Amazon provides several payment options that grant you access to the millions of items sold on its platform.
If you bought something on Amazon and the payment declined but it was still shipped, read this article to see what that means!
Why Was My Amazon Payment Declined But My Order Still Shipped In [currentyear]?
If your Amazon payment declined but the item still shipped, it was probably due to a rare but not unheard of error in the system in [currentyear]. It could also be that payment was successful but the system didn’t send you a notification. Sometimes an order is shipped and payment is taken out of your account much later.
To learn all you need to know about Amazon shipping without charging you, including individual cases from customers, how these issues are handled, and more, read on!
Will Amazon Ship If Payment Is Declined?
Under most circumstances, Amazon will not ship if your payment is declined.
In fact, you can’t get far in the process when you go to check out if you don’t have enough balance in the account you’re using to pay.
Sometimes, however, there is a glitch on Amazon that will still ship your order, even when your payment is declined.\
This glitch is very rare, but there are a significant number of reports about it for us to know that it’s not an isolated case.
When this happens, sometimes it’s just because it took a while for the charge to be completed.
You should check your statement or activity on the account that you’re using after a few days to a couple of weeks to see if this is what happened.
It might also be because the payment was taken as usual, but you didn’t get notifications as usual.
To make sure it isn’t this, you can also check your balance or look in other places where the notifications might have gone, such as the spam or promotions sections of your email.
What Does Amazon Do If Your Card Is Declined?
If your card gets declined, Amazon will notify you and you won’t be able to go on with placing your order.
How you can proceed from this point depends on the reason why your card was declined.
Amazon could decline your card due to insufficient funds for what you were trying to buy, your card could have expired, or you might have entered incorrect information.
In these instances, Amazon can’t do anything about your card getting declined.
If you’re certain the problem isn’t with you but with Amazon, you could troubleshoot the issue further or contact customer service and file a report.
Sometimes Amazon will decline a payment but still ship the item due to a glitch on its platform.
When this happens and Amazon doesn’t automatically deduct payment from your balance later, there isn’t much that the company or you can do about it.
We found a report about one customer who reported that their order was shipped but wasn’t charged.
When they told Amazon about it, they got the same item delivered a second time because they didn’t seem to understand what issue the customer was describing.
When dealing with companies as big as Amazon, however, even if customer service understands the issue, they would probably just let you keep the item and not charge it later.
This is because it would be too much of a hassle for both parties with little benefit to them.
Why Does Amazon Not Take Payment Right Away?
Amazon does not take payment right away because the system waits to make sure that the order will reach you as intended.
Amazon waits until the order has been processed from the seller and sent out from the distribution center before taking money from your account.
This way, Amazon can ensure that it doesn’t have to process a refund if the item comes damaged from the seller or doesn’t make it out of the fulfillment center in good condition.
What Is the Amazon Payment Declined Email Scam?
Scammers could send you an email pretending to be from Amazon saying that your payment was declined and that you need to provide additional information to resolve it.
These are phishing scams that are designed to get your financial details so your accounts can be accessed or so the scammer can get into your Amazon account to order items and charge them to you.
Therefore, stay safe by not opening any attachments in the email or clicking any links in one.
Legitimate emails from Amazon will have an address that ends with “Amazon.com,” and most of Amazon’s transactions happen on the website, not email.
You should also look out for any spelling or grammatical errors in the email because that’s a sign that it’s from a scammer.
These scams might be in the form of a phone call, but remember that Amazon will never ask you for any sensitive information even if customer service did call.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on fake Amazon emails, does Amazon offer email, and does Amazon have payment plans.
Conclusion
Amazon orders could ship even when payment declined due to a rare bug in the system. Sometimes it’s because Amazon is taking longer to process the payment and will eventually do it but sometimes it’s never done.
Scammers could contact you through email or phone saying that your Amazon payment has declined and ask for more information. These are phishing scams that you need to look out for.
