If customers are experiencing checkout errors or transactions are failing, the issue is usually related to payment gateway credentials, an “Unauthorized” decline, or incorrect billing information. Below are the most common errors and how to troubleshoot them.
1. “Unauthorized” Transaction Errors
This error almost always indicates an issue with your payment gateway credentials.
What to check
Go to Dashboard → Settings → Checkout and confirm:
The correct payment gateway type is selected.
Your API credentials (API key, login ID, transaction key, etc.) are entered correctly with no typos.
Ensure your gateway account is fully active and not pending additional setup. (contact your payment processor for more information)
Special Note for Network Merchants/NMI Users
NMI now requires quarterly password resets as part of their updated security measures.
After each reset, you must also update your payment gateway credentials inside AmmoReady to match your new NMI password.
If the credentials don’t match, transactions on your storefront may fail.
For further questions or help with your NMI account, please reach out directly to Network Merchants/NMI Support.
If everything looks correct
Reach out to your merchant services provider (FortisPay, Authorize.net, Bluedog/FluidPay, etc.). They can confirm:
Whether your credentials are valid
Whether the account/API keys are active
Whether new credentials need to be generated
Gateway-level AVS (Address Verification Service) checks rejecting the transaction due to security settings being triggered to reject the transaction.
2. “Data Validation Failed” Errors
This error typically means the customer entered something incorrectly at checkout.
Common causes
Incorrect billing address or mismatched ZIP code
Typos in card number, expiration date, or CVV
What you can do
Ask the customer to re-enter their billing details carefully (suggest they disable any auto-fill extensions or similar)
Review the information your customer is entering at checkout for any formatting issues (extra spaces, random characters, typos, etc) to assist them.
3. Testing Your Payment Gateway
To fully test a live transaction:
Your site must be set live first (contact AmmoReady if you need your storefront turned live)
A real purchase attempt must be made