Failed Payments - Frequently Asked Questions

Why does a payment fail?

Payments may fail under various circumstances, typically when the Payment Service Provider (PSP) encounters difficulties processing transactions. Some common scenarios include:

Invalid Information: If the payment details provided by the guest are incorrect or incomplete, such as an invalid card number or expiration date, the PSP may be unable to process the payment.

Lack of Authorization: If the cardholder's bank does not authorize the transaction. This can happen for reasons such as insufficient funds in the account or security measures implemented by the bank.

Security Threats: In cases where the PSP detects potential fraud or security threats associated with the transaction, it may decline the payment to protect the cardholder's account and prevent fraudulent activity.

How to check an unsuccessful payment reason?

1. Navigate to the Payments module and search for the reservation number or the attempted amount in the RaccoonPay tab
2. Check the status, which may be either cancelled or error.
3. Error messages will be displayed on the right side, along with other payment details.
   

How to interpret error messages?

Error messages can sometimes be straightforward, such as "invalid card number." However, the presented errors are general in the payments world. To understand what an error message means, you can copy the message and search for it on Google to have a clear explanation, so that you know how to proceed.

What happens if a prepayment fails for a Booking Engine reservation?

If the prepayment is not confirmed, the reservation is not confirmed either, therefore:

• No confirmation email is sent to guest
• The reservation remains in the system with the status cancelled. It can be seen in the Reservation Dashboard under the cancellation section on the attempt day.
• No room is blocked in your calendar, therefore there is still availability to sell
• The failed payment will appear in the RaccoonPay tab with its status and respective error message

What to do to ensure a failed payment becomes successful?

If a payment fails, we recommend taking the following steps:

1. Contact the guest to inform them of the situation.
2. Send them a payment request, allowing them to retry the payment online.

What to do if a virtual credit card payment fails?

Since the OTA is the cardholder in this scenario, reach out to them promptly and share the error message presented in the payment. 

It is common that the OTA updates the VCC information as already charged upon receiving an attempt notification. However, if the PSP returns an error message indicating that the payment failed, then no payment was processed and no funds were deducted from the card.