A merchant encountered payment processing failures with Stripe on their Shopify store despite receiving traffic and add-to-carts. The checkout displayed an error message stating payment could not be conducted.
Root Cause Identified:
Shopify checkout is only activated after selecting a paid plan
Stores remaining in trial mode (14-day free trial without plan selection) cannot process real transactions
Stripe gateway may be set to test mode instead of live mode
Troubleshooting Steps Recommended:
Confirm a Shopify subscription plan to enable checkout functionality
Verify Stripe is not in test mode via Settings > Payment providers > Stripe/manage
Contact Stripe support directly for gateway-specific issues
Ongoing Issues:
Multiple users reported similar errors even after trial periods ended and plans were activated. Suggested fixes include:
Ensuring sufficient payment amounts
Manually entering card numbers rather than autofill
Testing with multiple different cards
Considering alternative Stripe integration apps
The discussion remains open with no definitive resolution for post-trial payment failures.
Summarized with AI on October 26.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
I’ve ran into an issue with Stripe and I was hoping you could help me. Mind you, I’m still a beginner in ecommerce so please forgive me if this is a bad question!
So, the issue stands like this: I’ve added Stripe to my Site and started running ads. Got some unique add to carts, some unique content views. Yet no sales. So I checked the checkout and, surprisingly, stripe does not work. It just says that payment could not be conducted at this time, or something like that. What do you think could be the problem? Could the fact that I am still in the trial version of shopify be an issue?
Ted here from Shopify, thanks for posting your query!
Great question! So your checkout is activated/can be used as soon as a merchant confirms a payment plan.
If you have a 14-day free trial and you don’t select a plan within this period, your account is still in trial mode and the store’s checkout will not be available. If however, you confirm a subscription whilst on a trial, you will still receive the trial period and you won’t be charged for anything until the free trial ends. You will have access to the checkout as soon as you select a plan. Could you tell me if the account is still in trial mode or have you confirmed a subscription?
Just to confirm, if you’re referencing Stripe’s payment gateway, I’d click the Settings > Payment providers > Stripe/manage section in your admin and make sure the gateway is not in test mode. If the gateway’s not in test mode and your Shopify account is not on a trial, it would be best to contact Stripes customer service directly for more info.
Let me know how this goes and if there is anything else I can help you with, I’m happy to help!
I’m getting the same error and my 14 days trial period is over. And I have chosen the plan and it has already deducted. So what can be the problem. I have tested with three credit card and still showing the same error. The customer is not able to pay. please help with this.
Thanks for sharing your concern with us here via the Community.
Would you be able to confirm the exact text of the error message you see from your payment gateway, and if you’re also using Stripe as the poster above?
If you could capture and share a screenshot of the error message here, that would be ideal!
Then if you could just let me know where your store is based, I can check to see if there’s anything we can advise from here in Shopify.
If you’re using a third-party gateway (like Stripe) then you may need to contact the gateway providers for account support, though I’d like to check to see if there’s anything we can do for you here first.
I look forward to hearing back from you and working on this together.
