When a card payment for your plan does not go through, your store does not close. It stays fully open for 7 days while we try again and you fix the card; if the payment is still unpaid then, your store moves to the free plan. Nothing is deleted at any point. This article explains what you see, every way to fix it, and the two cases where the console really is locked: a sign-up that has not paid yet, and a suspended store.
A payment failed: your store stays open for 7 days
When Stripe cannot take a renewal payment — the card has expired, or the bank declined it — we tell you straight away, by email and in the bell. The Subscription page then shows a notice at the top:
We could not take your payment of $35.00. Your store keeps every feature until …. Update your card and we will try again. If it is still unpaid then, your store moves to Free.
| On the page | What it means |
|---|---|
| Payment failed | The badge beside your plan’s name. |
| Payment failed · every feature stays on until a date | The last day of the 7 days. Your storefront, your console and every feature of your plan work as usual until then. |
| We try your card again on a date | Stripe tries the card again by itself. If a later try goes through, the notice goes and your plan carries on. |
The 7 days are counted from the first payment that failed. A retry that fails again does not move the date. Two days before the end, we remind you by email and in the bell.
While a payment is unpaid, Upgrade, Switch on a date and the billing cycle button are greyed out with the hint Pay the failed payment first: you cannot move up or down, or change cycle, until it is settled. Moving to Free is the exception: Switch to Free on the Free card stays open and does the same as Move to Free now, below. Cancel subscription is not shown meanwhile, because ending the plan now is the way out.
Fix it: update your card, or try again
- In the notice, select Update card. Stripe’s card form opens in the same tab.
- Enter the new card and save it. Stripe brings you back to your Subscription page.
- Stripe tries the payment again with the new card. When it goes through, the notice goes and your plan carries on, with nothing lost.
If you have already fixed the card — or added money to the account — select Try again now to try the payment straight away instead of waiting. When it goes through, Payment received. appears. If it is declined again, a message says why, the notice stays and nothing else changes.
When your bank asks you to confirm
Some banks hold a payment until you confirm it, for example with a code sent to your phone. The notice then reads Your bank asks you to confirm this payment of …. Your store keeps every feature until …. If it is still unpaid then, your store moves to Free., and Confirm payment comes first among its buttons. There is no We try your card again line: the payment waits for you, not for a retry.
- Select Confirm payment. Stripe’s payment page opens.
- Confirm the payment there, as your bank asks.
- Come back to Subscription. When the payment goes through, the notice goes.
The same 7 days apply: confirm before the date in the notice. A new card does not settle it on its own, because the bank is waiting for you to confirm this payment.
Move to Free now
If you would rather not pay, end the plan now:
- In the notice, select Move to Free now. (Switch to Free on the Free card opens the same window.)
- Read the window, Move to Free now?: Growth ends now and your store moves to Free. You will not be charged. Under We switch off: it lists what Free does not include, from now.
- Select the red Move to Free now to confirm, or Go back.
Your store is now on Free. appears. The unpaid payment is cancelled, so it is never charged later, and your store moves to Free at once, as in the next section.
If the payment went through in the meantime — Stripe’s own retry, or a card you updated a moment before — nothing is cancelled. Your payment went through, so your plan stays. appears instead, and your plan carries on.
After 7 days: your store moves to Free
If the payment is still unpaid at the end of the 7 days, we cancel it, so it can never be charged later, and your store moves to the free plan by itself:
- Your storefront stays open, on Free. Customers can still browse and order with cash on delivery.
- What Free does not include is switched off: card payments, storefront languages beyond one, staff accounts beyond yours, and your own domain if it is live. A paused staff member who is signed in is signed out straight away. Other features Free leaves out show a padlock.
- Nothing is deleted. Your products and their photos, your orders, your customers, your discount codes and gift cards, your design and your settings are all kept.
We tell you by email and in the bell, and for 30 days the Subscription page shows what happened and what was switched off:
Under Usage, Staff accounts counts only the accounts that can sign in: 1 of 1 in the picture above, your own. The two accounts paused when the plan ended, and one suspended before, take up none of Free’s room. Paused staff cannot sign in, and their accounts and roles are kept. To bring them back, move up.
