Why customers may see charges on their credit cards when orders don't go through

Credit card authorizations often show up as pending charges on a customer's online credit card statement and only go away when they are voided by a merchant and not actually charged.

Authorizations are simply a way for merchants to confirm that customers have sufficient funds in their accounts for the dollar amount in question for a specific order.

Orders made through Direct Ordering sites are only actually charged when they are confirmed on your end of the site. If a customer's card is declined for some reason and they get an error on the checkout page, then we void this authorization immediately, but it can take 3-5 business days for pending charges to be removed from a statement. 

For example: A card is declined twice due to an incorrect zip code and then goes through on the 3rd try when the zip code is corrected. This will result in 3 authorizations, and the last one will convert to a real charge after the order is confirmed by the store. The first two will remain pending and will be removed from the customer's account in 3-5 business days, depending on the financial institution.