When do payment and billing errors happen?
Payment and billing errors occur when a subscription charge fails during automated billing. Skio surfaces the exact error code and message returned by Shopify or your payment gateway.
Skio doesn't process payments directly, so these errors originate from your payment provider.
Where payment errors appear
In your Skio Dashboard > Subscription Management
In the lefthand menu of your Skio Dashboard, go to Subscribers, then click Subscriptions.
Search for the subscription with the failed charge, or click on the Failed tab to see all failed payments.
The error will appear on the Subscription card under Last Status Change and in the Subscription audit log when you click on View subscription history.
View error messages from the Subscription card.
Each failed billing attempt displays the error code and message from your payment gateway. After resolving the underlying issue, you can retry the charge by clicking Get now.
For your customers
Customers may encounter payment errors in several places:
Customer Portal: When adding or updating payment methods (common with Shop Pay errors or invalid billing details)
Bank or app notifications: Declines for insufficient funds, expired cards, or "do not honor" responses
Email notifications: If you've set up failure notifications through Klaviyo, customers receive alerts when Shopify returns a failed charge
List of all payment errors
Shopify error codes
These are the error codes returned by Shopify's billing API when a subscription payment fails. See Shopify’s full list of errors here.
Error Code | Error Message in Skio | Steps to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| "The amount is too small" | Increase order value or check minimum charge requirements (amount must convert to at least 50 cents) |
| "There was an error during the authentication" | Customer needs to complete 3DS verification |
| "Payment method was canceled by buyer" | Customer must add a new payment method |
| "Card number was incorrect" | Customer should re-enter card details |
| "Customer is invalid" or “Customer does not have email or phone” | Verify customer account in Shopify and ensure they have a proper email address or phone number |
| "Customer was not found" | Customer account may have been deleted |
| "Payment method is expired" | Customer needs to update card expiration date |
| "Fraud was suspected" | Customer should contact their bank |
| "Insufficient funds" | Customer should use a different payment method |
| "Not enough inventory found" | Check product stock levels |
| "Billing agreement/transaction ID is invalid" | Customer needs to re-authorize payment method |
| "Payment method is invalid" or “Unable to generate vaulted remote token payment method” | Customer should update or add new payment method |
| "Shipping address is missing or invalid" | Customer must update shipping address |
| "No inventory location found or enabled" | Check fulfillment locations in Shopify |
| "A payment has already been made for this invoice" | No action needed - likely duplicate attempt |
| "Payment method was declined by processor" or “Your card was declined” | Customer should contact bank or use different card and then retry payment |
| "Payment method was not found" or “Payment method was revoked” | Customer needs to add a payment method. This also commonly occurs when a customer removes the card from Shop Pay, breaking the billing agreement. Customer must add a new payment method and then retry. |
| "Payment provider is not enabled" | Merchant must enable payment provider in Shopify |
| "PayPal Error General" | Customer should check PayPal account |
| "Purchase type is not supported" or “Your card does not support this type of purchase” | Card doesn't support subscription payments |
| "Gateway in test mode with live card" | Merchant config issue - dev vs prod mismatch |
| "Transient error, try again later" | Auto-retry or manual retry later |
| "Unexpected error during billing attempt" | Contact support if persists |
Skio-specific error messages
Context | Error Message in Skio | Steps to resolve |
|---|---|---|
Rate Limiting |
| Customer hitting daily purchase limits. Adjust daily limit settings under Settings > General > Max daily orders per subscription. |
Fraud Review |
|
|
Generic Failure |
| Billing attempt failed (with |
Out of Stock |
| Out of Stock (OOS) check before billing. Swap with an item that is in stock, or wait for original item to be restocked and then retry payment. |
3DS Pending |
|
|
Credit card specific errors
Error | Error Message in Skio | Steps to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| "has already been taken" | Use a different credit card. |
| "Your card was declined. Your request was in test mode..." | Must use a test card number while in test mode. |
| "The card was declined" | Must be resolved on the customer’s side with their credit card company. |
| "verification value is incorrect" | Ensure the verification value is correct. |
| "zip code is incorrect" | Ensure the zip code is correct. |
Stripe error codes
Common codes from Stripe that map to Shopify errors.
Stripe Code | Maps to | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
|
| Card lacks funds, must be resolved by customer. |
|
| Unknown/blocked, reach out to Stripe support. |
|
| Card is expired, must be resolved by customer. |
|
| Wrong CVC code, ensure accurate CVC value is filled in. |
|
| General decline. |
|
| Suspected fraud. |
|
| Card reported stolen/lost, must be resolved by customer. |
|
| Needs 3DS verification, must be resolved by customer. |
FAQ
My customer can’t take X action from their customer portal, or the action is missing
Make sure the ability to take the action is turned on in your Customer Portal settings.
For Customer Portal v3 (CPv3), see our guide here.
For Customer Portal v2 (CPv2), see your guide here.
When will the payment retry after a customer resolves the error?
The payment will retry according to your dunning settings, or the customer and your team can use the Get now button to retry the payment immediately, as long as the setting is toggled on for your customers in your Customer Portal settings.
For Customer Portal v3 (CPv3), see our guide here.
For Customer Portal v2 (CPv2), see your guide here.