GENERIC_DECLINED error status

Questions
1

Hi! We have implemented square API into our application. The problem is that all of payments in prod are getting GENERIC_DECLINED error status. I know that the common advice is to contact bank, so we did it, but bank answer was that it doesn’t see any attempt of charging.
When I tried to reduce tax payment (“payment”: “id”: “dI1cA8EPHhwodF7NefThgbKWndKZY”), everything worked fine, than I returned tax to the previous level (“id”: “nFLh0cD8XVC9O35803izFfmAgjCZY”), it still was working fine, but after a couple of days error returned (“id”: “JGdOESsjgtlGCb16HyMvW9vZ2HEZY”).
Firstly I thought that the problem may be connected with app fee, but payments were working a couple of times even with fee. And then problem returned.
Can anyone help me and explain what is happening? And what we should do to reduce this error

3

We also contacted bank and asked about the declining reason. Here is their answer: the charge is initiated and then cancelled by square

4

Thanks for the payment IDs that helped a lot!

These declines aren’t coming from the card issuer, which is why your bank didn’t see a charge attempt. They’re being blocked on Square’s side, at the account level.

This needs to go through Square Support so they can review the account directly. The seller should contact Support (or check their Dashboard for any notifications about account review) and reference these payment IDs. Support can see the full context and advise on next steps.

Sorry I can’t give you more detail publicly, but a developer-side fix isn’t the path here.

6

Hi Ashley! Here is some updates from square support. Can u take a closer look at our API requests if there is a chance that something is wrong with them. I’m out of ideas what else can be wrong for real.
Will be grateful for your fast feedback!

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7

as our previous payments are expired, here is the id of the newest one: P1L8jTce0aob7yGRPcRTgLvttcUZY

9

Thanks for the updated payment ID. I checked this latest attempt, and I don’t see it failing as an API request formatting or validation issue. The payment reached the authorization lifecycle, and the internal decline reason is PAYMENT_BLOCKED_BY_RISK, followed by an auto-void for the same reason.

That means the request is getting far enough to be evaluated by Square’s payment/risk systems; if the request body were malformed or missing required fields, we’d expect a validation error before authorization instead.

I also understand Support has already directed you back here, so I don’t want to send you in circles. The next review does need to happen on the account/risk side rather than in the developer forum, but when you contact Support again, please include:

  • this payment ID: P1L8jTce0aob7yGRPcRTgLvttcUZY
  • that Developer Support reviewed it and confirmed the failure is PAYMENT_BLOCKED_BY_RISK
  • that this does not appear to be an API formatting issue
  • a request to have the case escalated for account/risk review of API/card-not-present payments

If you already have a Support case number, feel free to share it here and I can reach out internally to coordinate directly.

10

this is the case number 122334476

11

If u reach out them internally that would be perfect! Our case number is here 122334476