A pending recharge means a card charge is in progress but hasn’t finalized yet. Most pending recharges resolve in seconds. A few, typically those that need 3D Secure (SCA) authentication, need a step from you.
What “pending” means
Section titled “What “pending” means”When you submit a top-up (or auto-recharge fires) the payment processor charges your card and we wait for it to confirm. While we’re waiting, the recharge sits in a pending state. The funds have not landed in your wallet yet: they’re written only once the charge succeeds.
How long pending lasts
Section titled “How long pending lasts”Most card charges finalize in under a second. Charges that trigger SCA (a 3D Secure challenge from your bank) sit in requires_action until you complete the authentication step, which can take minutes. Charges where the bank takes longer to authorize can sit pending for up to a few minutes; if a recharge stays pending past that, treat it as stuck and see the troubleshooting steps below. A top-up paid with a method that takes a few business days to confirm, such as a bank debit, is different: the Billing page says it is processing, and its funds are added when it confirms (Payments that take a few days).
Reconcile-on-redirect
Section titled “Reconcile-on-redirect”When Stripe Checkout finishes, it redirects you back to the console with the checkout id in the URL. The console reads the id, reconciles the recharge against the payment processor, and updates the local state from the live charge. This catches the case where confirmation is delayed: the redirect path doesn’t wait for the background confirmation before showing you the result.
If you closed the tab before the redirect landed, the recharge still completes in the background. Reload the Billing page after a few seconds to see the funds.
When pending becomes failed
Section titled “When pending becomes failed”If the card is declined (insufficient funds, expired card, lost card, etc.), the recharge moves from pending to failed. We log the decline reason on the row. For auto-recharge, every declined charge counts toward its failure limit, and after five declined or canceled charges in a row, auto-recharge turns itself off to limit further declines. A decline that retrying cannot fix, such as an expired or lost card, turns it off at once.
A canceled charge (you abandoned Checkout, or the SCA challenge timed out) ends as canceled, not failed. It’s not a payment-system failure, just an unfinished flow. For auto-recharge, a canceled charge still counts toward the failure limit, the same as a decline. A successful recharge, or turning auto-recharge back on, starts the count again.
Manually re-trigger a recharge
Section titled “Manually re-trigger a recharge”For a manual top-up: open Billing → Add funds and try again. The previous attempt keeps its own row in Transactions for audit.
For auto-recharge: the next balance dip triggers a new attempt. If auto-recharge auto-disabled, re-enable it from the auto-recharge form first.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”- Stuck pending past a few minutes: open the Pending recharges page (we email a recovery link for SCA cases). Complete any waiting authentication step.
requires_actionin the email: open the recovery link and complete the 3D Secure challenge.- Charged but no funds after a top-up: read the banner on the Billing page, which says what happened and what to do next (what each banner means). A payment that takes a few days to confirm adds its funds when it confirms.
- Charged but no funds after an auto-recharge: the Billing page shows “Auto-recharge in progress” until the funds land. Refresh the page. We retry adding the funds on our own, and they usually arrive within two hours. If you need funds sooner, select Top up now in that message. A manual top-up is a separate charge.
See also: Why is my recharge pending?, Payment methods, Glossary.