A run of declines, many small payments from different cards, or orders with no interest in delivery are typical signs of card testing through your store. React immediately: such operations ruin your decline statistics and lead to disputes.
Signs to watch
- Dozens of payment attempts in a short window, most of them declined.
- The same amount charged from different cards in a row.
- Orders where the buyer shows no interest in delivery terms.
- A sudden spike of operations from countries you do not usually sell to.
What to do
- Limit payment attempts per order and add a pause between them.
- Do not ship until the payment reaches the Completed status.
- Collect the operation data and contact support — some checks happen on the service side.
- Check whether your keys leaked: testing sometimes runs through the API, not the form.
How anti-fraud works and why it declines payments is covered separately.
