.
• Too many wrong PINs — use another card.
• Declined by the bank. Ask for another way to pay.

While the card is being read, the screen may also ask for something — “Try another way — insert, tap or swipe”, “More than one card — hold just one”, or “Check the phone — the wallet wants a confirmation” when the client pays with their phone.

Cash, Zelle, or send them the bill takes you to the job's invoice. There you can Take a card here with another card, tap Pay by card on their phone for a code they scan to pay on their own phone, Record a payment received another way, or send the invoice to pay later — its link offers Pay … by card when you take cards.

If you closed the app before the answer came

Once the screen says Processing…, Stripe finishes the card whether or not the app is still open.

• It went through. The payment is recorded by itself — on the invoice, or as the job's deposit — and you get a notification: Paid by card, with the amount (for a deposit, Deposit taken by card). Tap it to open the invoice, or the deposit's job.
• It wasn't approved. You get a notification — Card not approved, with the amount — saying nothing was charged. Tap it to open the invoice (for a deposit, the job), then take another card or record the payment another way.
• A deposit's card, and you closed the job out meanwhile. When the card is found, the deposit is taken off the bill as close-out would have done, and any of it the bill doesn't need goes back to their card by itself the next morning. If you had written a card of that amount down yourself on the invoice, it's taken to be that card and counted once; if yours was another card, the notification says what to do. The notification says which: The deposit's card, found after close-out or Deposit matched, with the amount and the invoice. Take a card on that invoice then asks for what's left.

It's the same on an iPhone and on Android, however the card was taken. It needs Alerts on: see Choose your notifications. While the card screen is still open on the phone you took the card on, that phone shows no notification — the screen has already said so.

When the phone can't take a card

Paying online, from the invoice's link

Your client pays on Stripe's secure page, opened from Pay … by card on their invoice. A refused card is said right there, and they can try another card on the same page. If they go back without paying, the invoice is as it was — open, nothing paid. If the invoice says “That card payment did not finish, so nothing was paid. You can try again.”, the payment wasn't completed: they can choose Pay … by card again.

Nothing is recorded on your side, and the invoice stays open — no need to do anything. A client who can't pay by card can still pay the way your invoice says (Zelle, a check…), and you record it with Record a payment. “Stripe did not answer. Try again in a moment” means Stripe couldn't be reached just then: try again a little later.

A company's bank transfer failed

When you take bank transfers, a company can pay its invoice that way; it takes about four business days. If the bank then refuses it:

• You're told — a notification, and an email saying the transfer didn't go through, with what the bank said.
• The invoice shows A bank transfer did not go through, marked Failed, with the bank's reason. It's open again, and its link offers card or bank transfer as before.
• The company is told too — an email in your name with the link, so they can pay again.

If the invoice was paid another way in the meantime, nothing more is owed, and nobody is asked to pay again.

If you've closed out the job since, close-out has replaced that invoice — with the final one, if it billed anything. If it did, and you haven't recorded a payment that may be this transfer, the company is told the transfer didn't go through, with the final invoice's link and what's left to pay on it — your email says whether they were — as long as the final invoice is still to pay and billed to them, no other bank transfer of theirs for either invoice is on its way, and no payment is held on the final invoice for you to keep or refund. Otherwise the company isn't written to, and your email says what to look at — or asks you about the payment you recorded, as below.

If the invoice reads paid because you'd recorded that transfer yourself — as a Bank transfer, when Stripe showed it had arrived — you're asked one thing instead, on the invoice and on Today: is the payment you recorded this transfer? Yes — take it off takes it off the invoice and out of your income, opens the invoice again, and tells the company, with the link. No — it was another payment changes nothing. Nobody is asked to pay again until you answer. After a close-out, you're asked on the invoice your payment is on now: the final one, whether close-out carried it there or you recorded it there yourself — or, if close-out set it aside on the job (it billed nothing, or another payment paid the bill), the invoice the transfer was for. A payment you recorded on the final invoice yourself isn't asked about while that invoice has a bank transfer of its own for the same amount on its way, started before you recorded it: yours may be that one.

Verifying their bank isn't a failure: when a company types its account numbers, Stripe first sends two small deposits for them to confirm, and the transfer starts once they do.