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Troubleshoot Billing and Payment Failures

Table of Contents

Use this guide when a DNSimple payment fails, a renewal invoice is unpaid, or service stopped after failed collection. For how invoices and renewals work, see Understanding Your DNSimple Invoice and Subscription Renewals.

DNSimple sends payment status updates to your account notification email. On eligible plans, invoice emails may also go to a separate billing email.

Failed purchase invoice

Symptom: You tried to register a domain, buy a certificate, or make another purchase, and payment did not go through. The invoice shows as failed, and you cannot make other purchases until it is paid.

What to do:

  1. Update your payment method if the card on file is expired, declined, or incorrect.
  2. Open Account Invoice History and retry the failed payment.
  3. If the retry still fails, contact your bank or card issuer, then retry again.

Note

While an invoice is in the failed state, DNSimple also retries collection automatically every few hours. You can still retry manually any time.

Failed subscription renewal

Symptom: Your monthly subscription renewal failed. You received a dunned invoice and an email about the failed attempt. Domains still resolve during the retry window.

What to do:

  1. Update your payment method so the card on file can be charged.
  2. Retry the dunned invoice from Account Invoice History.
  3. Watch your notification email for weekly retry updates during the collection window.

From the first failed renewal attempt, you have 21 days to fix payment. DNSimple retries about once per week during that period. Details are in Subscription Renewals.

Warning

If DNSimple cannot collect the renewal after the retry window, the subscription is canceled and DNSimple services stop. See What Happens if I Stop Paying for My DNSimple Subscription?.

Card declined or expired

Symptom: Charges fail because the card is declined, expired, or no longer valid.

What to do:

  1. Confirm the card details with your bank or card issuer.
  2. Change the payment details on the account.
  3. Return to Account Invoice History and retry any failed or dunned invoices.

Account owners and members with Full Access can update payment details.

Cannot make new purchases

Symptom: The interface blocks new purchases such as domain registrations or SSL certificates.

What to do:

  1. Check Account Invoice History for a failed invoice from a previous purchase.
  2. Retry that payment after updating the card if needed.
  3. When the invoice moves to collected, try the purchase again.

Subscription canceled after failed payments

Symptom: Renewal collection failed through the full retry window. The subscription was canceled, and domains stopped resolving.

What to do:

  1. Read What Happens if I Stop Paying for My DNSimple Subscription? for what is disabled and what remains in the account.
  2. Reactivate your subscription. Reactivation starts a new subscription on a current plan. Your domains, DNS records, contacts, and account history remain in the account.
  3. If you cannot sign in, see Deactivated Account.

Note

Reactivation does not grant another free trial if you already used one. Legacy plans cannot be reactivated as-is. Choose a current plan when you resubscribe.

Account deactivated

Symptom: You cannot use the account, or the sign-in page returns the message Your account has been deactivated.

Deactivation can follow non-payment, chargebacks, fraud, or other policy issues. See Deactivated Account for reasons and how to contact support.

If the deactivation is only about unpaid subscription fees, resolving billing and reactivating may restore service.

Have more questions?

If you have questions about a failed payment or restoring service, contact support, and we will be happy to help.