Troubleshooting checkout issues

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Troubleshooting checkout issues

Last updated March 20, 2026 14:47

Resolve common issues with customer checkout.

Use this guide to troubleshoot problems you or your customers might see on your checkout page.

Check for browser issues first

If a customer is using a valid form of payment and can't check out, it’s likely because of an issue related to their browser. Unless they see one of the error messages listed below, ask your customer to try these troubleshooting steps:

• Ensure they’re using the most up-to-date version of their browser.
• Clear their cache, or test the purchase from an incognito browser window.
• Disable any browser extensions.
• Contact their bank to verify their credit card is working properly.
• Contact Stripe directly. Stripe checks with the customer's bank to ensure that the billing address and postal code are valid for the credit card number when attempting to process a purchase.

Error messages

Other issues

A “checkout is closed” message displays

If your site displays a Checkout is closed message, it could be because:

• You haven't connected a payment processor.
• Your customer's currency isn't supported by your payment processor. To find a list of accepted currencies, visit Supported countries and currencies for Squarespace Commerce.
• You aren't on a plan that supports selling products in an online store. You'll need to be on the business plan or higher.

Authentication failed

If the customer sees an Authentication failed message, this means their bank is located in the European Economic Area (EEA) and they need to authorize the purchase for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). Ask your customer to retry the purchase and watch for a pop-up from the bank to authorize the payment. If they continue to have trouble, the customer will need to reach out to their bank for help.

Country unavailable in drop-down menu

If the customer can't select their country in the shipping or billing information, you don’t have a shipping option for that country yet. For help adding a shipping rule, visit Setting country shipping rules.

Customers can't enter their postal code

If you're selling paywalled content, your customers may not find the appropriate postal code box during checkout. Usually, this is because of international travel. If the customer is visiting a different country than they live in, the checkout page requests the postal code for the area they're currently in. If the code doesn't match the customer's credit card requirements, the charge fails. When this happens, customers can purchase the paywalled content after returning home.

Expired download products

After a customer orders a download product, they receive a link to download the product. The link will expire 24 hours after it's sent. Clicking an expired link will automatically send a new link to the customer's email address. You can also re-send the link for them:

1. Open the order in the Orders panel.
2. Click Email notifications.
3. Click Send under Resend and Refresh digital goods.

Failed Tap to Pay transactions

If you're having trouble accepting payments with Tap to Pay on your iPhone or Android device, review these guides:

• Troubleshooting Tap to Pay on iPhone
• Troubleshooting Tap to Pay on Android

Your site is private

For your customers to complete the checkout process, you need to set your site to public.

Shopping cart icon is missing

In most templates, the icon appears when a customer adds a product to their cart. In some templates, it always displays.

If your shopping cart icon isn't showing, look for the following potential causes:

1. Check that your site has at least one product on a store page.
2. Ensure Express Checkout is disabled in Checkout Settings. Enabling Express Checkout disables the shopping cart.
3. Check your site styles to see if your shopping cart is hidden.

The shopping cart can be hidden in these templates. Use the listed site styles tweak to show it again.

Tip: In version 7.1, enable the icon in the header to ensure it always displays.

Test mode

Your store can’t accept real payments while it’s in test mode. This means payment methods like ACH and credit card transactions may not appear at checkout. To resolve this issue, disable test mode.

Customers can't add products to their carts

If a customer reaches out with trouble adding products to their cart, try these troubleshooting steps:

• Ensure the products are set to visible, and that the store page is live.
• Check for custom code in the product's Additional Information and your site's Header Code Injection field. Remove the code to see if that resolves the issue.
• Ask your customer to ensure cookies are enabled on their browser. Here are instructions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
• If you use a third-party domain, check for domain connection issues. If you can add products to your cart when visiting your site's built-in domain, it's likely an issue with your DNS records. Ensure the DNS records for your third-party domain match these.
• If you use domain forwarding, ensure you don't use masked forwarding. If your domain provider doesn't offer unmasked forwarding, try connecting your domain to Squarespace instead.

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Troubleshooting checkout issues