Adyen · Decline codes
What does Adyen refusal reason 9 “Issuer Unavailable” mean?
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Adyen refusal reason 9, "Issuer Unavailable", means it was not possible to contact the shopper's bank to authorize the transaction. Adyen's raw responses list causes such as 91 Issuer or switch inoperative and 96 System malfunction. The card is probably fine; the bank's systems were not answering. Try again a little later, or use another card now.
- Type
- Soft decline (temporary)
- Who declined
- The shopper's bank systems
- Retry
- Yes, later. Visa category 2: up to 15 reattempts in 30 days.
- Shopper action
- Try again shortly or use another card.
- Merchant action
- Retry later; do not treat as a fraud signal.
What PlatformDTC does
PlatformDTC does not connect to Adyen; its checkout runs on Stripe and PayPal. The same situation arrives as Stripe's issuer_not_available, which PlatformDTC treats as temporary: renewals get up to four attempts on a +2/+5/+8 day schedule and the store is told the bank couldn't be reached.
Why it happens
The issuer or its processor was down or did not answer in time, so no decision was made on the card.
What the shopper can do
Wait a few minutes and try again. Another card from a different bank avoids the outage.
What the store can do
Retry later rather than immediately. Visa puts 91 and 96 in category 2, allowing up to 15 reattempts in 30 days.
For developers
refusalReasonCode "9"; raw responses include 80 Credit issuer unavailable, 91 and 96. All are transient.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Adyen refusal 9 a decline by the bank?
- No. The bank could not be reached, so it never decided.
- When should I retry Adyen refusal 9?
- After a short wait. Visa allows up to 15 reattempts in 30 days for these category 2 responses.
Sources
- Adyen refusal reasons — Adyen
- Adyen raw acquirer responses — Adyen
- Mapping to Visa system integrity fee categories (retry limits) — Adyen
- Stripe decline codes — Stripe
Related
- 4 — Something failed on the acquirer's side, not with the shopper's card.
- 12 — The card does not have enough money or credit for this amount.
- 10 — The shopper's bank does not support or allow this type of transaction on the card.
- 11 — 3D Secure authentication was not done or did not succeed.
- 14 — The acquirer flagged the payment as possible fraud.
- 15 — The transaction was cancelled before it completed.
- 16 — The shopper cancelled the payment before completing it.