One of my customers try to purchase on the website their card got decline but still got charged, and on my end it shows their item is on “abandon cart”
Thanks for reaching out here in the Shopify Community. I can see this is your first post, you are very welcome here! Thanks for sharing the screenshot - it’s very helpful for troubleshooting purposes!
I understand that one of your customers has tried to place an order on your store, however the payment method was declined and now they are wondering why there’s a charge on their bank account. I’d be happy to help you figure this out.
I think what your customer is seeing is most likely a ‘pre-authorization’ charge on their card, and not an actual charge that was taken out. When a card transaction fails, it can sometimes still hold the money as ‘pending’ (which you can see in the screenshot), however this charge should eventually fall off and be credited back to them within a few days.
We have some helpful information about viewing abandoned cart payment information here. You can view the details of the payment events for this order, and use the information to help your customer figure out what happened. If your customer is still concerned then you can tell them to contact their bank who can clarify the situation for them.
Unless you have 100% confirmed that you received the money then I would refrain from sending them anything. The customer is most likely being genuine, however there’s always a chance that people can be untruthful, so it’s best to remain vigilant.
Were you aware that you can manually and automatically send abandoned cart emails to customers after they have left their cart behind without checking out? The email contains a link to the customer’s exact abandoned cart, allowing them to complete their purchase at a later date. You can even add your store logo and edit the color scheme of the email template etc. Find out more about this here.
I hope this helps!
This has been an ongoing issue with our store for years. A pending charge is placed on the customer’s bank account for every failed payment attempt. And although the charges fall off eventually, it still creates a negative buying experience for that customer and we have to take the time to explain it to them.
I used a few platforms before Shopify, and I’ve never had this issue. And have never experienced this while shopping online in my own personal life. So the question is, why is this problem specific to Shopify and is there a setting that can prevent this from happening?
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Thanks for joining in here.
I understand that you also have some concerns about pending charges on a customers bank account when payment for an order fails. Are you using Shopify Payments for the payment gateway on your store?
To clarify, pending charges on failed payment attempts is not specific to Shopify. It is a common practice among payment processors to place a temporary hold on funds when a payment is attempted but fails. This is done to ensure that the customer has sufficient funds in their account to cover the purchase.
The hold is typically released within a few days, depending on the bank’s policies. However, the length of time can vary. If a customer contacts you to say that a payment has failed but a charge has still been placed on their account, they might be confused and mistake this for an actual charge. You can check the order payment history in the abandoned checkout timeline to confirm this, and then follow up with them to explain the situation and reassure them that the charge will fall off eventually. This can help alleviate any concerns they may have, however they should reach out to their bank if they have any further concerns.
We have some more information here on our help center regarding payment authorization and capture that you might find interesting. I also found this third-party resource by Stripe which explains how card authorizations work online and what businesses need to know - it might not be specific to Shopify but there’s some good information here.
I am new to Shopify. Before I moved to Shopify - I had a section in my merchant account that showed all of these “failed” transactions. I was able to click on them to immediately release. Where is that function within Shopify? I have a customer that thinks he purchased something from me 5 days ago. Has gone into his bank and the branch manager told him I have his funds. So I am not a trustworthy store as I haven’t shipped his goods yet
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Would also love to see this failed transactions view. It’s possible to access this data through any other payment processor except Shopify Payments.
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I’m new to Shopify but not to eCommerce. If I were using a different payment gateway, I would know exactly where to find failed transactions and void them. A failed transaction should be voided and not held by anyone—whether it’s Shopify Payments, Shopify’s bank, or the customer’s bank. I explained to the customer that sometimes banks temporarily hold funds in limbo and they eventually get released, which I’m sure happened in this case. Unfortunately, this customer will likely never return, and may share his negative experience with others or even post online. His dissatisfaction could also lead him to generalize this frustration to all Shopify stores.
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