If your Shopify subscriptions are being declined, it could be because your payment gateway isn’t approved to process these types of transactions. This article will help you understand the issue and guide you toward a solution.
Why Are Subscriptions Failing?
Shopify decides whether a payment goes through based on the payment gateway you’ve chosen. Ongoing, as your subscription management system, helps manage your orders, while the bank or payment gateway processes the money. If your payment gateway isn’t on Shopify’s approved list, transactions may be declined.
Currently, Shopify supports these payment gateways for subscriptions:
Shopify Payments
PayPal Express
Stripe
Authorize.net
If you’re using a different payment gateway, it’s likely causing your subscription payments to fail.
How to Fix the Issue
Reach Out to Shopify Support
Contact Shopify Support to learn more about switching to an approved payment gateway. They can guide you through selecting the best option for your needs and setting it up in your store.
Switch to an Approved Payment Gateway
Choose one of Shopify’s supported payment gateways listed above. Once this is set up, Shopify will start processing your subscription transactions successfully.
Contact Us to Retry Billing
After you’ve selected and configured a supported payment gateway, reach out to us! We’re happy to manually retry all billing with the new setup and help reactivate any subscriptions that were previously declined.
Switched From PayPal?
If you previously used PayPal Express as your payment gateway but no longer do, it's likely that some customers have subscriptions tied to their PayPal account.
Unless these customers have an alternative payment method on file (e.g., a credit card), the new payment gateway (which does not support PayPal) will be unable to process the transactions.
As a result, the subscription payments will be declined due to the lack of a compatible payment method.
Please note this is a Shopify limitation and is a rule handled directly by Shopify's payment system, as they govern which Payment Gateways are approved and how they can operate.
To resolve this issue, Shopify support can assist you in reconnecting PayPal Express as your payment gateway, enabling PayPal methods to be accepted once again. Alternatively, if you choose to use a different approved payment gateway, customers will need to select a different payment method, such as a credit card, for their transactions.
Need Additional Help?
We’re always here to support you. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll work with you to ensure your subscription billing runs smoothly.
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