Troubleshoot Billing and Payment Failures

Last updated October 27, 2026

Table of Contents

• Failed purchase invoice
• Failed subscription renewal
• Card declined or expired
• Cannot make new purchases
• Account deactivated after failed payments
• Account deactivated
• Have more questions?

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. For the full Account documentation index, see Your DNSimple Account.

DNSimple sends payment status updates to your account notification email. On the Teams plan and higher, you can send invoices to a separate billing email instead.

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.

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 during the collection window. Each failure email gives the date of the next attempt.

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

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Symptom: Charges fail because the card is declined, expired, or no longer valid.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, with the message “This action cannot be completed because you have purchase invoices that need to be paid for.”

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.

Account deactivated after failed payments

Symptom: Renewal collection failed through the full retry window. DNSimple deactivated the account, and domains on DNSimple name servers stopped resolving. You can still log in.

What to do:

1. Read What Happens if I Stop Paying for DNSimple? 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 log in, see Deactivated Account.

Account deactivated

Symptom: You cannot log in, and the login page shows the message Your account has been deactivated.

DNSimple blocks login when it deactivates an account for chargebacks, fraud, or another policy issue. See Deactivated Account for reasons and how to contact support.

If you can still log in and the account was deactivated for unpaid subscription fees, see Account deactivated after failed payments.

Have more questions?

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