At some point, you may encounter a failed payment from a student. In this article, we will discuss what to do when this happens and how to retry a failed payment.
This feature, and other TCommerce selling tools, are only available when using Thinkific Payments as your primary payment processor.
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In this article:
Manually Retry a Failed Payment
How It Works
At some point, you may notice that a recurring payment on a student's account is showing that it has not gone through. If a student's recurring payment fails, the Status in the Payments table will show as Past due, and the student will lose access to the product at 23:59:59 UTC on the date of renewal. Once the student has lost access to the product, their Status will show as Enrollment Expired.
If this happens, Thinkific Payments will retry the failed payment eight times over a three-week period. By default, students will be notified via email when their subscription or payment plan payment fails. Students can renew subscriptions or payment plans themselves from their billing page after a payment fails by clicking the Renew button as outlined here.
If the payment is not successfully captured after three weeks, the subscription or payment plan will be canceled. Students will then have the option to re-enroll in the product. Student progress in a product is saved even if a subscription or payment plan is canceled or past due.
All dates/times on the Admin Dashboard are in UTC, including students' payment dates.
Smart Retries
Thinkific Payments utilizes the Smart Retries system to help you earn more revenue. The Smart Retries system will automatically retry failed payments eight times over the period of three weeks. Smart Retries uses time-dependent, dynamic signals to choose the best times to retry failed payment attempts to increase the chance of successfully paying an outstanding payment.
Card Account Updater
Card account updater (CAU) is a service offered by credit card companies and payment gateways to help businesses maintain up-to-date credit and debit card information. When a customer’s payment information changes because a card has expired or been replaced, the CAU automatically updates the card details in the business’s system.
Tired of interruptions due to outdated payment details? With TCommerce, Card Account Updater (CAU) ensures your customers' credit and debit card information stays up-to-date. Whether a card expires or is replaced, CAU automatically updates the details in your system, minimizing failed payments and keeping subscriptions and payment plans on track. This exclusive feature is available to all creators using Thinkific Payments and is just one more reason TCommerce is built for your business growth!
Failed Payment Notifications
By default, your students will be notified via email when their subscription or payment plan payment fails. They will receive one email after the first unsuccessful attempt.
When all smart retry attempts are exhausted and the payment has not been collected, they will then receive an additional email notifying them that they have lost access to their product with the option to purchase it again.
Additionally, you have the option to enable failed subscription payment notifications, which will be sent to you when a student's subscription or payment plan payment fails. This notification option is turned off by default, but can be enabled by following the steps here: Automated Email Notifications.
Manually Retry a Failed Payment
As a Site Owner or Site Admin
If you need to manually retry an outstanding student subscription or payment plan payment, you can do so from the Payments table:
- From your Admin Dashboard, select Users
- Select All Users
- In the Users table click on a student's Full Name to view their profile
- Select the Payments tab
- Click the ellipses (3 dot icon) next to any Past due products
- Click Retry Failed Payment
- Review the payment information and click on Charge Customer
If the payment is successfully captured, the Status will change to Active in the Payments table.
If the outstanding payment is not captured, the Status will remain as Past due and Thinkific Payments will continue to retry the payment. If the payment is not successfully captured within three weeks of the payment renewal date (when the payment initially failed), the subscription or payment plan will be automatically canceled and the Status will change to Canceled.
As a Student
Your students can retry their own failed payments by following these steps:
- From their Student Dashboard, click on their name or picture in the top right
- Select My Account
- Select the Billing tab
- Find the subscription or payment plan with a failed payment
- Click Renew
Learn more: How can students manage their billing and credit card information?