"Your payment details couldn’t be verified" on a Shopify payment link

What does “Your payment details couldn’t be verified” mean on Shopify?

The checkout couldn’t take the payment, and the message doesn’t give the reason. Read the payment event’s Message in the abandoned checkout’s Timeline first. Then ask the customer to check their card details against the card, and if you’ve just set up payments, make sure test mode is off. (Older Community threads show it as “could not”.)

What do the other Shopify checkout errors on a payment link mean?

Each message points somewhere different: the card details, your payment provider, the customer’s browser or the draft’s total. The table maps each one to what to check, what to tell the caller and what to do next.

Merchants have reported the first four messages on the Shopify Community (linked in the table). If the link won’t open or says the invoice is paid, see why a customer can’t pay a draft order invoice. If every customer’s payment fails, start with this store can’t accept payments right now.

“There was an issue processing your payment”

Open the payment event first. With a third-party payment provider, the provider holds the detail, so check its dashboard and contact it if retries keep failing.

“There was a problem with our checkout”

Shopify staff on the Community have suggested another browser, a private window or clearing the cache. One merchant reported it on payment links that opened in the Shop app. Then check Shopify Status and resend the link.

For a card declined at your counter, see Shopify POS payment declined: issue with Shopify.

Where do I see why a customer’s payment failed in Shopify?

Every payment attempt is logged as a payment event. Go to Orders > Abandoned checkouts, open the customer’s attempt, go to Timeline and expand the payment event. Its Message field holds information about the failed payment that you can give the customer. From Shopify’s abandoned checkouts help page:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders > Abandoned checkouts.
2. Look for an attempt with the customer’s email or name. A checkout counts as abandoned once it has sat incomplete for more than ten minutes after the customer gave their email.
3. Click the abandoned checkout.
4. On the details page, go to Timeline.
5. Click a payment event to expand it.
6. Read the Message field.

If the attempt isn’t listed, check the Blocked view, where Shopify Payments lists checkouts it blocked as high risk. If the customer did pay in the end, the draft is now an order on the Orders page.

What should I say to a customer whose card won’t go through on my payment link?

Confirm the exact message, ask them to check the card details against the card, then offer a fresh link or, if you use Shopify Payments, to take the card yourself. That gets the order paid while they’re still on the line.

An example script:

1. “Can you read me the exact message on the screen?”
2. “Could you check the card number, expiry date, security code and billing address against the card? It should match the address your bank has for the card.”
3. “If it still won’t go, I’ll send you a fresh link. Try opening it in a different browser or a private window.”
4. “Or I can take the card over the phone now, if you’d rather.”

Before you key a card, read taking card payments over the phone in Shopify.

Why does checkout say “Your payment couldn’t be processed because your order total has changed”?

Checkout found a different total from the one on the link. Correct the draft and send a fresh link. On a draft, the total can move after you send it because of the customer’s shipping address and market, the price lock, the exchange rate or shipping:

• Market and currency. The invoice currency follows the market of the customer’s shipping address, and since October 31, 2025, prices may change when they update it at checkout.
• Price lock. Prices on the draft stay unlocked until you choose Lock product pricing, and Product prices locks them by default when you send or share. If the lock is off, the draft picks up product price changes.
• Exchange rate. Editing a saved foreign-currency draft re-prices the whole order at that day’s rate.
• Shipping. Products added after shipping was calculated don’t update the shipping rate.

More on each in why a draft order’s price changed after you sent the invoice, and on collection orders in stop a payment link adding shipping.

Why can’t I complete a draft order: “The deferred payment amount doesn’t match the order total”?

This error shows up when you complete a draft in the admin, rather than on the customer’s checkout. Check that every product is published to the customer’s market and that the draft’s total, including any taxes from a tax app, is what you expect. If it still fails, contact Shopify Support with the draft number.

A merchant has reported it on a draft with payment terms, a tax app and a foreign market; Shopify staff there suspected the tax app’s timing. If a draft has payment terms and is in a local currency other than your store’s, you can’t send an invoice at all: you can only take a card or mark it as paid.

Should I resend the link or take the card myself?

Resend when the problem was the browser, a total you’ve fixed, or a blocked attempt. Take the card yourself when the customer wants it done now and you use Shopify Payments. Either way, check whether the link was paid first so you don’t chase a payment that already went through.

Resend the link. Send a fresh invoice from the same draft so they can retry with another card. If email isn’t reaching them, send the payment link by text.

Take the card yourself from the draft in the admin: in the Payment section, click Collect payment > Credit card, enter the customer’s billing and card details, then click Charge. This needs a verified Shopify Payments account. Credit card transaction fees on a draft aren’t returned when you issue a refund. Full walkthrough: taking a card in the Shopify admin.

How do I stop payment link errors before I send the next one?

You can head off two of these before sending: a total that moves and a payment setup left in test mode. Add the customer’s address first, keep prices locked, open the link yourself before you send it, and make sure test mode is off.

To check test mode, go to Settings > Payments, click Manage and look at the Test mode section. While it’s on, no real payments are captured.

What a draft doesn’t show is what checkout will do with it. Currency follows the customer’s shipping address, and checkout may add shipping, so the total you quoted at the counter can differ from the one the customer sees.

Can I check the total before a payment link goes out from Shopify POS?

A Shopify draft shows its own total, but not what checkout will add. Pay Link, from Countermade (the Shopify POS apps from Invenire Studios), creates the payment link from the Shopify POS cart. Before it goes out, staff see the link’s total, with a note when checkout will add shipping, so they can tell the customer before the link is opened.

The customer pays on Shopify’s own secure checkout; staff never see or type card details. A double tap makes one link, not two, so an accidental second tap doesn’t give the customer two links. Staff can see whether a link has been paid before they chase. Pay Link needs Shopify POS Pro. Turn on local pickup at the store so a collecting customer can choose pickup instead of shipping.

Next step

Open Orders > Abandoned checkouts now and read the payment event for the customer who called.

Pay Link isn’t on the Shopify App Store yet. Get early access: we’ll email you when it’s ready to try.