Authorization declines

Learn about the different types of authorization declines and how to handle them.

When the shopper submits a cart, Digital River must request authorization from the payment provider to create a charge for the amount indicated. Sometimes, however, this authorization request is declined.

Digital River works with multiple credit card processors using a proprietary solution that maximizes billing success. If an authorization attempt fails with the first credit card processor, we may try billing against a different processor.

When Digital River cannot obtain a successful authorization, we return an error that indicates the reason for the decline.

Do not share the error code with the customer. Doing so may aid parties that are attempting to carry out fraudulent activities.

Some common reasons for authorization declines are incorrectly entered credit card numbers, invalid security codes, and insufficient funds. In the event of a hard or soft authorization decline, you maintain responsibility for communicating with the customer and following Digital River's retry policies.

There are two major types of authorization declines: hard and soft. Hard declines are permanent authorization failures. In other words, retrying the payment source won't be successful. They are usually due to irreversible events, such as a payment method no longer being valid because the account was closed or the card was stolen. In these cases, you'll need to inform customers that they must either use a different payment method or fix any payment data that was incorrectly entered.

Some common reasons for authorization declines are incorrectly entered credit card numbers, invalid security codes, and insufficient funds. In the event of a hard or soft authorization decline, you maintain responsibility for communicating with the customer and following the Digital River retry policies.

Soft declines, on the other hand, typically occur when the reason for the decline is temporary. They are often due to insufficient funds or an exceeded daily limit. After a soft decline occurs, retrying the payment source may be successful. However, you must observe certain retry policies when conducting these retries.

Hard declines vs. soft declines

There are two major types of authorization declines: hard and soft. Hard declines are permanent authorization failures. In other words, retrying the payment source won't be successful. They are usually due to irreversible events, such as a payment method no longer being valid because the account was closed or the card was stolen. In these cases, you'll need to inform customers that they must either use a different payment method or fix any payment data that was entered incorrectly.

Soft declines, on the other hand, typically occur when the reason for the decline is temporary. They are often due to insufficient funds or an exceeded daily limit. After a soft decline occurs, retrying the payment source may be successful, but there are certain retry policies that you must observe.

Decline codes

The following table explains whether the error code you receive indicates a hard or soft decline for customer-initiated and merchant-initiated transactions. When it's a soft decline, make sure you follow the retry policies when submitting additional authorization requests. See the complete list of error codes for more information.

account_closed

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

account_frozen

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

authentication_required

• Customer-initiated decline type: Soft

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

blacklisted_card

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

card_expired

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

card_limit_exceeded

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

card_not_active

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

card_type_block

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

card_velocity_exceeded

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

declined

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

declined_can_retry

• Customer-initiated decline type: Soft

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

do_not_honor

• Customer-initiated decline type: Soft

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

duplicate_transaction

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

fraud

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

fraud_block

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

illegal_action

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

insufficient_funds

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

invalid_address

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_amount

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_card_bin

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_card_number

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_currency

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

invalid_expiration_date

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

invalid_field_data

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_merchant

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_payment_method

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_pin

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_security_code

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_security_field

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

invalid_transaction_type

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

issuer_invalid_card

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

issuer_not_found

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

issuer_unavailable

• Customer-initiated decline type: Soft

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

limit_exceeded

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

lost_stolen_card

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

mid_limit_exceeded

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

new_card_issued

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

no_response

• Customer-initiated decline type: Soft

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

pin_try_exceeded

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

restricted_card

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

sca_not_completed

• Customer-initiated decline type: Soft

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

stop_recurring

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

suspected_fraud

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

unidentified_error

• Customer-initiated decline type: Soft

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Soft

voice_authorization_required

• Customer-initiated decline type: Hard

• Merchant-initiated decline type: Hard

Retry policies

The following are the retry policies you must adhere to when resubmitting an authorization request:

• No more than one authorization attempt per day per subscription

• No more than four authorization attempts over a 30-day period per subscription

Additionally, we recommend that you do not schedule retries seven days apart. This prevents them from falling on the same day of the week, thereby helping you obtain a higher authorization success rate.