Stripe try_again_later — recovery guide
The issuer's system is busy or blocking temporarily. Wait 24 hours, retry, and ~70% resolve on their own without customer action.
TL;DR
Do not retry immediately. Wait 24 hours for the first retry, 48–72 hours for the second. Most cases clear without customer intervention. Email the customer only after the second failed retry.
What try_again_later means
try_again_later is the issuer saying: "Something is off right now, check back later." It's a temporary condition — unlike card_declined (which is a firm refusal) or expired_card (which is permanent until replaced).
About 70% of try_again_later responses clear within 24–72 hours without the customer doing anything. Your job is to retry intelligently and avoid triggering further issuer blocks by retrying too fast.
Why it happens
- Issuer outage or maintenance — the bank's auth system is temporarily down.
- Velocity limit — the card has hit its "N transactions per hour" throttle.
- Short-term risk hold — the bank flagged the card for 24–48h observation.
- Network congestion — auth request timed out somewhere in Visa/Mastercard's routing.
Recovery playbook
- Don't email immediately — the customer doesn't need to do anything yet, and a "payment failed" email makes them panic.
- +24h: first retry. ~60% clear at this stage.
- +72h: second retry. Another ~15% clear.
- After 2nd retry fails: treat it as
card_declined— email the customer with a Billing Portal link, ask them to contact their bank or try a different card. - SMS at +5d if still unresolved.
What to tell the customer (if the retries don't clear it)
Hi [name], we tried to charge your card a couple of times over the past few days and got a temporary error from your bank. This usually clears itself, but since it hasn't, a quick bank call or switching to a different card will sort it out. Update in 20 seconds: [Billing Portal link].
Related decline codes
Let smart retries do the waiting
RecoverKit spaces retries across the right windows for each decline code so you don't hit rate limits or spook the customer. $19/mo.
Start Free Trial →