My card payment failed or I paid but the invoice still shows unpaid
Part 1: My card payment was declined
The decline comes from your bank or card issuer, not from Webway. The client area shows the reason if the bank gave one.
| Message or symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Card declined", "Do not honour" | The bank refused without a reason, often fraud rules for an online or foreign merchant | Phone your bank, ask them to approve the merchant, and try again |
| "Insufficient funds" | Not enough balance or limit | Check the balance or online-purchase limit on the card |
| "Authentication failed", 3D Secure timed out | The one-time PIN or app approval wasn't completed | Try again and approve the bank's prompt within the time limit. Check your phone number is current with your bank |
| "Expired card", "Invalid card number" | Card details are wrong or out of date | Update the card under Billing → Payment Methods |
| Payment page never loads or returns an error | Browser extension or ad-blocker interfering | Try a private window or another browser |
| A recurring (saved card) payment failed | Card expired or replaced since it was saved | Add the new card and remove the old one under Payment Methods |
After a failed automatic payment, you're emailed about it. Rather than wait, open the invoice and pay it manually with the new card or another method. See How to pay an invoice (card or PayFast).
If the card keeps failing and the bank says everything is fine, pay with PayFast for this invoice and open a ticket in Billing so we can check our side.
Don't try the same card more than two or three times in a row. Repeated declines can get the card flagged by your bank.
Part 2: I paid, but the invoice still shows Unpaid
How long to wait depends on how you paid.
| Method | Normally marked paid | If it isn't |
|---|---|---|
| Card | Immediately | See below |
| PayFast | Within a few minutes. Instant EFT via PayFast up to an hour | See below |
Card or PayFast payment not showing
- Check your bank or PayFast statement. If the amount isn't there, or shows as reserved/pending only, the payment didn't complete. Pay again.
- If it did go through, check Billing → My Invoices again after a few minutes and refresh. Check the invoice wasn't paid under a different client account if you have more than one.
- Still unpaid after 30 minutes? Open a ticket in Billing with the invoice number, the amount, the time you paid, and the last four digits of the card or the PayFast payment ID. We'll match it and mark the invoice paid.
Sometimes a payment shows twice on your statement: once as a failed reservation and once as the real charge. The reservation drops off within a few days. If you were genuinely charged twice, tell us and we'll refund the duplicate.
My service was suspended in the meantime
Once the invoice is marked paid, the service reactivates automatically within a few minutes. See My hosting account is suspended: what do I do? If you've paid and need the site back urgently, say so in the ticket.
Still stuck?
Open a support ticket in the Billing department and include:
- The invoice number.
- The payment method, date, time and amount.
- For card: the last four digits and the decline message shown, if any. Never send the full card number.
- For PayFast: the PayFast payment ID from their confirmation email.
- Whether the service is currently suspended.
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