When checkout fails, customers walk away — and most Stripe failures are a configuration problem you can't see from the front end. Below is exactly what causes it and how to find the real error. If you want it sorted today, send me a screenshot.
🇬🇧 UK-based, fixing sites remotely for the UK & US. US clients: the time-zone gap means a checkout problem you report tonight is often fixed by your morning. Free 15-min diagnosis, fixed price from £150 (~$190).
Content-Security-Policy blocking js.stripe.com, or unhandled 3-D Secure/SCA. The exact error is in your Stripe Dashboard → Developers → Logs.
When a payment won't go through, it's tempting to assume Stripe is down — but a genuine Stripe outage is rare and would show on their status page. In practice, the overwhelming majority of "Stripe checkout not working" cases are a configuration mismatch on your side: the keys, the webhook, the page's security policy, or how the payment confirmation is handled. The good news is that Stripe records the exact failing request, so the real cause is almost always sitting in your dashboard logs rather than hidden behind a vague checkout error.
pk_live/sk_live); using test keys in live mode (or vice versa) breaks payments.https://js.stripe.com — a Content-Security-Policy or browser extension stops Stripe's script from loading.pk_live/sk_live), not test keys. A test/live mismatch is one of the most common causes.https://js.stripe.com from loading.The Stripe logs make this clear. A genuine decline shows in the logs as card_declined — that's the customer's bank or card, and they need to try another card. An integration error shows as an API, authentication, or parameter error — that's your keys, webhook, or code, and no card change will fix it. Telling these apart early saves you from chasing the wrong problem.
If the log points at a key, webhook, or code change you can't safely make, payments are failing and you're losing revenue, or you simply can't tell whether it's your site or the card — that's the moment to hand it over. I read the Stripe log, find the exact cause, and apply a targeted fix, usually within hours. You get a free 15-minute diagnosis and a fixed price before any work starts — no surprises.
Send me a screenshot of the checkout error and what changed before it broke. I'll diagnose it free, give you one fixed price, and get payments flowing again — usually the same day (overnight for US time zones).
Stripe checkout failures are usually a configuration problem, not a Stripe outage — a test/live API key mismatch, an expired or rotated key, a webhook signing-secret mismatch so orders never mark as paid, a Content-Security-Policy blocking js.stripe.com, or unhandled 3-D Secure/SCA. The exact error is in your Stripe Dashboard under Developers then Logs.
Stripe logs tell you: card_declined = the card, so the customer needs to try another card or contact their bank. An API, authentication, or parameter error = your integration, which means a key, webhook, or code problem on your side.
That is almost always a broken or mis-signed webhook — the order-completion event never reaches your site. The money is captured in Stripe, but because the webhook endpoint URL is wrong or its signing secret doesn't match, your site never receives the event that marks the order as paid.
Yes — once the Stripe log shows the error, key, webhook, and CSP fixes are usually quick. Most Stripe checkout problems are configuration, so once the failing request is identified the fix is typically applied the same day.