When troubleshooting issues with your credit card processing, consider that there are several key elements involved in submitting a request and receiving a response. Issues with any of these elements may affect the entire process.

The key elements are:

• Software for entering the transaction locally, which runs on...
• A computer, which is connected to...
• A secure Internet connection, used to connect to...
• Your Authorize.net account.

The type of software or computer you are using does not matter. For instance:

• You might be using your personal computer and a web browser to connect to your Authorize.net account over the Internet.
• You might be using a shopping cart package on a web server to submit transactions to your Authorize.net account over the Internet.
• You might be running dedicated billing or credit card processing software on your computer or smartphone, connecting to Authorize.net over the Internet.

Common troubleshooting steps include rebooting the computer, clearing browser caches, and confirming an active and secure Internet connection. These steps help ensure that any elements you can directly access are working correctly.

If you encounter an Authorize.net error code, our Response Code Tool can provide an explanation and possible solutions. The tool also provides a JSON-formatted file of all error codes and texts, which you can open in a text editor to search for errors.

If there is no apparent Authorize.net error, or if your software reports connection errors, start by confirming that your computer can connect to the Internet and can submit secure connections to our servers. Connection issues are common causes of problems when no Authorize.net error is generated.