Articles on: Preorders

What to do when preorder payment collection fails

When you use partial payments for preorders, STOQ collects a deposit at checkout and schedules the remaining balance for later. Sometimes that second payment collection fails — the customer's card may have expired, had insufficient funds, or been declined by the bank.


This article explains what happens when collecting the remaining payment fails, how the payment failed email works, and what steps you can take to resolve the issue.


How Payment Collection Works


Before understanding failures, here is how STOQ collects the remaining payment on preorders with partial payments.


STOQ supports two collection modes:


  • Manual — You collect the remaining payment yourself from Shopify admin (one order at a time) or from STOQ > Reports > Preorders (in bulk).
  • Automatic — STOQ collects the remaining payment automatically based on a trigger you choose:
  • On the scheduled date — Payment is collected on the due date you set in the offer.
  • When the order ships — Payment is collected as soon as you fulfill the order.


Note: Automatic payment collection requires a paid STOQ plan.


In both modes, STOQ sends a payment request to Shopify. Shopify then attempts to charge the customer's saved payment method.


Why Payment Collection Fails


Payment collection can fail for several reasons. These are the most common:


  • Card expired — The customer's credit or debit card has expired since they placed the preorder.
  • Insufficient funds — The customer does not have enough balance on their card.
  • Card declined — The issuing bank declined the transaction (e.g., fraud protection, spending limits).
  • Payment method removed — The customer removed their saved payment method from Shopify.
  • Authentication required — Some banks require the customer to verify the payment (3D Secure / SCA) and the customer did not complete verification.
  • Shopify processing error — A temporary issue on Shopify's side prevented the charge.


What Happens When Payment Fails


When STOQ attempts to collect the remaining balance and it fails, two things happen:


1. You Get Notified


STOQ sends a notification to the store owner email address configured in your STOQ settings. This email includes details about which orders failed so you can take action.


You can see the email address that receives these notifications in the automatic collection settings info text:


"If payment collection fails, you will be notified on {your email}."


2. Customer Gets a "Payment Collection Failed" Email


If you enabled the notification checkbox, the customer receives a "Payment collection failed" email. This email tells them the payment could not be processed and includes a button to complete the payment manually.


The button redirects customers to the Order Status page in your Shopify store where they can enter updated payment details and complete the transaction.



Payment Failed Email Settings


You can customize the payment failed email from the email editor in your preorder offer.


How to Access


  1. Open the STOQ app in your Shopify admin.
  2. Go to Preorders from the left menu.
  3. Click Notification tab.
  4. Navigate to the **Customize **tab on 'Payment collection failed' email section,



Customizable Fields


Field

Description

Default Value

Email subject

The subject line customers see in their inbox.

Order #{{order.name}} from {{shop.name}}

Email header

The main headline inside the email body.

Complete payment for your order

Email message

The body text explaining the situation to the customer.

Hey there! We were unable to process the remaining balance payment for your preorders on order #{{order.name}}. Click the button below to complete your payment to receive your preorders.

Button text

The call-to-action button label. Redirects customers to the Order Status page.

Complete payment


Each text field has a Variables button that lets you insert Liquid variables (e.g., {{order.name}}, {{shop.name}}) without typing them manually.


Tip: The payment failed email uses the same layout, colors, styles, and address settings as the main preorder confirmation email. You only need to customize the content fields listed above.


Multi-Language Support


The payment failed email supports multiple languages. To add translations:


  1. Click the Languages icon (globe icon) at the top right of the Payment collection failed section.
  2. Add translations for each language you support.
  3. Save your changes.



Enable or Disable the Payment Failed Email


The payment failed email is sent when you opt in during payment collection. It is not a standalone toggle like the preorder confirmation email.


When Collecting Manually (Bulk)


  1. Go to Reports > Preorders.
  2. Select the orders you want to collect payment for.
  3. Click Collect payment from the bulk actions.
  4. In the confirmation modal, check or uncheck Send email notifications to customers if payment fails.
  5. Click Collect payment.




Note: The customize link in the modal takes you to Preorders > Notifications where you can edit the payment failed email template.


When Collecting Automatically


When automatic collection is enabled, STOQ automatically sends the payment failed email to customers when payment fails. This behavior is noted in the offer settings:


"If payment collection fails, you will be notified on {your email}. Customers will also receive an email and you can customize it in Preorders > Notifications."


