Here are some best practices to help your client have a seamless checkout experience.
Payments best practices
While the sections below outline what your client should do if they experience trouble making payment, there are some steps they can take to help their payment successfully process. Learn more about your clients’ experience with online payments.
Your client should confirm that they have a strong internet connection before beginning the transaction
If your client is constantly running into error messages, suggest that they use Google Chrome for the transaction if they aren't already
Have your client use an incognito browser to make the payment
Issue: Client’s payment was declined
Your client might receive an error message when attempting to make payment, which indicates that their transaction did not go through. Here are some messages that might pop up, as well as the steps your client can take to successfully make payment.
Card was declined
Typically, when a client's card gets declined, it's for one of several reasons:
Card has a daily transaction limit
Card has a limit per transaction
The bank/credit card company does not recognize the transaction
If the issue persists, the client should check their card details, use another card, or contact their bank.
Action can’t be completed
A general error message. If the issue persists, have your client reach out to [email protected] for help.
Bank account cannot be used for bank transfers
The client’s bank account isn’t authorized for debit payments. The client should reach out to their bank or pay by credit card if that’s a payment option.
Card has expired
The card entered by the client is expired. The client should check the expiry date or use another card.
Card has insufficient funds
The card has insufficient funds or a transaction limit. The client should use another card or contact their bank.
Card number is incorrect
The card number entered by the client is incorrect. The client should delete and re-enter the card details (card number, expiry date, and security code) or use a different card.j
Incorrect ZIP code (US billing addresses only)
The client should check the ZIP code entered and make sure it is either 5 or 9 digits long.
Incorrect postal code (Canadian billing addresses only)
The client should check the postal code entered and make sure it is 6 characters long.
Issue: Client hasn't accepted file changes
Make sure that your client has accepted the changes on the newest version of your file.
If you've made edits to a file, in some cases, you'll need to resend it to your client for review. They'll receive a notification that changes have been made, and will be asked to accept the changes and re-sign the contract (if the file includes one). Once they take these steps, they can submit their payment.
📚 Tip
Here are all of the cases where the client will need to accept changes before taking further action on a file.
Issue: Client can't pay with their chosen bank account
Have your client use a different bank or pay by credit card.
If your client can't use their bank account to make a payment, their bank might not be supported yet by Plaid (the service HoneyBook uses to safely and securely manage bank details). Plaid hasn't yet connected with some smaller/regional banks, and doesn't list the banks they do connected with. If your client does use a larger or national bank (e.g., Chase, Ally), contact support by clicking the Question Mark icon on any HoneyBook page.
Issue: Previous bank transfer is pending
Review your client's existing payments by heading to their project and opening the invoice.
When a client submits a payment by bank transfer, they'll need to wait for the transfer's status to change from Processing to Paid before they can submit subsequent payments. Once the payment clears the client's bank account, they'll be able to make their next payment.
Issue: The file has expired
Unexpire the file by following the steps in this article.
Clients cannot take action (like submitting payment) on expired files.
📚 Tip
Wondering why the file has expired? You may have taken one of the following actions:
Set the file to expire at a certain point
Manually expired the file
Archived the project, which automatically expires all files within it
Issue: Payment is a milestone payment
If your client is seeing a payment listed as "upcoming and TBD" with no option to pay, it's likely a milestone payment.
You'll need to return the to file and select the Request Payment button. This will notify your client that the payment is due and allow them to pay.
Still have questions? Feel free to send us a message by clicking the Question Mark icon on any HoneyBook page. Our team is always happy to help!