Static retries

Understand Recurly's static retry logic for failed subscription payments — including soft decline schedules, hard decline exceptions, gateway error handling, manual collection, and APM-specific retry rules.

Recurly's static retry logic uses gateway signals — decline codes and merchant advice codes — to schedule retry attempts for failed renewal payments. It runs without machine learning and works alongside dunning campaigns to maximize payment recovery. For ML-driven optimization, see Intelligent Retries.

Available on all Recurly plans

1Definition 2Key benefits 3Retry logic 4Manual retry 5Direct debit 6Specialized retries

Prerequisites

An active Recurly account in production mode.
Recurring credit card payments configured.
Access to the Recurly dashboard and configuration settings.

Limitations

Not applicable for hard declines (see exceptions below).
Retries stop after 7 transaction declines, 20 total transaction attempts, or 60 days since invoice creation — whichever comes first, or earlier if dunning settings complete first.

Definition

Recurly's static retry logic uses gateway and regulatory signals — such as decline codes and merchant advice codes — to determine retry eligibility and schedule retry attempts for failed renewal transactions. It does not use machine learning. Static retry logic works alongside dunning campaigns, stopping when the retry limit is reached or dunning ends.

Key benefits

Reduced subscriber churn Minimizes payment-related disruptions that cause involuntary subscriber loss.

Compliant logic Retry schedules follow gateway and network compliance signals to maximize recovery while staying within regulatory limits.

Comprehensive coverage Works alongside Dunning and other revenue recovery strategies as part of a layered churn prevention approach.

Retry logic

Soft declines

Soft declines (insufficient funds, temporary holds, etc.) are not final. Recurly uses gateway signals to determine retry eligibility and schedules retries on a set cadence using the same payment method. Retries continue until the static retry count is exhausted or dunning ends — whichever comes first.

Hard declines

Hard declines are generally not retried for compliance and regulatory reasons. There are three exceptions:

Exception A — Immediate retry if Account Updater or the customer updates billing information.
Exception B — A hard decline may change to a soft decline during dunning after a billing info update.
Exception C — A manual forced collection outside the typical recurring schedule.

Gateway payment error retry schedules

Error type	Retry schedule
Try Again / Gateway Error	Every 2 days
Issuer or Processor Unavailable	Every 3 days
Communication / Configuration Error	Up to 2 retries, 4 hours apart → then 6 retries, 1 day apart → then retries through end of dunning cycle, 3 days apart

Manual retry and forced collection

To manually trigger a collection attempt, click Attempt Collection Now on a pending or past-due invoice's details page. This is also available via the Recurly API.

Warning Excessive manual retries can exhaust the allowed transaction count for automated retries. Contact your gateway account manager or acquirer about network retry abuse fees and other risks before manually retrying hard declines.

Direct debit payments

Recurly supports automatic retries for most direct debit methods (ACH, SEPA, etc.) when the bank response indicates insufficient funds or an applicable return code. Manual retries are also available via the Admin Console or Recurly API for situations such as invoice corrections or updates.

See the Direct Debit Retries documentation for full details on automatic retry behavior.

Specialized retry strategies

Recurly supports automatic retries for UPI AutoPay, Pix Automatico, and Mercado Pago. No configuration is required — retries are available automatically for these payment methods.

UPI AutoPay

UPI AutoPay retries must be completed on the same day as the initial failure. Recurly reattempts up to 2 times in the hours following the initial failure. After 2 attempts, the invoice is marked failed and the subscription is handled per your dunning settings. Manual force collections are not supported.

Pix Automatico

Pix Automatico retries must complete within the same billing period as the initial failure, with up to 1–3 reattempts in the days following. For shorter billing periods (e.g., weekly), only one retry may occur. For billing periods longer than one week, the full retry schedule applies. Manual force collections are not supported.

Mercado Pago

Mercado Pago retries reattempt up to 3 times after the initial failure, with a 24-hour waiting period between each attempt (one attempt per day). Manual force collections are not supported.