What to Do When Payment Fails


Here are the steps to resolve failed payments.


Step 1: Check the Order in Reports


  1. Open the STOQ app and go to Reports > Preorders.
  2. Filter orders by Financial status to find unpaid or partially paid orders.
  3. Review which orders have failed payments.



Step 2: Retry Payment Collection


You can retry collecting payment from STOQ:


  1. In Reports > Preorders, select the orders with failed payments.
  2. Click Collect payment from the bulk actions.
  3. Check Send email notifications to customers if payment fails (optional).
  4. Click Collect payment to retry.


STOQ sends the request to Shopify, and you receive an email at your store email with a status report when processing is complete.


Tip: Wait at least a few hours before retrying. This gives the customer time to update their payment method if they received the payment failed email.


Step 3: Contact the Customer


If retrying does not work, reach out to the customer directly:


  • Let them know their payment could not be processed.
  • Ask them to visit their Order Status page (linked in the payment failed email) and enter a valid payment method.
  • You can also resend the payment failed email by retrying the collection with the notification checkbox enabled.


Step 4: Collect from Shopify Admin


You can also collect the remaining payment from Shopify admin directly:


  1. Go to Shopify admin > Orders.
  2. Open the order with the failed payment.
  3. Click Collect payment in the order details.


Note: Shopify admin collects payment one order at a time. Use STOQ's bulk collection from Reports if you have multiple failed orders.


Step 5: Cancel the Order (Last Resort)


If the customer is unresponsive and payment cannot be collected:


  1. Open the order in Shopify admin.
  2. Cancel the order and issue a refund for the deposit if applicable.


Klaviyo Integration


If you use Klaviyo as your email provider, you can configure a separate Klaviyo flow for payment collection failed emails.


When Klaviyo is selected and a Klaviyo flow is configured for payment failed events, STOQ triggers the Klaviyo flow instead of sending the email through STOQ. A banner appears in the Payment collection failed section:


"A Klaviyo Flow is configured for this alert. When a payment collection fails, STOQ will trigger the Klaviyo flow to notify customers."


For Klaviyo setup, see Send Preorder Confirmation Emails Through Klaviyo.


Troubleshooting


Problem

Solution

Payment collection keeps failing for the same order

The customer's payment method may be permanently invalid. Contact the customer and ask them to update their payment details on the Order Status page.

Customer did not receive the payment failed email

Make sure you checked Send email notifications to customers if payment fails when collecting. Verify the email provider is set to STOQ. Check the customer's spam folder.

Cannot find the Payment collection failed email settings

Go to the preorder offer > Email tab > click Payment collection failed in the left sidebar.

Bulk collect payment button is disabled

The selected orders may already be fully paid. Filter by financial status to find unpaid orders. Bulk payment collection requires a paid plan.

Automatic collection is not working

Verify that Collect automatically is selected in the offer's Payment tab. Check that the trigger (scheduled date or when order ships) has been met.

"Payment collection requested" banner but no result

STOQ sends the request to Shopify asynchronously. You will receive an email at your store email when processing is complete. Wait a few minutes and refresh the page.


FAQs


Q: Can I retry failed payments multiple times?

A: Yes. You can retry collecting payment as many times as needed from Reports > Preorders. Each attempt sends a new payment request to Shopify. However, if the customer's card is still invalid, it will fail again. Wait for the customer to update their payment method before retrying.


Q: Does STOQ automatically retry failed payments?

A: No. STOQ does not automatically retry failed payments. If automatic collection fails, you need to either retry manually from Reports or wait for the customer to complete payment via the link in the payment failed email.


Q: What does the customer see when they click the button in the payment failed email?

A: The button redirects the customer to the Order Status page on your Shopify store. From there, they can enter a new or updated payment method and complete the remaining balance payment.


Q: Can I customize the payment failed email differently for each offer?

A: Yes. Each preorder offer has its own email editor with independent content settings. You can write different payment failed messages for different offers.


Q: Is the payment failed email the same as the shipping update email?

A: No. These are two separate email types. The payment failed email is sent when remaining payment collection fails. The shipping update email is sent manually when you want to share shipping-related updates with customers. Both are configured in the Email tab but have their own sections and content fields.

Updated on: 23/04/2026

Was this article helpful?

Share your feedback

Cancel

Thank you!