The Billing Failures report shows each failed billing attempt made by Stay AI for customers' recurring subscription orders. It is important to note that while Stay AI keeps track of billing failures, Stay AI doesn't handle the billing process, that is handled by your payment processor (Shopify Payments, Pay Pal, Apple Pay, Stripe, Braintree, Authorize.net, etc.).
Billing Attempts can also fail for other reasons like inventory shortages. These are also noted in the data.
For more information on failed billing recovery and out of stock inventory settings please see this article: How to Set up your Billing / Inventory Settings
Navigating to the Billing Failures report
Open your Shopify account and navigate to the Stay AI App.
Locate and click on the 'Customers' option in the left-hand navigation menu.
Look for the 'Billing Failures' tab or link within the Customers section and click on it to access the report.
Understanding the Billing Failures report
The billing failures report contains seven columns:
Billing Attempt Date - The date of the billing attempt
Error Code - Identifies the type of billing error or issue. These are provided by the processor and can be somewhat generic.
Error Message - These are descriptive texts of the error and typical provide a more meaningful definition of the error.
Shopify Subscription Id - The ID number of the subscription in Stay AI and Shopify. This corresponds with the Subscription ID on the Subscription Summary Page.
Projected Sales Price - The sum of all the product costs and shipping costs minus any discounts from codes.
Customer Name - The customer's first and last name.
Customer Email - The customers's email.
Searching, Filtering, and Exporting
Currently, can filter and search the Billing Failures report using Customer Name, Email, Subscription ID, Error Code and Error Message by using the search bar or clicking the Filters button. You can also filter by date range, by clicking the date box under From at the top of the page.
After filtering your report, you can export it to an email of your choice by click the Export button, entering your email, and clicking Submit.
Error Codes and Error Messages
This is a list of most error codes and messages that you'll encounter from failed billing attempts. If an Error Code or Error Message that is not on this list is causing you confusion, please reach out to the Stay AI team for assistance.
Error Code | Error Message |
buyer_canceled_payment_method | Agreement was canceled |
expired_payment_method | Field: api_errors Error: credit_card_is_expired |
expired_payment_method | The credit card has expired |
expired_payment_method | Your card has expired. |
expired_payment_method | Your card's expiration month is invalid. |
expired_payment_method | Your card's expiration year is invalid. |
invalid_customer_billing_agreement | billing_agreement_disabled |
invalid_customer_billing_agreement | billing_agreement_not_found |
invalid_payment_method | credit_card_not_found |
invalid_payment_method | Instruct the customer to retry the transaction using an alternative payment method from the customers PayPal wallet. The transaction did not complete with the customers selected payment method. |
invalid_payment_method | Payment method is not ready |
invalid_payment_method | Street address and postal code do not match. For American Express: Card member's name, street address and postal code do not match. |
invalid_payment_method | System unavailable. |
invalid_payment_method | The credit card number is invalid |
invalid_payment_method | The transaction has been declined because of an AVS mismatch. The address provided does not match billing address of cardholder. |
invalid_payment_method | This transaction has been declined |
invalid_payment_method | Transaction failed but user has alternate funding source |
invalid_payment_method | User's account is closed or restricted |
invalid_payment_method | Your card number is incorrect. |
invalid_payment_method | Your card's security code is invalid. |
invoice_already_paid | Payment has already been made for this InvoiceID. |
payment_method_declined | Invalid account. |
payment_method_declined | This transaction has been declined |
payment_method_declined | Your card does not support this type of purchase. |
payment_method_declined | Your card has insufficient funds. |
payment_method_declined | Your card was declined. |
payment_method_not_found | Payment method was revoked |
product_out_of_stock | One or more items is currently out of stock |
product_out_of_stock | One or more items is currently out of stock; the current minimum threshold for shipping is X and the current in stock order value is X |
unexpected_error | An error occurred while processing your card. Try again in a little bit. |
unexpected_error | Failed to create order. |
unexpected_error | Internal Error |
unexpected_error | There was a problem processing the payment for this billing attempt |
unexpected_error | Unexpected failure while processing billing attempt. |
credit_card_not_found - A Shop Pay specific error
If a subscription receives a credit_card_not_found error on billing attempt, it means the card within the Shop Pay profile is either expired, has insufficient funds, is not supported, or has information that doesn't match with the bank's records. Please ask customers to do the following:
From a desktop/laptop device, navigate to shop.app and have them login to their account.
Within the Active orders section, select the subscription order that has experienced a failed payment
Scroll to the bottom of the order and select Edit payment method
Ensure that a valid card is selected or added to the subscription
Select Update to update the payment method used for this subscription order
Please Note: If the customer continues to experience problems after updating their card, then the customer will need to reach out directly to the Shop Pay team. This information was provided to Stay AI by our Shop Pay team:
"Here are the current card requirements for using Shop Pay:
Must be a Visa, Mastercard or Amex or other card supported by the retailer that you're buying from.
Must be a supported debit or credit card (some debit cards aren't guaranteed to be accepted while all pre-paid cards are not accepted). Also, if the selected the Shop Pay Installments option, cards issued by Capital One are not accepted. This is due to their own policies regarding installments' payments.
Must be capable of making online purchases and may need to have been activated prior to use.
Must have billing details which match what the bank has on file.
Once the customers checks all of the above and if the issues persists, we would ask that the customers contacts us directly so we can troubleshoot further. As we need to authenticate their Shop Pay account, we cannot troubleshoot for a customer via the merchant. So the merchant can ask the customer to reach out by email at help@shop.app and provide us with the following:
Email address you are using
Shop Pay phone number attached to your account (if applicable)
Timeline - when did this start happening?
Any screenshots or video of the issue in progress <-- very important
A brief description of the issue you’re having"
How to fix failed billing errors?
Payment Errors
Occasionally, cards fail due to processor errors or bank errors and require the customer to retry their payment. However, in some cases the customer needs to update their card.
This can be accomplished by the customer from the Customer Portal by having them click the Update Payment Method button in the Update My Info menu or by having them click the card they wish to update under the Payment Methods section of the Customer Portal.
This will trigger an email from Shopify that will provide instructions and a link to update their card. The email can be found in Shopify under Settings > Notifications > Customer payment method update request.
If a customer has multiple payment methods, they can set all subscriptions to a single payment method under the Payment Methods page or they can choose which payment method is associated with a specific subscription from the Update My Info on that subscription.
For customers that checked out with credit card and not an accelerated payment method like Shop Pay, Pay Pal, or Apple Pay, it is possible to replace their card from the Customer Page in Shopify.
More information can be found here:
Inventory Errors
For customers who had their billing fail due to inventory issues, you can advise them to swap products or move their order date to when inventory will be back in stock.