What it means
The payment service was briefly unavailable.
← All Stripe decline codes
RetryableRetryable decline
temporarily_unavailable
Service temporarily unavailable
Category
Retryable decline
Retryable
Yes, with timing
Suggested retry
~4 hours
Why it happens
A short outage at the processor or the bank.
How to recover the payment
Retry shortly.
Category tip: Retryable with exponential backoff.
Recovery email preview
Subject: Action needed — your payment did not go through
The payment service was briefly unavailable. We will retry shortly.
Update payment methodSent automatically by churnguardian the moment this code appears.
How churnguardian handles it
churnguardian retries on an exponential backoff schedule and escalates to a payment-update email if it keeps failing.
- Decline-aware retries timed to recovery odds
- Branded recovery emails with a one-click card update
- Stops automatically the moment the charge clears
At a glance
- Retryable
- Yes
- Retry window
- ~4 hours
- Card must be replaced
- No
Frequently asked
What does the Stripe decline code temporarily_unavailable mean?+
The payment service was briefly unavailable.
Is the Stripe decline code temporarily_unavailable retryable?+
Retry shortly.
How do I recover a payment declined with temporarily_unavailable?+
Retry shortly.
What should I send the customer for temporarily_unavailable?+
The payment service was briefly unavailable. We will retry shortly.
Related retryable decline codes
authentication_required3D Secure authentication requiredconfiguration_errorConfiguration errorduplicateDuplicate transactionissuer_unavailableIssuer temporarily unavailablenetwork_errorNetwork errorprocessing_errorPayment processor error
Browse the full list of Stripe decline codes or look one up with the free lookup tool.
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