Errors

Paystack's API is RESTful and as such, uses conventional HTTP response codes to indicate the success or failure of requests.

HTTP Codes
200	Request was successful and intended action was carried out. Note that we will always send a 200 if a charge or verify request was made. Do check the data object to know how the charge went (i.e. successful or failed).
201	A resource has successfully been created.
400	A validation or client side error occurred and the request was not fulfilled.
401	The request was not authorized. This can be triggered by passing an invalid secret key in the authorization header or the lack of one.
404	Request could not be fulfilled as the request resource does not exist.
5xx	Request could not be fulfilled due to an error on Paystack's end. This shouldn't happen so please report as soon as you encounter any instance of this.

We discuss some common errors and their causes below:

1{
2  "status": true,
3  "message": "Charge attempted",
4  "data": {
5    "amount": 200,
6    "currency": "NGN",
7    "transaction_date": "2017-05-24T05:56:12.000Z",
8    "status": "success",
9    "reference": "zuvbpizfcf2fs7y",
10    "domain": "test",
11    "metadata": {
12      "custom_fields": [
13        {
14          "display_name": "Merchant name",
15          "variable_name": "merchant_name",
16          "value": "Van Damme"
17        },
18        {
19          "display_name": "Paid Via",
20          "variable_name": "paid_via",
21          "value": "API call"
22        }
23      ]
24    },
25    "gateway_response": "Successful",
26    "message": null,
27    "channel": "card",
28    "ip_address": "54.154.89.28, 162.158.38.82, 172.31.38.35",
29    "log": null,
30    "fees": 3,
31    "authorization": {
32      "authorization_code": "AUTH_6tmt288t0o",
33      "bin": "408408",
34      "last4": "4081",
35      "exp_month": "12",
36      "exp_year": "2020",
37      "channel": "card",
38      "card_type": "visa visa",
39      "bank": "TEST BANK",
40      "country_code": "NG",
41      "brand": "visa",
42      "reusable": true,
43      "signature": "SIG_uSYN4fv1adlAuoij8QXh",
44      "account_name": "BoJack Horseman"
45    },
46    "customer": {
47      "id": 14571,
48      "first_name": null,
49      "last_name": null,
50      "email": "test@email.co",
51      "customer_code": "CUS_hns72vhhtos0f0k",
52      "phone": null,
53      "metadata": null,
54      "risk_action": "default"
55    },
56    "plan": null
57  }
58}

Loading errors

Sample generic error

1{
2  "status": "false",
3  "message": "[string]"
4}