The Problem
After paying with Alipay on Porkbun and the payment was successfully deducted, the domain still showed as unpaid and remained in my shopping cart.
Invoice showing Paid $0.00
I searched online and found that other people had run into the same problem, but nobody had provided a solution.
https://www.nodeseek.com/post-275039-1
Contacting Support
Porkbun's live support on its website is an absolute disaster.
There's a HELP button in the bottom-right corner of the page, but you can't tap it on mobile, and it's basically just an email form anyway.
So I emailed support directly and included all the relevant details, such as the order number and Alipay transaction ID.
Subject: Payment Completed but Domain Still in Cart
Dear Porkbun Support Team,
I am writing to report an issue with my recent domain registration attempt. Today, I tried to register the domain example.com and completed the payment via Alipay. The payment was successfully deducted from my account, but the domain remains in my shopping cart and has not been registered.
Here are the details for your reference:
· Domain: example.com
· Porkbun Invoice/Order #: XXXXXXX
· Alipay Transaction ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
· Merchant Order ID: src_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
· Issue: The invoice in my Porkbun account shows a payment of $0, but the payment was successfully processed via Alipay.
I confirmed that the payment was deducted from my Alipay account, and I have also seen similar reports from other users on Reddit experiencing the same issue with payments via Alipay. I believe this is a technical error on your platform, and I would appreciate your assistance in resolving it promptly.
Could you please investigate this issue and complete the registration for the domain example.com as soon as possible? If additional verification is required from my end, please let me know.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your prompt response.
Best regards,
Elvish
Their US support team was reasonably quick and replied three hours later.
But the response was completely generic boilerplate: they suggested disabling my ad blocker or VPN, or trying again in a different browser.
That obviously wasn't going to help. The problem was that the money had been deducted but their system hadn't recorded the payment—not anything on my end.
I suspected it was an issue between Stripe and their system, and figured they should have detailed transaction records in their merchant dashboard.
So I wrote another email and made three things very clear:
- Please look up the order number in the Stripe dashboard
- I attached a screenshot of the Alipay transaction details
- I attached the electronic receipt (both the original and an English translation) to prove that I had indeed paid
Dear NAME,
Thank you for your reply. I would like to clarify that the payment for the domain has already been successfully deducted from my Alipay account.
I notice that you use the Stripe platform to process Alipay payments. Could you please check the status of the specific order src_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX in your Stripe merchant dashboard?
I have taken a screenshot of the successful transaction from my Alipay account and also downloaded the official electronic transaction receipt. The original document (protected by a digital signature) is in Chinese. I have attached both the original Chinese receipt and an English translation to this email for your review.
If any other documentation is needed from my side to verify this payment, I am happy to provide it.
If there is an ongoing issue with this specific payment method on your end, I would appreciate it if you could initiate a refund for this transaction (src_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX) via your Stripe backend. Once the refund is confirmed, I am willing to complete the purchase for the domain using an alternative method, such as PayPal.
I look forward to your assistance in resolving this matter promptly.
Best regards,
An hour later, another support agent replied:
It looks like the payment was received, but the order failed. I've added the funds as account credit to your account.
So they acknowledged that they had received the payment, but the order itself had failed.
To make up for it, they credited the money directly to my Porkbun account balance.
Placing the Order Again
I logged into my account and, sure enough, the balance had increased.
Account credit received
From there, it was simple: I placed the order again and selected Account Credit as the payment method.
This time, everything went through without a problem.
Summary
When paying on overseas platforms, if you have the option, I'd recommend using PayPal or a credit card first.
The Alipay/Stripe integration can occasionally fail to send the payment callback correctly, and sorting it out can take quite a bit of time and effort.
If you run into a similar issue, it's best to attach a screenshot of the Alipay transaction details along with the electronic receipt. Try to provide enough evidence in a single email to establish that the payment went through and get the issue resolved.
## Urgent: Payment Verified but Order Incomplete - Order #【你的订单号】 & Stripe Charge src_【商家订单号】
Dear Porkbun Support Team,
I am writing to report a payment issue. The payment for my domain 【域名】 was successfully deducted from my Alipay account, but the domain remains in my cart and the invoice (#【你的订单号】) shows as unpaid.
I understand you use Stripe. Could you please check the status of the specific Stripe charge src_【商家订单号】 in your merchant dashboard?
For verification, I have attached:
1. A screenshot of the successful Alipay transaction.
2. The official Alipay e-receipt (original in Chinese + English translation).
If this payment cannot be applied to my order, please refund this charge (src_【商家订单号】) via your Stripe backend. I am then willing to repay immediately via PayPal or another method.
I look forward to your prompt resolution. Thank you.
Best regards,
【你的名字】
【在邮件里附上支付宝扣款截图和中英文电子流水回单】