Boost recurring donations this giving season with the upsell prompt!Most reports of "I can't save a card" come down to one of four things. Work through them in order — the first is by far the most common and is the hardest to spot, because nothing appears on screen to explain it.
The site does not take payment through Stripe
Saved payment methods are a Stripe feature. On a site using Authorize.net, Braintree, CyberSource, iATS, PayPal or TouchNet, the Saved Payment Methods section does not appear anywhere — not in the User Manager, not on a user's own account page.
There is no message. The section is simply absent, which reads as a missing feature or a permissions problem rather than as a processor limitation. If you are looking for a section that a colleague can see and you cannot, check which processor each site uses before anything else.
The user account has not been saved yet
The Saved Payment Methods section appears only when editing a user who already exists. While creating a new user there is nothing to attach a card to. Save the account, reopen it, and the section is there.
The person is not signed in
On the front end, a visitor who is not signed in is asked to sign in rather than shown the page. A user who was signed in but has been away for a while may have been signed out — signing in again is all that is needed.
The card was declined when it was saved
Saving a card is not a charge, but the processor does verify it, and that check can fail — an expired card, a mistyped number, a billing address that does not match, or a card the bank will not authorize for future use. The error comes from the processor and names the reason.
Ask for a different card. A card that fails this check will not work at settlement either, so it is better to find out at the desk.
If you are working in an auction
The bidder detail panel inside an auction has its own prerequisites, including that the bidder must be linked to a Soapbox user account. If the Add Payment Method button there is greyed out, see Why can't a bidder save a payment method?
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