What happens when a customer's card is declined?

The customer is emailed a link to pay with any card, you're told, a "not now" decline is tried once more a day later, and Retry charge tries the card once more on demand.

A card the customer saved is charged in three places: the deposit (or payment) taken when you approve a booking that waited for you, the no-show fee, and the late-cancellation fee. If the bank declines it:

• The customer is emailed a secure link to pay with any card — a different one is fine, and Apple Pay and Google Pay work too. The email says the card ending in its last four digits couldn't be charged; it never tells them the bank's reason.
• You're told — a bell row says the amount, the card's last four digits and the bank's answer in plain words (for example "not enough money in the account" or "the card has expired"). For a booking you approved, it stays booked with Deposit due and its pay-by day; you decide what happens next — nothing is cancelled on its own, and the bell tells you again if the pay-by day passes. A pre-order paid online stays on the booking for the customer to pay.
• One automatic retry, a day later — only when the bank said "not now" (not enough money, a temporary problem, the bank couldn't be reached, over the spending limit). A card that's expired, lost, stolen or blocked, or one the bank wants the customer to confirm themselves, is never tried again by itself. The retry is skipped if the customer has paid by the link in the meantime, or the booking no longer owes it (for example a no-show you restored). If it's declined again, the customer is emailed a new link.
• Retry charge — once. On the booking, under its payments, the note shows the card, the bank's answer, "Link sent" and when the automatic retry runs. Press Retry charge to try the card once more now — it asks for your password, or a manager's PIN at a shared device, and needs permission to take payments. Once used it reads Retried; if it's declined again the customer gets a new link.

Now and then the bank takes a few minutes to answer. Nothing is sent while it decides, and if it then declines, it's handled exactly the same way — the link, the bell and the one automatic retry. If it accepts, the money is recorded as taken.

Every step shows on the booking's History tab — the decline, the link, the retry and its result, who retried it, and a payment made by the link — and the emails the customer was sent show with its messages. A card kept for a deposit you approved is let go as soon as no try is left, at the latest the day after the booking. A fee taken by a retry can be returned with Refund fee, like any other.

Related: How do I charge no-show fees? · When is a no-show fee actually taken? · How do I approve or decline online booking requests?