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Last updated: July 8, 2026
The Attempts and Declines report offers comprehensive insights into payment transactions that were attempted and those that got declined for various reasons. It includes details on transactions made using payment methods such as debit card, credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, highlighting both successful attempts and reasons for declines. It is a valuable tool for understanding the factors behind successful transactions and declines on a daily basis. It enables you to take informed actions to improve authorization success rates, enhance sales conversions, and manage market risks effectively.
If you have PayPal's fraud protection tools, the report also includes data about fraud risk and filters that relate to authorization declines.
This report is a valuable tool for understanding the factors behind successful transactions and declines on a daily basis. It enables you to take informed actions to improve authorization success rates, enhance sales conversions, and manage market risks effectively.
Contact your PayPal account manager to subscribe to this report and have it delivered by SFTP daily.
| Use case | Example | Delivery |
|---|---|---|
| View detailed information about payment attempts and transaction declines. View reasons for declines, flags for PayPal products, and, if subscribed to PayPal's fraud protection tool, details about fraud protection risks and filters. | Sample report | SFTP in the /ppreports/outgoing directory |
Before using this report, review these important requirements and considerations:
The file name of the Attempts and Declines report follows this convention:
<ATTEMPTS_AND_DECLINES_REPORT>.<yyyymmdd>.<ReportIdentifier>.<ReportingWindow>.<SequenceNumber>.<MajorVersion>.<MinorVersion>.<Format>
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
ATTEMPTS_AND_DECLINES_REPORT | The report type. For this report, the value is ATTEMPTS_AND_DECLINES_REPORT. |
yyyymmdd | The date the report was generated, in year-month-day format. |
ReportIdentifier | The unique value that you set up during report generation to identify the report, such as your BN code (partner ID from PayPal) or your organization name. |
ReportingWindow | The time window in which the report was generated: - A: America/New York to America/Los Angeles - H: America/Los Angeles to Asia/Hong Kong - R: Asia/Hong Kong to Europe/London - X: Europe/London to America/New York |
SequenceNumber | The sequence number of the report file. It is 2 characters, right-justified, and zero-filled. The sequence number begins with 0 and continues until all parts of the report are recorded in files. The sequence number is always present in the report file name, even if there is only 1 file. |
MajorVersion | The major version of the report. This number increments when there are significant changes to the report. |
MinorVersion | The minor version of the report. |
Format | The report format is CSV (comma-separated values). |
For example, a file name for this report could be: ATTEMPTS_AND_DECLINES_REPORT.20240101.PARTNER123.A.01.01.00.CSV
In this example:
ATTEMPTS_AND_DECLINES_REPORT.PARTNER123.A (America/New York to America/Los Angeles).01.01.00.CSV.Each row of the report consists of a 2-letter row type, followed by the details for that row type. The following table lists the valid row types and the sections that describe the data for that row type.
| CSV code | Section |
|---|---|
RH | Report header |
RD | Report details |
RF | Report footer |
The report header contains the following columns.
| Position | Column name | Required | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RH | Yes | Static, 2 characters | Descriptor advising that this row of data contains report header data. |
| 2 | Report Name | Yes | Varchar | Name of the report, which includes ATTEMPTS AND_DECLINE_REPORT |
| 3 | Report Status | Yes | Varchar | Status of the report generation: Success or Error |
| 4 | Report Generated | Yes | Date | The date when the report was generated |
| 5 | Hierarchy | Yes | Varchar | Encrypted account number for an individual PayPal account |
| 6 | Time Zone | Yes | Varchar | Time zone of the report |
The report details section contains the following columns.
