Card number and card declined errors in Shopify checkout
Most card errors are typos or issuer declines that no setting prevents. The one setting that removes the step entirely for many shoppers.
What causes them
Card number, expiry date and security code errors are usually a mistyped digit, sometimes a card the issuing bank declines. Repeated failures in the same visit often mean the bank is declining the card rather than the shopper mistyping it. No store setting stops a shopper typing a wrong digit.
The setting that helps
Accelerated checkout removes the card form for the shoppers who use it. Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay fill in the card from a saved wallet, so there is nothing to mistype.
- Open Settings, then Payments.
- Check which accelerated checkout methods are switched on. With Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay are available and usually on by default, so check they have not been turned off.
- If you use a third-party provider, check which wallets it supports and switch them on.
When to worry
Card errors are normal in small numbers. They are worth attention when far more shoppers leave after one than fix it and buy, or when they rise suddenly without any change in traffic.
Seeing it happen on your own store
JourneyLens counts card errors per visit, shows how many of those shoppers still bought, and its store setup check flags a store that has no accelerated checkout switched on, from the moment it is installed.
JourneyLens is $19 a month after a 7-day free trial.