Card transaction failure reasons and solutions?

Primary reasons for transaction failure:

1) Insufficient available balance on card
2) Card status anomalies (card locked, frozen, card deleted)
3) Incorrect card information entered: errors with expiration date, CVV2, etc.
4) Merchant side (acquiring institution) risk control declines transaction: Abnormal transaction environment and other reasons leading to merchant side rejecting the transaction.

How to improve transaction success rates?

1) Ensure sufficient card balance for charges: Each card's balance is independent; it must be recharged separately.

Pay attention to the "available balance" which can be checked on the "Card Details" page by clicking on it. As shown in the picture, the "available balance" is the actual amount available for consumption. If the transaction amount > available balance, it will lead to transaction failure. Additionally, transactions like card verification freeze a small amount ($1-2). To ensure successful consumption, it is recommended to keep the available balance $2-3 higher than the transaction amount (this number is for reference only as specific merchant platforms have different charging logic).

It is also important to pay attention to card status, which must be "active" to successfully make a transaction. Anomalies in card status, such as a card being locked or frozen, will prevent successful transactions.

2) Test the business scenario beforehand and use the appropriate card range: Specific merchants and types of business can only use specific ranges of cards; for instance, most Subscription-type payments can only be made with virtual cards that are of the Credit type. Certain merchants refuse certain types of cards, such as attempting to link Hong Kong card range with a US Apple ID, which won’t work.

3) Avoid high-risk operations: The following types are easily judged by acquiring institutions or card issuing institutions as high-risk behavior, leading to transaction failures: a) directly copying and pasting the card number when linking the card; b) initiating transactions frequently (especially multiple transactions within a short time and across different merchants); c) abnormal transaction environment, such as abnormal browser behavior on mobile phones & computers; d) engaging in transactions with high-risk merchants: transactions with merchants suspected of financial or virtual goods trades are easily judged as high-risk and cause transaction failures; e) a high volume of transactions under $1, a large number of transaction failures, and a significant amount of authorizations getting canceled (meaning no actual consumption) can lead to card irregularities and further inability to use the card.

4) Use clean IP and accounts: Computer environment and browser fingerprints anomalies: Mainly related to computer IP, browser fingerprint, and ordering account behavior, an abnormal ordering environment may lead to transaction failure (acquiring institution declines the transaction).

5) If the trading scenario supports 3D transaction password, you can use the card range that supports 3D transaction password within the system to increase the chances of the transaction getting approved.