Billing error reference
Use the table below to find common billing error messages, understand what they mean, and navigate to the right solution.
| Error message | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| "You cannot add or modify subscriptions or services until the outstanding balance is paid." | Your account has an unpaid balance. | Pay the outstanding balance. |
| "The payment has failed. Please contact your bank or use a different payment method." | Your payment method was declined by your bank. | Check your card details and bank balance, then retry. Refer to Resolve a payment failure. |
| "Payment error: authorization failed" | Your bank declined the transaction, or 3DS authentication was not completed. | Contact your bank and retry the payment. Refer to Resolve a payment failure. |
| "This zone cannot be upgraded" | The account or a previous owner of the domain has an outstanding balance. | Pay the balance on all accounts you have access to, wait 24 hours, then retry. Refer to Resolve the zone cannot be upgraded error. |
| "There is a problem with your billing profile" | Same as "this zone cannot be upgraded" — an unpaid balance exists. | Pay the outstanding balance and wait 24 hours. |
| "You cannot modify this subscription since it is currently scheduled to be cancelled" | You are trying to change a subscription that already has a pending cancellation. | Cancel the pending downgrade first, then make your change. Refer to Resolve "you cannot modify this subscription". |
| "You can't remove this payment method while it's linked to active subscriptions." | You are trying to delete a payment method that is still tied to paid services. | Cancel all paid subscriptions first, or add a replacement payment method. Refer to Resolve "cannot remove payment method". |
| "You can't remove a payment method while there are transactions in progress." | A usage-based charge is pending, or a Registrar renewal is scheduled within 24 hours. | Wait for pending transactions to complete, then retry. Refer to Resolve "cannot remove payment method". |
| Email subject | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "We couldn't process your renewal payment" | A recurring subscription charge failed. Cloudflare will retry up to 5 times over 5 days. | Update your payment method or manually pay the invoice before the grace period ends. Refer to Resolve a payment failure. |
If your error message is not listed above or the suggested solution does not resolve the issue, contact Cloudflare support.
- Resolve a payment failure — Fix payment errors
- Pay an outstanding balance — Resolve unpaid invoices
- How Cloudflare billing works — Billing lifecycle and charge types