Cascade retries
Recover soft declines by retrying on a backup MID
Many declines are not final. LumniPay retries eligible soft declines on another MID in the same checkout session, so the customer never sees the failure.
Recovered revenue
Soft declines get a second chance on a different MID instead of becoming lost orders.
Invisible to the customer
The retry happens in the same session. The buyer simply sees a successful payment.
Hard declines stay declined
Stolen, lost or closed cards are never retried, which protects your MIDs.
Soft declines vs hard declines
A soft decline means the issuer refused this attempt but the card may still be good, for example for a generic reason or a temporary limit. A hard decline means the card should not be charged again, for example because it is reported stolen or the account is closed. Cascading only makes sense for the first group.
- Typically retryable: do not honor, generic decline, issuer unavailable, processing error
- Not retried: lost or stolen card, pickup card, invalid card number, closed account
- Insufficient funds is handled by your rules, often better suited to a later rebill
How a cascade works
When the first MID returns a retryable decline, LumniPay sends the same tokenised card to the next MID in your cascade. For example, a $49 order declined as 'do not honor' can be retried on a second MID with a different processor. If it is approved, the order completes normally.
Retry logic you control
You decide which decline codes trigger a cascade, how many backup MIDs to try and in which order. Limiting attempts keeps your retry behaviour reasonable and avoids repeated hits on the same card.
- Choose the backup MIDs and their order
- Set a maximum number of attempts per order
- Enable or disable cascades per product or funnel
Measure what you recover
Analytics separate first-attempt approvals from approvals recovered through cascades. You can see which decline reasons are recovered most often and which backup MIDs perform best.
MID A
05 · Do not honor
MID B
Approved
Illustrative interface and sample data.
How it works
Cascade retries, step by step.
- Step 01
First attempt
The transaction goes to the MID chosen by your routing rules.
- Step 02
Decline analysis
LumniPay reads the decline code and classifies it as soft or hard.
- Step 03
Cascade
Eligible soft declines are retried on the next backup MID.
- Step 04
Result
The customer sees one outcome, and you see exactly how it was reached.
FAQ
Questions about cascade retries.
Will the customer be charged twice?
No. A cascade only happens after a decline, so there is no successful charge to duplicate. Only one attempt can be approved per order.
Which decline codes are retried?
Soft declines such as 'do not honor', generic declines or temporary issuer errors are typically eligible. Hard declines such as lost or stolen cards are never retried. You can adjust the list of retryable codes.
How many backup MIDs can a cascade use?
You choose. Most merchants use one or two backups and cap the number of attempts per order.
Does cascading affect my MIDs?
Retrying only soft declines and limiting attempts keeps behaviour reasonable. Hard declines are excluded to avoid repeated attempts on cards that should not be charged.
Do cascades work for upsells and rebills?
Yes. Because cards are stored as tokens usable on any connected MID, the same cascade logic can apply to upsells and subscription rebills.