Shopper help > Managing your orders and transactions

Troubleshooting failed payments

To protect your security and privacy, your bank cannot provide Amazon Pay with information about why your payment was declined. Because of this, you most likely need to contact your bank directly to solve most payment issues.

Amazon Pay Customer Service can help you with the following:

  • Verify that you have entered your payment information correctly on your order.
  • Change the payment method on an open order.

Contact your bank to resolve all other payment issues even if:

  • You have funds available in your bank account or on your credit card to cover the order cost.

Steps that you can take to resolve payment issues

  • Contact your bank about payment security policies. Your bank may flag any unexpected activity on your account. This includes first-time orders and high-value purchases, regardless of the amount of funds available or your credit limit. Your bank may require your verbal authorisation to proceed with a transaction.
  • Contact your bank about daily withdrawal or purchase limits. Most banks have limits on how much money can be charged or accessed in a single day. If you exceed this daily amount, your bank may block your account from any further activity regardless of available funds in the account. Your bank may require you to request a higher purchase limit to complete the transaction.
  • Contact your bank about payment authorisations and reserved funds. When you place an order using Amazon Pay, we contact the issuing bank of your card to confirm that your credit card has a valid number and has not been reported as lost or stolen. This is communicated by means of a full authorisation for the amount of the purchase. If you make changes to your order or cancel items, or if your order containing multiple items ships in more than one shipment, your card may be authorised for each change and funds may be reserved against your account for each authorisation. Some banks may hold these authorisations for 7 to 10 business days. If your payment is declined due to lack of available funds, contact your bank to confirm whether the reserved funds are other authorisations, verify the amount of time they hold authorisations, and request that they remove any extra authorisation to free up funds in your account.
  • Verify the payment information that is entered on your order. Did your billing address change recently or did you get a new card with a new expiration date? If you used a payment method already on Your Account, you may simply need to update some of the information. If you entered a new payment method, make sure you entered the number and other information correctly. Visit the appropriate section of Your Account to update the payment information on an open order.
  • Submit an alternate payment method for your order. If you are unable to resolve the payment issue with your bank in a timely manner, you are always welcome to change the payment method on your order to another card. Visit the appropriate section of Your Account to update the payment information on an open order.

Resolving suspended orders

If you have an order that has been suspended due to a payment method being declined, see Resolving suspended orders for more information.