Failed payments

When Stripe charges fail: retries, wallet recovery, and what to do in the product.

Written By Zoro

Last updated 3 days ago

A failed payment

A failed payment means Stripe could not complete a charge for an open invoice while automatic collection is enabled. The subscription may move to past_due until the invoice is paid or canceled.

What Stripe does first

Stripe retries failed charges according to its Smart Retries schedule (dates shown on the invoice). Between attempts, the invoice stays open with an attempt count and optionally a next payment attempt timestamp.

Wallet-assisted recovery

If an invoice is still open and unpaid, the platform may compare Stripe customer balance (your wallet) to amount due:

  • When wallet covers the full amount, the product can pay the invoice using wallet funds and mark related orders paid.
  • When wallet is insufficient, the invoice may be marked failed in the order record and you must fix the payment method or add funds.

Always verify the latest state on Profile → Invoices and in any email from Stripe.

Worker Node subscriptions after final failure

For some subscriptions (Stripe metadata type vps, used for Worker Node billing), if Stripe reaches the final retry without a successful charge and wallet cannot cover the invoice, the subscription may be canceled automatically. That protects against unpaid compute capacity. If this happens, expect loss of billed Worker Node entitlement until you resubscribe or contact support.

Other subscription types follow Stripe status transitions; automatic cancellation rules can differ. When in doubt, open Billing issues under Troubleshooting in the sidebar.

What you should do

  1. Open app.dflow.sh → Profile → Cards and update the default card or add a new payment method (Payment methods).
  2. Check Profile → Invoices for the open invoice and retry or pay per UI options.
  3. Review wallet in the header; if you rely on balance, top up before the final retry when the product offers top-up.
  4. Confirm Organisation admins are notified (billing contact email).

Prevention

  • Replace expiring cards early.
  • Align finance contacts with Invites and team members under Security and Team Management in the sidebar.
  • Read Usage and billing behavior so proration spikes are expected.

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