Shopify Payments fully verified under my US identity, but ALL checkouts instantly fail ("processing_error"). Even test mode fails.
Hey everyone, I’m dealing with a bizarre Shopify Payments issue that has completely stumped tier-2 support, and I’m hoping someone here has run into this specific backend glitch.
The Setup:
- Store is set up under my personal identity (US-based account details, personal tax info/SSN).
- Everything is 100% verified and active: ID, personal information, bank payout details—no banners, no holds, no verification requests pending.
- Running live ads with decent traffic, but after 3 days of heavy abandoned checkouts and 0 orders, I decided to test the checkout myself.
The Bug:
Whenever anyone tries to place an order, the "Pay now" button momentarily shows "processing" and immediately throws the generic error:
>"There was an issue processing your payment. Try again or use a different payment method."
Here is why this is completely abnormal:
- Zero Bank Contact: No authorization attempts, no fraud alerts, and no declined notifications on the issuing bank side. The charge request is never even hitting the card network.
- Fails Across Multiple Real Cards: Tested with a personal Mastercard, a secondary Visa, and had an outside friend try from their device. Same instant failure.
- Test Mode is Also Broken: I toggled on Shopify Payments Test Mode and used the standard
4242test card. It fails instantly with the exact same error banner. - The Logs Are Blank: In the store admin's abandoned checkout/order logs, the gateway response is literally just a blank
processing_error. No decline codes, no AVS mismatch, no "do not honor"—just an empty error state.
Support Interaction:
I contacted Shopify support. The advisor looked at my account, confirmed everything was completely active and healthy on my side, and seemed skeptical at first. She then attempted a live $2 test charge herself and hit the exact same wall.
She escalated the session to two internal Shopify specialists; neither could find any trigger, block, or misconfiguration on the store. They ended up escalating the ticket directly to Stripe/backend banking partners, stating they have zero visibility into why the gateway is terminating requests before execution.
Has anyone experienced this specific invisible processing_error loop on a US individual account? Did Stripe actually resolve it on the backend, or is the merchant account permanently glitched? Any insight or workarounds while waiting on the escalation queue would be hugely appreciated.