After the launch of Stripe, customers began to fail the checkout process due to zip code validation errors. Theoretically, an error should mean an incorrectly entered zip code, but there was a case when a client contacted the support team and claimed they faced this error when the zip was entered correctly. However, according to Stripe records, this payment was rejected by the bank due to lack of funds on the credit card.
Business Issues
- Clients can’t finish the checkout due to zip code validation error
- Decreased user experience
- Store admins were getting numerous error notifications
Solution
- We tried to reproduce the zip code validation error using the client’s address.
- We tested Stripe checkout with the correct postal code but got “Your card has insufficient funds” error.
- We tested Stripe checkout error using the incorrect postal code, but still got the same “insufficient funds” error message.
- We realized that it was impossible to reproduce this error. If the zip check has failed, it’s because the bank is telling the payment processor that the zip code does not match the one it has on file.
- We turned off the “Decline charges that fail zip code validation” setting.
- Since then, all payments were successful.
If an online merchant isn’t confident accepting payments from customers when their zip/postal code doesn’t match the bank’s data and doesn’t want to turn off this setting, these customers should call their bank and confirm their zip codes.
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