What happens when a customer's subscription payment fails
Subscription to a systeme.io plan
When you attempt to subscribe to a systeme.io plan, it's possible that the payment may fail.
In such cases, our system (or the selected payment gateway) will attempt up to three (3) additional retries after the initial failure, depending on the payment method used:
- Stripe (Credit/Debit Card): retries are spaced seven (7) days apart.
- PayPal: the retry process is entirely managed by PayPal, which automatically attempts to collect the payment multiple times.
However, the entire retry process is limited to a maximum of five (5) days.
This means the retries can be close together, sometimes only a few hours apart.
The retry frequency and intervals depend on PayPal’s internal rules (such as seller reputation, product type, and sales frequency), and cannot be modified by systeme.io.
The same behavior applies when your customers subscribe to your offers using Stripe or PayPal.
Access to your subscription
Once your payment details have been submitted, you will receive immediate access to your systeme.io account, even if the payment is still pending.
If, after all retries, the payment fails definitively, your account will be canceled.
Failed payment from a customer (Course Purchase)
When a customer purchases one of your products or courses, access is granted immediately.
If the payment fails, the same retry logic applies:
- Up to three (3) additional retries will be attempted.
- Credit card: retries are spaced 7 days apart.
- PayPal: retries are managed within a maximum of 5 days.
If the payment is not successfully completed, access to the course will be suspended.
Important :
By default, access to the resource is granted immediately after the order is created, even if the first payment fails.
However, this setting can be modified by the seller on the payment page. If you prefer to restrict access until the first payment is successfully received, make sure to select the "Grant access only after receiving the first payment" option.
Learn more in this article: How do you control access to subscription resources?
Failed payment from a customer on a payment plan
If a customer is on a payment plan and a payment fails:
The system will attempt up to four (4) total charges (initial attempt + 3 retries).
Retry intervals depend on the payment method:
- 7 days between attempts for credit card payments.
- Under 5 days in total for PayPal.
If no payment is completed, the customer’s subscription will be canceled.
How customer subscriptions work with other payment gateways
Here is what happens when a payment fails using other gateways currently supported by systeme.io:
- Mollie: no automatic retries are performed. The user must manually retry the payment.
- Mercado Pago :
Cards: 3 retries are attempted. The interval is fixed and cannot be modified. For details, contact Mercado Pago support.
Boleto / Pix: 3 retries are made, spaced 7 days apart. The interval is not customizable.
- Razorpay: 3 retries are performed, each 1 day apart, in addition to the initial attempt.
The seller can manually trigger a retry from their Razorpay dashboard without waiting 24 hours.
Note: this does not increase the total number of allowed attempts.
- Flutterwave: 3 automatic retries spaced 30 minutes apart, in addition to the first attempt. The interval cannot be changed.
- GoCardless: 3 retries will be made. The delay between retries depends on the customer’s bank.
You can configure the number of attempts and intervals per currency in your GoCardless account settings, and systeme.io will apply those rules.
- Xendit: 3 retries spaced 7 days apart, in addition to the first attempt. The interval is not editable.
- Secure and Pay: no automatic retries are scheduled. A notification is sent to the customer after a failed payment.
If no payment is received within 30 days, the subscription is automatically canceled.
- Paystack: no automatic retries are currently performed in case of payment failure.
Important :
If, after all retry attempts (automated or manual), no payment is successfully collected, the subscription will be automatically canceled.
Updated on: 13/07/2025
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