This page collects the problems merchants most often hit with Clover for WooCommerce, grouped by where they show up, with the exact message you’ll see and the fix. For payment, saved card and migration problems, the pages for those features have their own common issues too.
Turn on debug logging first
Most payment problems are easier to solve with Clover’s response in front of you:
- Go to WooCommerce » Settings » Payments » Clover Credit Card and set Debug Mode to Save to Log.
- Reproduce the problem.
- Open WooCommerce » Status » Logs and pick the newest log whose name starts with
first_data_clover_credit_card.
Sensitive card data is removed from the log. Use Show on Checkout Page only on a test site or in Sandbox, since every visitor sees the output. Set Debug Mode back to Off when you’re done.
Checkout
The card fields don’t appear, or the checkout looks stuck
Clover’s card fields load in secure frames from Clover. When they don’t appear, something on the page is usually blocking them. On the checkout block, the message is "An error occurred while loading the payment form." Work through these in order:
- Clear your page cache and any caching or optimization plugin’s cache, and exclude the checkout page from caching and script delaying or combining.
- Open your browser’s developer console on the checkout page and look for Content Security Policy or blocked script errors that mention
clover.com. Ask your host or security plugin to allow Clover’s scripts and frames. - Temporarily switch to a default theme and turn off other plugins to find a conflict.
- If you use the checkout block, try the classic checkout (the
[woocommerce_checkout]shortcode) to see whether the problem is specific to one of them.
Clover isn’t listed at checkout
Check that Enable / Disable is on and the Merchant ID, Public Token and Private Token for the selected Environment are saved. Until they are, the admin shows "Heads up! Clover Credit Card is not fully configured and cannot accept payments. Please review the documentation and configure the gateway settings." If the Plugins list shows a Use Clover link on the plugin’s row, a retired First Data gateway is active; click Use Clover (see Switch from First Data to Clover).
Customers can’t type "/" in the expiration date on iPhone
The number keypad in Clover’s expiration field has no "/" key. Customers can type the date without it, or switch to the full keyboard.
Test orders are rejected because of the email address
Clover rejects email addresses on domains reserved for testing, such as .local. Use a real-looking address for test orders.
Payments
When a payment fails, the order moves to Failed and its order note starts with "Clover Credit Card Payment Failed", followed by the error in parentheses. The credential messages below appear there and in the debug log; customers see "An error occurred, please try again or try an alternate form of payment."
A payment is declined
With Detailed Decline Messages on, customers see Clover’s reason when Clover gives one; otherwise they see "An error occurred, please try again or try an alternate form of payment." Declines come from the card issuer or your Clover fraud rules, so check the reason in the order note, then the transaction in your Clover dashboard. In the debug log, a declined payment shows as an HTTP 402 response from Clover.
"Authentication failed. Your API credentials (Private Token) could not be verified."
Clover didn’t accept the Private Token. Copy it again from Account & Setup » Ecommerce API Tokens in the Clover dashboard, and check that it belongs to the selected Environment: live tokens for Production, sandbox tokens for Sandbox.
"Authorization failed. Your Merchant ID or API token does not have permission."
The Merchant ID and tokens belong to different Clover accounts or environments, or the token isn’t a Hosted iFrame + API/SDK token. Re-enter all three from the same account.
"API request failed. This may indicate invalid API credentials."
Clover rejected the request without saying why, which usually means a credential or account configuration problem. Re-check the three connection settings, then look at the debug log for Clover’s full response.
Clover is limiting requests
HTTP 429 responses in the debug log mean Clover is limiting how many requests your store sends, which can happen during a card testing attack. See Protect your Clover checkout from card testing and fraud.
Capture or refund problems
See the common issues on Capture and refund Clover payments.
Saved cards
"You can only store one saved payment method in your account. To use a different payment method, please delete the existing payment method from your account."
Clover allows one saved card per customer. The customer deletes the saved card under My account » Payment methods, then saves the new one. See Saved cards and subscriptions with Clover.
"Please use your stored card to pay."
A customer with a saved card is buying a subscription on the checkout block. Subscriptions must use the saved card, so they pay with it, or delete it under My account » Payment methods and check out with a new card.
A renewal failed with "Subscription Renewal: payment token is missing/invalid."
The subscription has no card, usually because the customer deleted it. Ask them to add a card and link the subscription to it (see Saved cards and subscriptions with Clover), then retry the renewal order.
Admin notices
"WooCommerce is not being forced over SSL; your customers’ payment data may be at risk."
Your checkout doesn’t load over HTTPS. Install an SSL certificate and make sure the addresses under Settings » General start with https://.
"Clover Credit Card will soon require TLS 1.2 support to process transactions"
Your server can’t make TLS 1.2 connections, which Clover needs. Ask your host to update the server’s OpenSSL and cURL.
"Clover Credit Card is inactive for subscription transactions."
WooCommerce Subscriptions is active but Tokenization is off. Turn it on in Clover settings.
"[Gateway] is being retired and will stop processing payments."
A retired First Data gateway is active. Follow Switch from First Data to Clover.
"Heads up! Clover Credit Card is currently configured to log transaction data for debugging purposes."
Debug Mode is on while Environment is Production. Set it to Off once you’ve finished troubleshooting.