📌 Overview
Sometimes an invoice still shows as unpaid after you try to pay it, or your plan quotas don't refresh after a payment goes through. This article explains the most common causes, how to retry a payment yourself, and what to check before you contact us.
🔎 Why an Invoice Can Show as Unpaid
An invoice stays unpaid until your bank or card provider confirms the payment. These are the most common reasons it doesn't go through:
- Card declined: Your bank rejected the charge, often because of insufficient funds, a spending limit, or a fraud-protection block.
- Expired or replaced card: The card on file is out of date, or your bank issued you a new card number.
- Extra bank verification: Some banks require you to approve the payment in your banking app or with a one-time code. If the approval window is closed or missed, the payment fails.
- Incorrect billing details: The billing address or postal code doesn't match what your bank has on file.
- Pending payment: The payment was submitted but is still being processed. This can take a few minutes, and occasionally longer for some banks or payment methods.
- Browser issues: Ad blockers, outdated cached data, or privacy extensions can interrupt the payment form.
🔄 How to Retry a Payment
Follow these steps to retry an unpaid invoice:
- Log in to your Search Atlas account and open the billing section of your account settings.
- Check that the payment method on file is current. Look at the card number, expiration date, and billing address.
- If anything is out of date, update the card or add a new payment method.
- Find the unpaid invoice and select the option to pay it.
- Complete any verification your bank asks for, such as a code or an approval in your banking app.
- Wait for the confirmation message and don't close the page until it appears.
Tip: If the payment button doesn't respond or the form won't load, try a private or incognito window, or a different browser. Turn off ad blockers or privacy extensions for the page while you pay.
🏦 Check With Your Bank
If the payment fails more than once, your bank may be blocking it. Check the following with your card provider:
- Whether recent attempts were declined and what reason was given.
- Whether online or international payments are allowed on your card.
- Whether there is a daily or monthly limit that was reached.
- Whether the payment needs your approval in the banking app.
Once your bank has approved or unblocked the payment, retry it from your billing section.
📊 When Quotas Don't Update After Payment
If your payment succeeded but your quotas or plan limits still look unchanged, try these steps in order:
- Wait a few minutes. Quotas usually refresh shortly after payment is confirmed, but processing can take a little longer.
- Refresh the page. Do a hard refresh, or log out and back in, so your account loads the latest data.
- Confirm the invoice status. Open your billing section and check that the invoice is marked as paid. If it still shows unpaid, the payment may not have completed.
- Check for duplicate or pending charges. Look at your bank statement to see whether the charge is pending, completed, or reversed.
- Clear your browser cache. This helps if you still see old plan information.
If the invoice shows as paid but your quotas still haven't updated after these steps, our team can review your account directly.
✅ What to Have Ready Before Contacting Us
Having this information on hand helps us resolve your issue faster:
- The invoice number or the date of the invoice.
- The date and approximate time of your last payment attempt.
- Any error message you saw, or a screenshot of it.
- The last four digits of the card you used.
- Whether your bank showed the charge as pending, completed, or declined.
💬 Need Help? Contact Support
If the invoice still shows as unpaid after you've retried the payment, or your quotas don't update after a successful payment, we're happy to help. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be instantly connected with a member of our team.
Let us know you'd like a payment retried and share the details above. We'll review your invoice and account and help get things back on track.
💡 Quick Tips to Avoid Payment Issues
- Keep your card details and billing address up to date.
- Make sure your card allows online recurring payments.
- Check that your card has enough available balance before your renewal date.
- Add a backup payment method if your account allows it.
- Watch for approval requests from your bank during payment.