Why was my payment declined?
TailoredRead doesn't charge your card directly — that's handled by Stripe, our payment processor. When a payment is declined, the block comes from your bank or card issuer, or occasionally from Stripe's fraud checks. The most common reasons are insufficient funds, a bank blocking an online or international charge, an extra verification step from your bank not completing, or a prepaid card with tighter limits.
Things to try, in order:
- Retry the checkout once — if your bank asked for a verification code or app approval and it didn't go through, a second attempt often clears.
- Switch to a wallet: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, or Link all work in our checkout without re-entering card details and usually clear when a raw card number won't.
- Call or message your bank and ask them to approve the next charge to "TailoredRead" via Stripe. Banks often flag first-time online purchases, especially from a different country.
- Try a different card. Some prepaid and gift cards don't support the extra verification step that many online purchases require, and they'll decline regardless.
We don't support PayPal. Stripe doesn't offer PayPal as a payment method, so we can't accept it. If PayPal is your usual option, Link, Amazon Pay, or Apple/Google Pay are the closest one-click alternatives and work with the accounts you already have.
Stripe makes the final call on whether a charge goes through, and we can't override a decline from your bank. A different card or wallet is almost always the fastest fix.