The words in brackets say why the plan ended: payment not received here. The same notice follows other endings too, with cancelled, free trial ended, contract ended, not renewed, you chose Free or changed by our team.
To get it all back, move up again: every paid plan’s card offers it, and what was switched off comes back on with the new plan. See Upgrade or change your plan. In Plan history, the old plan reads Ended after a failed payment.
A sign-up that has not paid: the console is locked
The console is locked in only two cases. The first is a store whose owner chose a paid plan at sign-up and left Stripe’s page without paying. The store exists, but it has no plan yet, so every page of the console shows one screen:
It has a padlock, the title Your subscription isn’t active, the line This store has no active subscription., and two buttons: Go to subscription and Check again. Your storefront is not open yet either.
If you came here straight from sign-up and have not used the link we emailed you yet, the banner Confirm your email so you can publish your store stays above this screen, so you can still send the link again or correct your address. See Confirm your email and fix a wrong address.
- Select Go to subscription. The page says This store has no active plan yet.
- Choose one:
- Pay for Growth — or the plan you chose — opens Stripe’s secure page. Starter and Growth start with a 14-day free trial if you have not had one. See Pay for your plan at sign-up.
- Switch to Free moves your store to Free now, at no charge. The window lists what Free switches off first; select Switch to Free to confirm.
Your store is now on Free. appears, and the console opens. What Free does not include shows a padlock in the side menu, such as Discount codes and Gift cards. Your storefront is still not public: it opens to customers the first time you publish it from the Storefront Studio.
Warning
Set your password soon. A store whose owner never sets a password and never pays is removed after 30 days, and its address becomes free for anyone to take. Once your password is set, your store is kept, paid or not. See Payment cancelled: your store is saved.
Paid just now? Check again
Stripe tells us about a payment a few moments after it goes through. That is why the console asks Stripe once by itself as soon as the locked screen appears.
If you have just paid and the screen is still there, select Check again. While it asks, the button reads Checking with Stripe….
- If Stripe has your payment, the screen disappears and the console opens. There is no need to reload.
- If not, the screen stays. Wait a minute and select Check again. If it still stays, open a support ticket and tell us when you paid.
Subscription and Support stay open
On the locked screen, two pages always work, so you are never locked out of the way back:
- Subscription, to pay for a plan or switch to Free.
- Support, to write to us and read our replies.
The help centre stays open too, from ? in the top bar. See search from the Help menu.
To open the Subscription page, a staff member’s role must include View subscription, and Manage subscription to choose a plan. If yours does not, ask the store owner. See Staff roles: what each one can see and do.
A suspended store
The second case is a suspension. The screen reads Your store is suspended, with the line Your account has been suspended., and only Go to subscription. There is no Check again, because a payment does not change it.
A suspension is a decision our team makes about a store that breaches our terms (opens in a new tab) or is used unlawfully. An unpaid plan never suspends a store: it moves it to Free. Except where a breach is serious or we must act at once, we tell you first.
- Paying does not lift it. The Subscription page opens with the notice Your store is suspended. and a Contact us button, which opens Support. Your plan card does not change.
- Plan changes are held. Upgrade, Switch on a date and the billing cycle button are greyed out with the hint Your store is suspended.
- You can still stop paying. Switch to Free on the Free card, Cancel subscription, Keep my subscription, Cancel this change and Manage billing still work while your store is suspended. So do Try again now and Move to Free now if a payment has failed.
- Nothing is deleted. Your store is kept as it is.
- Support stays open. Open a support ticket to find out why and what to put right.
Talk to us
Whatever happened, we can help. In the side menu, open Support and open a ticket, even while your console is locked. Tell us your store’s name, what the screen or the notice says, and, if you paid, when. See Open a support ticket and Follow a ticket and reply to us.
What to do next
- See your plan once it is settled: See your plan, usage and billing.
- Choose the plan that fits your store: Plans and what each includes.
- Stopping on purpose? Cancel your subscription explains how, and what happens to your store.