Adyen · Decline codes
What does Adyen refusal reason 46 “Transaction blocked to prevent excessive retry fees” mean?
Checked
Adyen refusal reason 46, "Transaction blocked by Adyen to prevent excessive retry fees", means Adyen's excessive retry prevention service blocked the transaction so that you are not charged penalty fees. The request never reached the issuer. It signals your retry logic has hit, or would exceed, scheme limits such as Visa's 15 reattempts in 30 days, or a category 1 code.
- Type
- Blocked by Adyen (retry protection)
- Who declined
- Adyen's excessive retry prevention service
- Retry
- No. Stop retrying this card; ask for a new payment method.
- Shopper action
- Use another card.
- Merchant action
- Fix your retry logic; ask the customer for a new card.
What PlatformDTC does
PlatformDTC does not connect to Adyen; its checkout runs on Stripe and PayPal. PlatformDTC counts declines per card against network reattempt ceilings before it asks the bank, and defers a renewal rather than sending an attempt the networks would fine.
Why it happens
Visa charges excessive retry fees, and Mastercard charges $0.10 per reattempt over 10 in 24 hours for advice codes 03 and 21. Adyen blocks attempts that would breach those rules.
What the shopper can do
Pay with a different card.
What the store can do
Review your retry schedule: never retry Visa category 1 responses, keep others within 15 in 30 days, and follow Mastercard merchant advice codes.
For developers
refusalReasonCode "46". Use refusalReasonRaw categories to build retry logic that never reaches this block.
Frequently asked questions
- Why did Adyen block my payment (refusal 46)?
- To protect you from card scheme penalty fees for retrying a card too many times.
- How do I avoid Adyen refusal 46?
- Never retry Visa category 1 declines, stay within 15 reattempts in 30 days for others, and follow Mastercard advice codes.
Sources
- Adyen refusal reasons — Adyen
- Mapping to Visa system integrity fee categories (retry limits) — Adyen
- Braintree declines: Visa and Mastercard retry rules — Braintree (PayPal)
Related
- 26 — The shopper asked their bank to stop this subscription or all recurring payments (raw R0, R1, R3).
- 5 — The card is blocked and cannot be used.
- 2 — The issuer refused the payment and gave no usable reason; Adyen's catch-all refusal.
- 50 — The shopper disabled the token the merchant used for recurring charges.
- 3 — The issuer referred the payment: it wants the cardholder (or merchant) to contact it first.
- 4 — Something failed on the acquirer's side, not with the shopper's card.
- 6 — The card's expiry date has passed.