| Position | Column name | Required | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RD | Yes | Static, 2 characters | Descriptor advising that this row of data contains report details data. |
| 2 | Partner Identifier | Yes | Varchar | Partner ID |
| 3 | Merchant Account ID | Yes | Varchar | Encrypted account number for the merchant |
| 4 | Authorization ID | Yes | Varchar | The encrypted PayPal-generated unique identifier for the authorization |
| 5 | Order ID | No | Varchar | The Order ID that is created at the time of transaction |
| 6 | Invoice ID | No | Varchar | The Invoice ID that is passed at the time of transaction |
| 7 | Custom field | No | Varchar | None |
| 8 | Authorization Status | Yes | Varchar | The status of the authorization attempt, Declined or Authorized |
| 9 | Authorization Date | Yes | Date and time in the YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format | The date and time when the authorization attempt began |
| 10 | Authorization Amount | Yes | Numeric (23, 2) | The authorized amount |
| 11 | Currency | Yes | 3-character currency code | The ISO-4217 currency code for the transaction |
| 12 | Payment Instrument Type | No | Varchar | The method of payment used to process the transaction |
| 13 | Payment Instrument Subtype | No | Varchar | The specific tender used to process the transaction |
| 14 | BIN | No | Varchar | The Bank Identification Number (BIN) for card transactions |
| 15 | Card Number | No | Varchar | Masked card number for card transactions, such as **********4545 |
| 16 | Card Issuing Bank | No | Varchar | The bank that issued the physical card that a customer used for the transaction. This information is not available for virtual cards. |
| 17 | Card Issuing Country | No | Varchar | The country where the card issuer is located |
| 18 | Decline Reason | No | Varchar | Reasons for declined transactions are: Platform Decline: Decline due to risk, policy, platform issues, or instrument decline. Processor Decline: Decline by the processor or due to a processor error Fraud Protection Decline: Decline by PayPal's fraud protection tool after applying a set of fraud filters Note: Fraud decline details are available only if you are subscribed to PayPal's fraud protection tool |
| 19 | Decline Reason Details | No | Varchar | The specific reason for the decline |
| 20 | Risk Filter Applied | No | Varchar | The risk filter(s) that were applied and caused the decline, if applicable. Note: This information is only available if you subscribe to PayPal's fraud protection tool. |
| 21 | Risk Score | No | Numeric | The risk score that PayPal's fraud protection tool assigned to the transaction, if applicable. Note: This information is only available if you subscribe to PayPal's fraud protection tool. |
| 22 | Risk Score Details | No | Varchar with JSON format | Details about the risk score, if applicable. Note: This information is only available if you subscribe to PayPal's fraud protection tool. |
| 23 | Account Updater | No | Varchar | The report includes a value of Account Updater if the account updater service was applied to the transaction. The account updater service provides updated card information for cards that have expired or will expire soon. Note: This information is only available for card transactions. |
| 24 | Tokenization | No | Varchar | The report includes a value of Applied if the transaction used a tokenized card. Note: This information is only available for card transactions. |
| 25 | 3DS | No | Varchar | The report uses a value of Applied if 3D Secure authentication was applied to the transaction. Note: This information is only available for card transactions. |
| 26 | Fraud Screening | No | Varchar | The level of fraud screening for the transaction, if applicable: Standard: Indicates that Fraud Protection Standard product screening has been performed. Advanced: Indicates that Fraud Protection Advanced product screening has been performed. Blank: Indicates that you are not subscribed to the fraud protection product. Note: This information is only available if you subscribe to PayPal's fraud protection tool. |
| 27 | Email ID | No | Varchar | The email address of the customer, if available. |
| 28 | Billing Zip Code | No | Varchar | The billing zip code for the transaction, if available. |
| 29 | Payment Channel | Optional | Varchar(256) | Indicates if the transaction is Online, POS, or MOTO. |
| 30 | Offline Payment | Optional | Boolean | Indicates whether the transaction was processed offline. An offline transaction is approved without internet connectivity and later approved or declined by the network. |
| 31 | Offline Approval Time | Optional | Date-time | The date and time the offline authorization was initiated, in this format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS offset. offset is the 5-character signed offset from GMT, for example +0800. |
| 32 | Store ID | Optional | Varchar(256) | The ID of the store where the transaction was initiated. |
| 33 | Reader ID | Optional | Varchar(256) | The terminal ID of the store where the transaction was initiated. |
| 34 | Risk Status | Optional | Varchar(256) | The risk status based on the fraud protection filters configured by the merchant: Approved (risk approved the transaction), Declined (risk declined the transaction), or In Review (transaction flagged for review — action required). |
| 35 | Related Authorization ID | Optional | Varchar(256) | The immediate parent authorization ID. For example, for an incremental authorization ID, the parent is the estimated authorization ID. |
The report footer contains the following columns.
| Position | Column name | Required | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RF | Yes | Static, 2 characters | The report footer identifier |
| 2 | File Number | Yes | Numeric (23, 2) | The current file number, which can be part of the file naming convention |
| 3 | Total Records | Yes | Numeric (23, 2) | The number of transactions in the detail section in a specific file. This column appears only if there are transactional details to report. |
| 4 | Total Files | Yes | Numeric (23, 2) | The total number of files generated for the report |