Common Issues
payments
Payments Go Through but Orders Don't Appear
Your customers are paying — you can see the charges on your Stripe or PayPal dashboard — but the orders aren't appearing in your app. Customers are reaching out saying they paid but didn't receive confirmation, and you have no record of what they ordered.
This is a critical issue because you're taking people's money without delivering what they bought. It damages trust, creates refund requests, and can lead to chargebacks that cost you extra fees. Every hour this goes on, you're creating angry customers and potential legal problems.
The root cause is usually a disconnect between your payment processor confirming the charge and your app recording the order. The payment works, but the step after it fails silently.
Error Messages You Might See
No error visible to the customer — the payment succeeds
Webhook delivery failed (in Stripe dashboard)
500 error on webhook endpoint
Order not found
No confirmation email received
Common Causes
- Webhook not set up or broken — Stripe/PayPal sends a notification when payment succeeds, but your app isn't listening for it or the webhook URL is wrong
- Success page code failing — The code that runs when a customer lands on the "payment successful" page has an error and silently fails
- Database write failing — The payment succeeds but saving the order to your database fails due to a connection error or validation issue
- Customer closes page too early — The customer closes the browser after paying but before the confirmation page finishes processing
- Webhook secret mismatch — Your app has the wrong webhook signing secret, so it rejects legitimate payment notifications from Stripe
How to Fix It
- Check your payment provider's webhook logs — In Stripe Dashboard, go to Developers > Webhooks to see if webhooks are being sent and if they're succeeding or failing
- Verify the webhook URL is correct — Make sure the URL in your Stripe webhook settings points to your live app, not localhost or an old URL
- Check your app's error logs — Look for errors happening around the time of payments that might explain why orders aren't being saved
- Process missed orders manually — Cross-reference your Stripe dashboard with your app's orders to find and manually fulfill any missing orders
- Set up a fallback — Use both webhook-based AND redirect-based order creation so if one fails, the other catches it
Real developers can help you.
Nam Tran
10 years as fullstack developer
Basel Issmail
’m a Senior Full-Stack Developer and Tech Lead with experience designing and building scalable web platforms. I work across the full development lifecycle, from translating business requirements into technical architecture to delivering reliable production systems.
My work focuses on modern web technologies, including TypeScript, Angular, Node.js, and cloud-based architectures. I enjoy solving complex technical problems and helping teams turn product ideas and prototypes into working platforms that can grow and scale.
In addition to development, I often collaborate closely with product managers, business analysts, designers, and QA teams to ensure that solutions align with both technical and business goals.
I enjoy working with startups and product teams where I can contribute both as a hands-on engineer and as a technical partner in designing and delivering impactful software.
BurnHavoc
Been around fixing other peoples code for 20 years.
PawelPloszaj
I'm fronted developer with 10+ years of experience with big projects. I have small backend background too
Sage Fulcher
Hey I'm Sage! Im a Boston area software engineer who grew up in South Florida. Ive worked at a ton of cool places like a telehealth kidney care startup that took part in a billion dollar merger (Cricket health/Interwell health), a boutique design agency where I got to work on a ton of exciting startups including a photography education app, a collegiate Esports league and more (Philosophie), a data analytics as a service startup in Cambridge (MA) as well as at Phillips and MIT Lincoln Lab where I designed and developed novel network security visualizations and analytics. I've been writing code and furiously devoted to using computers to make people’s lives easier for about 17 years. My degree is in making computers make pretty lights and sounds. Outside of work I love hip hop, the Celtics, professional wrestling, magic the gathering, photography, drumming, and guitars (both making and playing them)
Stanislav Prigodich
15+ years building iOS and web apps at startups and enterprise companies. I want to use that experience to help builders ship real products - when something breaks, I'm here to fix it.
Milan Surelia
Milan Surelia is a Mobile App Developer with 5+ years of experience crafting scalable, cross-platform apps at 7Span and Meticha. At 7Span, he engineers feature-rich Flutter apps with smooth performance and modern UI. As the Co-Founder of Meticha, he builds open-source tools and developer-focused products that solve real-world problems.
Expertise:
💡 Developing cross-platform apps using Flutter, Dart, and Jetpack Compose for Android, iOS, and Web.
🖋️ Sharing insights through technical writing, blogging, and open-source contributions.
🤝 Collaborating closely with designers, PMs, and developers to build seamless mobile experiences.
Notable Achievements:
🎯 Revamped the Vepaar app into Vepaar Store & CRM with a 2x performance boost and smoother UX.
🚀 Launched Compose101 — a Jetpack Compose starter kit to speed up Android development.
🌟 Open source contributions on Github & StackOverflow for Flutter & Dart
🎖️ Worked on improving app performance and user experience with smart solutions.
Milan is always happy to connect, work on new ideas, and explore the latest in technology.
Simon A.
I'm a backend developer building APIs, emulators, and interactive game systems. Professionally, I've developed Java/Spring reporting solutions, managed relational and NoSQL databases, and implemented CI/CD workflows.
Dor Yaloz
SW engineer with 6+ years of experience,
I worked with React/Node/Python
did projects with React+Capacitor.js for ios
Supabase expert
Costea Adrian
Embedded Engineer specilizing in perception systems. Latest project was a adas camera calibration system.
Describe what's wrong in plain English. No technical knowledge needed.
Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
What is a webhook and why does my app need one?
A webhook is like a phone call from your payment provider to your app saying 'hey, someone just paid.' Without it, your app has no reliable way to know when a payment succeeds. It's the most important part of payment processing after the payment itself.
Customers already paid but orders are missing. What do I do?
First, check your Stripe or PayPal dashboard for all successful payments. Cross-reference with your app's orders. Manually create any missing orders and reach out to those customers with an apology and confirmation.