The following are common reasons why 3D Secure authentication can fail. This applies to online payments that a cardholder makes with your Adyen-issued card.
Requirements
Before you begin, take into account the following requirements:
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Integration type | You must have an Adyen Issuing integration. |
| Customer Area roles | To view the Payments and Transfers lists, make sure that you have the Balance platform base role. |
| Webhooks | Subscribe to the balancePlatform.transfer.created and balancePlatform.transfer.updated webhooks to receive updates on soft-declined payments. |
Authentication failed
When 3D Secure authentication fails, you likely receive feedback from your cardholder that they are unable to use their card. You do not receive a relayed authorization or a webhook. You also do not see the payment in the Payments list in your Customer Area. This happens because the payment is already blocked after the authentication, and the authorization is not sent to Adyen.
To resolve this issue, make sure that the card is enrolled in 3D Secure before retrying the payment. If the issue persists, contact our Support Team.
Card blocked
When 3D Secure authentication fails multiple times, you likely receive feedback from your cardholder that they are unable to use their card. As required by PSD2 regulations, Adyen temporarily blocks a card from performing 3D Secure authentication after five consecutive failed authentication attempts.
To resolve this issue:
- Wait an hour until the block is automatically lifted, then ask the cardholder to try again.
- If the card needs to be unblocked more quickly, contact our Support Team. We may require additional information about the cardholder to verify the ownership of the card.
SCA skipped by the processing merchant
Following PSD2 requirements, by default, Adyen declines a payment if the processing merchant skips 3D Secure authentication for a payment that requires SCA.
Alternatively, you can choose to enable soft declines for the cards that you issue. When enabled, Adyen sends a soft decline and informs the processing merchant to retry the payment with a 3D Secure flow. It is up to the processing merchant to retry the payment. To enable soft declines, reach out to your Adyen contact.
When a payment is soft-declined, Adyen sends a balancePlatform.transfer.created webhook for the failed authorization. This webhook contains a validationFacts array. Look for the entry with type psd2SoftDeclineCheck and result invalid.
Adyen also sends a balancePlatform.transfer.updated webhook when the transfer status changes.
You can also see the payment attempt in the Transfers list in your Customer Area.