# Billing charge declined

> What happens when your monthly Ordinary billing charge fails, and how to recover.

Source: https://help.tryordinary.com/troubleshooting/billing-declined

---

If your monthly charge for Ordinary fails, here's what happens and
how to recover.

## Billing is handled by Shopify for most plans

On **Free**, **Starter**, and **Advanced** plans, billing is handled
by **Shopify's Managed Pricing** — same payment method as your
Shopify subscription.

On **Enterprise**, billing is direct via Stripe invoice; different
flow.

## What happens on a failed charge (Shopify plans)

1. **Day 0** — Shopify attempts to charge your payment method on
   your subscription renewal date. If it fails (card expired,
   insufficient funds, fraud flag), Shopify marks the charge as
   failed.
2. **You get notified** — Shopify sends you an email. Ordinary also
   shows a banner at the top of the app: "Your Ordinary subscription
   charge failed — update your payment method."
3. **Grace period** — Shopify retries the charge for up to **7 days**.
   During grace, Ordinary continues to function normally.
4. **Day 8+** — if still unpaid, Shopify cancels the subscription.
   Ordinary downgrades you to Free tier. All data remains in our DB;
   reports still work within the 30-day Free lookback; paid-tier
   features become read-only or hidden.

## How to fix it

### Step 1 — update your Shopify payment method

1. Open your **Shopify admin**.
2. Go to **Settings → Billing**.
3. Click **Update payment method**.
4. Add a valid credit card or update the existing one.

Once updated, Shopify will automatically retry the Ordinary charge
within a few minutes. You'll see a success banner in Ordinary once
it goes through.

### Step 2 — force an immediate retry (if needed)

If Shopify's automatic retry hasn't fired after updating your card:

1. In Shopify admin: **Settings → Apps → Ordinary → Manage**.
2. Click **Retry failed charge**.

### Step 3 — if you were downgraded to Free

If enough time passed that Shopify cancelled the subscription:

1. Update the Shopify payment method (Step 1).
2. In Ordinary: **Settings → Billing → Upgrade to Starter** (or the
   tier you were on).
3. Approve the new subscription in Shopify's billing dialog.

Your historical data is intact. Reports that require Starter+ will
re-enable immediately after payment approval.

## For Enterprise (Stripe invoice) plans

Different flow:

- Invoices are emailed to your billing contact with **Net 14** terms
  (or whatever your contract specifies).
- A late invoice generates a reminder at Day 15, 20, 25.
- After Day 30 past-due, we'll email your primary contact before any
  service impact.
- Service is never auto-terminated for past-due Enterprise. We'll
  talk to you first.

To update the Stripe payment method for Enterprise, reply to any
invoice email or contact [sales@tryordinary.com](mailto:sales@tryordinary.com).

## "Charge declined" but my card is fine

Occasionally Shopify's fraud detection blocks a legitimate charge.
Check:

- Card expiration date (even if it looks fine, sometimes bank rotated
  the number).
- **Bank hold** — a new, non-recurring charge can trigger a hold on
  some cards. Call the bank to whitelist it.
- Billing address matches your card's registered address in Shopify.

## Related articles

- [Understanding your plan](https://help.tryordinary.com/billing/plans-overview)
- [Upgrading your plan](https://help.tryordinary.com/billing/upgrading)
- [Enterprise plans](https://help.tryordinary.com/billing/enterprise)