Error & Decline Handling
Interpret failed payments and respond to them correctly
Not every payment succeeds. A request can fail before it reaches the card network (a validation error PCE returns synchronously) or be turned down by the issuer (a decline returned on the payment response). Handling both correctly improves your authorization rate, reduces customer friction, and keeps your retry behavior within card network rules.
Use this section as the reference for what PCE returns on a failed payment and what to do about it.
How a payment can fail
| Failure type | Where it happens | How you see it | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Validation error | At PCE, before the card network | The request is rejected synchronously with an error (missing/invalid field, permission issue). | Correct the request and resubmit. |
| Decline | At the issuer, after the network | The payment response returns status: Declined with a responseCode and authMessage. | Read the code and follow the recommended action. |
See also
- Payment Response Codes: full
responseCodereference - Handling Declines: decline types and recommended actions
- Payment Lifecycle: statuses and tracking
- Test Data: sandbox cards to reproduce declines
Updated about 13 hours ago
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