Failed payments and retries
What happens when a subscription renewal fails: who gets which email, how retries work, how you or the client can retry, and when access ends.
A failed renewal does not cut the client off immediately. Access stays on while the gateway retries the charge, both sides are emailed, and only when the retries run out does the subscription end.
What happens the moment a renewal fails
| Where | What you see |
|---|---|
Transactions (/orders) | A new order tagged Renewal with status Unpaid |
| Product, Access tab | The client's access record is marked past due; the client still has access |
| The client's inbox | "❌ Payment for product failed. [product]" with a link to retry or change the payment method |
| Your inbox | A failed-payment notification (when Failed payment notification to you is on) |
| Client area | The product's Access details card offers Retry payment and Change payment method |
The buyer email is fixed content: "it tells the buyer their payment failed and includes a link to retry. You can only turn it on or off." Both switches, Failed payment email to the buyer and Failed payment notification to you, live in the offer's After purchase view under Emails & notifications. The buyer email is sent in the offer's language (then the product's, then your site's, English as the last fallback).
How retries work
| Gateway | Retry schedule | When the retries run out |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe (card) | Stripe retries the charge according to the retry settings of your connected Stripe account | Stripe cancels the subscription and Zanfia removes access |
| Tpay (recurring BLIK) | Zanfia retries after 2, 3 and 5 days; only the first failure of an episode sends the emails | The subscription ends and access is removed |
A successful retry is recorded like a normal renewal: the order turns Paid and the access period moves forward.
Retrying yourself
Open the failed order
In Transactions (/orders) open the Unpaid renewal. The order details show the retry
option; Retry this charge now? confirms that "This attempts to charge the customer's card
immediately." The same Retry action is offered in the attention panel at the top of
Transactions under Subscriptions.
Read the result
You get one of: "Charged … successfully.", "The customer must authenticate the payment - send them the recovery link." (use Recovery link to copy the Stripe page the client must open), "The card was declined." with the reason, or "This charge can no longer be retried." when the subscription has already ended at the gateway.
Reach the client if needed
Copy email copies the client's address so you can write to them. The client can fix the problem on their side with Change payment method and then Retry payment in the client area; a client with a recurring BLIK subscription who wants another bank has to cancel and buy again ("To switch banks, cancel the subscription and buy again.").
Good to know
A client with an unpaid renewal can still cancel from the client area. The confirmation warns "Your subscription has unpaid payments. Cancelling will end your access to this product immediately." and the unpaid charge is written off, so the client is not billed for a period they are leaving.
When access ends
When the gateway gives up, the subscription is canceled at the gateway and Zanfia archives the client's access record. The client loses access to the product and to any products bundled in their plan (including community memberships), and you receive "⚠️ Automatic end of client access [product]" if Email me when a client's access ends is on. The archived record keeps the reason (payment failed, payment disputed, or canceled) and can be found under Archived on the product's Access tab. To let the client back in, grant access again or let them buy a new subscription.
For integrations
The Workspace API exposes the same data: GET /subscriptions/failed-payments lists failed subscription charges with their live dunning state, POST /subscriptions/failed-payments/{invoiceId}/retry retries one on the client's current card, and GET /subscriptions/ending lists subscriptions set to cancel at period end. See Subscriptions in the API.
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