How to keep the sale when invoice is declined at checkout

What happens when a shopper is declined for invoice or part payment?

The shopper can't pay that way for this order, but they're still in your checkout and can choose another payment method. Whether the purchase goes through depends on what they see next.

When a shopper picks invoice or part payment, the credit provider runs a creditworthiness assessment. If the answer is no, the request is declined and the checkout shows that the option isn't available. You usually don't see the reason. The credit provider tells the shopper about the decision.

Under the EU Consumer Credit Directive, the creditor must inform the shopper of a rejection without delay. If the decision was automated, the shopper can also ask for a person to review it (Directive (EU) 2023/2225, Article 18).

Why will more shoppers be declined from November 20, 2026?

Because credit checks get stricter. From November 20, 2026, a credit provider may only make credit available when its assessment shows the shopper is likely to meet the obligations of the agreement.

In Sweden, the rules come through the new consumer credit legislation, and new regulations and general guidelines from Finansinspektionen (FFFS 2026:31 and 2026:32) apply from the same day. Konsumentverket supervises companies that don't need a permit, and Finansinspektionen those that do.

According to Konsumentverket, only a narrow form of invoice is exempt: credit the seller gives itself, free of interest and fees and repaid within 50 days of delivery. For larger companies selling online, the limit is 14 days, and the invoice can't be sold on during that time (Konsumentverket's questions and answers).

How many more declines your store sees depends on how much of your sales go through invoice and part payment today. That's worth checking before Black Week, when traffic peaks.

How do you save the sale when credit is declined?

Keep the shopper in the checkout and make the next payment method easy to pick. These five steps cover most of it.

1. Keep the cart and the details. Don't send the shopper back to the cart or ask for their address again. Every extra step is a chance to leave.
2. Show other payment methods right away. Cards, Swish and wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay should be visible without scrolling, especially on mobile.
3. Use a short, neutral message. Say what happened and what to do next, for example: “Invoice isn't available for this purchase. Choose another payment method to complete your order.” Don't guess at the reason or suggest the shopper did something wrong.
4. Don't push credit again. In Sweden, a payment method without credit must already be shown first, and credit can't be preselected when other methods are available (Payment Services Act, chapter 7 a, since July 1, 2020). Skip nudges to retry part payment after a decline.
5. Follow up with care. If the shopper leaves, a reminder email can bring them back to their cart. Keep it about the products, not about credit, since the rules on marketing credit apply to every company that markets it.

Which payment methods can a declined shopper use instead?

Methods where the shopper pays with money or a card they already have, so there's no new credit check in the checkout: cards, Swish, direct bank payments and wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Cards can be declined too. In Baymard Institute's survey of US online shoppers, 10% of those who abandoned a purchase said their card was declined (updated September 22, 2025). That's one more reason to offer more than one way to pay.

If you sell in Norway, Denmark or Finland, add the local favorites there too, such as Vipps MobilePay and online bank payments.

Kustom Checkout gives you all of these in one checkout, with pre-filled details so over 90% of your shoppers skip the forms. A shopper who's declined for one method can pick another without starting over.

How do you measure declines in your checkout?

Track them per payment method, and compare the weeks before and after November 20, 2026. Three numbers tell you most of what you need:

• The share of invoice and part payment attempts that are declined.
• The share of declined shoppers who complete the purchase with another method.
• Checkout conversion for invoice, part payment and everything else.

Kustom data across Sweden, Norway and Finland shows that [share] of shoppers declined for credit still completed the purchase with another payment method ([period]). If you use our checkout, the conversion and payment mix dashboards in the portal show how your shoppers pay by country, device and browser.

What are the most common mistakes after a decline?

• Sending the shopper back to the cart or the start of the checkout.
• An error message that reads like a technical fault, so the shopper thinks the whole store is down.
• Hiding other payment methods further down the page on mobile.
• Preselecting invoice or part payment again on the next visit.
• Asking the shopper why they were declined. Only the credit provider knows, and the shopper may not want to say.

Sources

• Directive (EU) 2023/2225 on credit agreements for consumers, EUR-Lex
• Frågor och svar angående nya regler för vissa konsumentkrediter, Konsumentverket (checked October 26, 2026)
• Nya och ändrade föreskrifter och allmänna råd till följd av konsumentkreditdirektivet, Finansinspektionen (October 13, 2026)
• Prop. 2019/20:79 Presentation av betalningssätt vid marknadsföring av betaltjänster online, Riksdagen
• Cart abandonment rate, Baymard Institute (updated September 22, 2025)

This guide describes the rules as of October 2026. It isn't legal advice.