Understand failed payments & late authorization (“Transaction failed but payment got deducted” situations)

In online payment, there are certain basic requirements like a good internet connection, valid credentials, sufficient balance in the selected payment mode, a good payment processor, etc, or the transaction could result in a failed payment.

failed payments

There are so many advantages of digital payments for both the customers and merchants.

However, there are a few inconveniences too, among which includes the situations in which “Transaction failed but payment got deducted” or the worse in which the status is not known.

This happens rarely but when it happens it makes the customer worried about his money and the merchant about his image.

But, this situation can be controlled neither by the merchant nor the payment gateway because it is an external issue on the bankside.

The payment flow

What exactly happens in the backend once the customer proceeds with the transaction on the payment gateway page?

After the customer chooses the payment method, he would enter the details and would then be redirected to the authentication page.

(If the authentication fails then it results in the failed payments.)

Once the authentication is successful, the authorization request is forwarded to the customer’s bank by the payment gateway.

This is the stage when if everything goes right the customer’s bank will send a positive response (success) to the authorization request.

However, in very few situations, it might be possible that the customer’s bank does not give the response at once.

Due to technical glitches or the network issues or any other problem like the customer clicking on the back button, the payment flow might be interrupted on the customer’s bankside.

The result is failed payments or the payment gateway would not receive a response that if the payment was authorized and deducted or not i.e. first the final status is unknown and later it is successful. This is known as the late authorization of payments.

What happens next?

So, if the payment is successful it is received in the acquiring bank after the authorization and if it is failed then the customer can retry the payment.

Must Read: What are the Reasons for Failed transactions

The issue is when the “Transaction failed but payment got deducted”.

Now, here, if the final status was the failed payment then the amount will be auto-refunded to the customer’s account in the ideal refund time-window i.e. 7 – 14 working days.

But, this blog is about when the status of the transaction is unknown from the bankside and after a certain period of time it is authorized (late authorization).

Later, when the status of the transaction is received from the bank side, the action would be taken accordingly. That is, if it is a failed payment, the customer would be auto-refunded.

If the payment is successful after 24 hours it would be automatically refunded to the customer if the ‘Delayed Capture’ feature of PayKun Payment Gateway is set ‘on’ in the merchant dashboard tool.

To know more about Delayed Capture: Must Read

Therefore, the actual status of a “Transaction failed but payment got deducted” would be known after the reconciliation of the payment.

If it is successful within 24 hours then it will be credited to your account as per your settlement cycle. Otherwise, it would be auto reversed to the customer.

Conclusion:

The “Transaction failed but payment got deducted” could be annoying but due to the technical and network reliance for every 1000 transactions 10-20 transactions could be such.

However, without any further ado, if there is any confusion in the final status of a transaction, you or the customer may simply drop an email with the PayKun transaction details at [email protected]. Our support team shall check the final status of the transaction and get back to you to solve your issue.

You May Also Like

About the Author: PayKun