Checkout Problems? Please Read This.
If you were charged for a purchase but didn’t receive your download, contact us. That’s the only way to resolve it. Don’t try to pay again, don’t dispute the charge with your bank, and don’t assume the order is lost. Email us and we will manually complete your order and send your download. This usually takes a few hours at most.
Why This Happens
Modern browsers and the privacy tools many people use — ad blockers, anti-tracking extensions, VPNs, script blockers, strict cookie settings — are good things. We’re not asking anyone to stop using them. But they can interfere with online checkout in ways that are invisible to the person using them.
Here’s what happens during a normal checkout: your browser, our website, and the payment processor (Stripe, PayPal, etc.) all have to talk to each other in a specific sequence. The payment processor charges your card, then signals back to our website to create your order and send your download. If anything interrupts that final signal — a blocked script, a closed tab, a VPN timeout, a privacy extension stripping a cookie — the charge goes through but the order doesn’t get created on our end.
This isn’t unique to our site. It’s a known issue affecting every e-commerce platform on the modern web. We process thousands of successful transactions. When something goes wrong, it’s almost always something on the buyer’s end interrupting the process — and it’s not something the buyer can easily diagnose or fix on their own in the moment.
What NOT To Do
Do not navigate away during checkout.
After you authorize a payment, your browser still needs several seconds to finish communicating with our server before your order is finalized. If you close the tab, hit the back button, or navigate away — even after seeing a confirmation checkmark from your payment method — the order may not complete on our end. The checkmark from Apple Pay, Google Pay, or your bank means your card was approved. It does not mean the order is finished. Wait for the page to redirect you to a thank-you or order confirmation screen before you do anything else. If the page seems slow, give it at least 30 seconds.
Do not try to pay again with a different card or method.
If a payment looks like it failed, the charge may have actually gone through — the page just didn’t finish. Trying again with another card or payment method can result in two or three charges on your account for the same order, which then have to be manually refunded. If you’re not sure whether your payment succeeded, check your email and your bank statement first, then contact us. Do not retry the purchase.
Do not file a chargeback or dispute with your bank.
If you contact us, we will resolve any payment issue quickly. Filing a chargeback before reaching out is unnecessary, costs us fees regardless of outcome, and slows down your resolution. Just email us first.
If You Were Charged But Didn’t Get Your Download — Contact Us
This is the only step you need to take. We can look up your transaction in our payment processor and manually complete the order. You will get your download. Nothing has been lost.
Please include the following so we can find your transaction quickly:
- The email address you used at checkout
- The date and approximate time of the transaction
- The amount charged
- The last four digits of the card used (or your PayPal email, if applicable)
Email: sales@partedmagic.com
We typically respond within a few hours. Once we verify the payment on our end, we’ll complete the order, generate your license, and send your download. There’s nothing else you need to do.
The Bottom Line
Our checkout works. When it doesn’t, the cause is almost always a privacy tool, browser setting, or VPN doing exactly what it’s designed to do — just at an inconvenient moment. We can’t fix that from our end, and we don’t expect our customers to troubleshoot it either. If something goes wrong with your purchase, just email us. We’ll take care of it.
Thanks for your patience, and thanks for supporting Parted Magic.