I Was Charged but My Invoice Still Shows Unpaid
It's alarming to see money leave your account while DartNode still shows the invoice as unpaid. In most cases nothing is lost. What you're seeing is usually a temporary card authorization, a payment that's still processing, or a payment that was recorded as account credit but not yet applied to the invoice. Here's how to tell which it is and how to fix it.
Step 1: Check what DartNode recorded
- Go to Billing and open the invoice. If it shows PAID, you're done. The page may simply have needed a refresh.
- Check Billing > Account Balance. If your balance went up by the amount you paid, the payment landed as credit but wasn't applied to the invoice. Paying the invoice with your account balance settles it, and no new charge is made.
Step 2: Is it a pending authorization?
When a card payment is attempted, your bank often places a temporary hold (authorization) for the amount, even if the payment then fails or is declined. On your banking app this can look exactly like a completed charge.
- Holds from failed or declined attempts are released automatically by your bank, typically within 3–7 business days, depending on the bank.
- If you retried a payment several times, you may see several holds. Only the attempt that succeeded becomes a real charge, and the others drop off.
- Look at the transaction status in your banking app. "Pending" or "authorized" means it hasn't settled.
DartNode can't release a hold early. Holds are controlled by your bank. If one is still there after 7 business days, ask your bank about it, and then let us know.
Step 3: Payment method timing
| Method | When it shows as paid |
|---|---|
| Card | Usually within a few minutes |
| PayPal | Can take longer. Confirm in your PayPal account that the payment shows as completed, not pending. |
| Cryptocurrency | After the required blockchain confirmations, which depend on network congestion and the fee you paid. Underpayments, for example when an exchange deducted a fee, don't mark the invoice paid. |
Still unpaid after the steps above?
If the payment has settled (it's no longer pending) and the invoice still isn't paid after 15 minutes for cards, or after full confirmation for PayPal and crypto, open one ticket to Accounting with:
- The invoice number
- The payment date and amount
- The last four digits of the card, the PayPal transaction ID, or the crypto transaction hash
- A screenshot of the settled transaction, if you have one
Don't pay the invoice again while we investigate, and please don't file a chargeback. A chargeback locks the account and slows everything down. If the payment reached us, we'll apply it. If you were charged twice, the duplicate is credited or refunded.
Worried about suspension in the meantime?
Services are suspended 3 days after an invoice's due date. If you have an open ticket about a payment that hasn't posted, say in the ticket that a suspension date is coming up, and we'll take that into account. See How Billing Works for the full timeline.